Validate an EU VAT number (live VIES lookup)
validate_vat_numberRead-onlyIdempotent
Check live whether an EU VAT number is valid and registered, for example before applying a B2B reverse charge, zero-rating an intra-EU sale or onboarding a supplier. Queries the European Commission's VIES registry and returns the verdict plus the registered business name and address where the authority discloses them. Coverage: the 27 EU member states plus 'XI' (Northern Ireland); use 'EL' for Greece. Other countries, including the UK, are not supported yet: say live validation is not available there rather than guessing. If the registry is down the response says so.
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| vat_number | Yes | The VAT number, with or without the country prefix and spaces, e.g. 'IE6388047V', 'IE 6388047V', or '6388047V'. | |
| country_code | No | 2-letter EU member-state code of the VAT number, e.g. 'DE', 'IE', 'FR'. Use 'EL' for Greece and 'XI' for Northern Ireland. May be omitted if the country prefix is already part of vat_number. |
Output Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| valid | No | true/false verdict from VIES, or null if the service could not be reached (an availability issue, not a verdict). | |
| source | No | ||
| address | No | ||
| message | No | ||
| summary | No | ||
| checked_at | No | ||
| source_url | No | ||
| vat_number | No | ||
| vies_error | No | ||
| full_vat_id | No | ||
| next_action | No | ||
| country_code | No | ||
| business_name | No | ||
| human_backing | No | Named accountant(s) who review that country's VAT guidance (guidance-level, not a per-figure sign-off). | |
| confirm_available | No | Always true: if the user asks, the VAT treatment can be sent for checking via share_with_openaccountants with request_review. |