VAT Number: Check for EU & UK Companies VAT Number

What is VAT Registration Number or VAT Number?

It is a unique number issued to the business for the purpose of VAT payment. VAT number is mentioned on the VAT certificates issued to businesses by HMRC.

What is Value Added Tax (VAT)?

VAT stands for value added tax. It is a tax levied on most of the goods & services in UK except financial transactions, postage stamps and property transactions. This tax is charged by the seller from the customers as well as businesses and can reclaim input VAT from the purchases made by him.

Search for EU & UK Companies VAT Registration Numbers

There are many websites online by which you can easily find VAT numbers –

Search for UK Companies VAT Number

You can search for UK Companies VAT Numbers by Name in this website - https://vat-search.co.uk/

Check Whether EU VAT Number is Valid or Not

Looking to validate EU VAT Number? You can verify the validity of a VAT number issued by any Member State. Visit European Commission VIES VAT Number Validation Website.

UK VAT Number

UK VAT number is a unique 9 characters alpha numeric number comprises of the following –

1. First 2 letters of a VAT number indicates country code.
2. Rest 7 numerical digits are unique numerical characters.

For Example – VAT number for Deutsche bank AG London is GB 243609761

GB – Country code of Great Britain

243609761 – Unique Numerical VAT number

Difference between UK & EU VAT Numbers

There is a difference between the VAT numbers of UK & EU. UK VAT number is a unique alphanumeric number of 9 characters whereas VAT in EU contains long alphanumeric number of 15 characters.

In the case of EU VAT numbers, the first character indicates the country code and the other characters are a number of 13 digits. For ex – For the country Denmark, the first two letters of a VAT number is DK. In the same way, one country code is assigned to each and every country under EU.

EU VAT Country Codes

Countries in EU with the two letter country codes are as follows –

How to check whether a VAT Number is correct or not?

You can easily check whether a VAT number is correct or not with the help of a simple formula. The formula helps you in identifying that the VAT number you are validating is correct or not. In case it is found incorrect, business is not eligible to claim the input VAT from the purchases they made.

VAT Number Validation Procedure

You need to follow the steps mentioned below to find whether the VAT number is correct or not –

• Step 1 – Place the number vertically excluding the first 2 letters i.e. Country code
• Step 2 – Multiply each digit of a VAT number starting from 8 and ending with 2.
• Step 3 – Add all the values obtained from multiplying each digit with a VAT number.
• Step 4 – Deduct 97 from the sum obtained till the figure becomes negative. The negative value obtained must match the last 2 digits of a VAT number. If it is matched with the last 2 digits, VAT number is correct unless it will be considered as an invalid VAT number.

Let us understand it with the example below –

VAT number for Deutsche bank AG London is GB 243609761.

• 2 * 8 = 16
• 4 * 7 = 28
• 3 * 6 = 18
• 6 * 5 = 30
• 0 * 4 = 00
• 9 * 3 = 27
• 7 * 2 = 14
• Total = 133

133-97-97 = -61

As you see, the two digits of negative figure i.e. – 61 are matching with the last 2 digits of VAT number which means that it is a valid VAT number.

Why is it important to check the VAT Registration Number?

In case you are dealing with a new customer or a supplier and wants to check whether the VAT registration number is correct or not, you can also validate it by the following ways –

1. Call HMRC VAT Helpline Number – You can easily validate the VAT number by calling HMRC VAT helpline number 03002003700 between 8 am to 6 pm. You can follow this process of checking VAT number only in case of UK registered businesses.
2. Use online VAT information exchange system (VIES)– You can easily check the validity of a VAT number in European Union (EU) with the help of VAT information exchange system (VIES). This service was mainly formed to oppose the fraudsters involved in VAT number fraud. The other way of validating a VAT number is to access the European union NIES website. To check VAT number on the website, you need to simply select the country and the registration number on the website and website will provide you information that whether the VAT number is valid or not. If it is valid, website will share with you the information regarding the name of the registered office as well as the address.

Maintain the VAT Number Search Copy

After the validity check, you need to save or print the result of your search and must keep it as a proof in order to convince HMRC that the VAT number was valid at that time (if any question asked by HMRC in future)

What to do if VAT Registration Number is not valid?

In case VAT registration number is found to be invalid, you must contact the supplier or customer in order to crosscheck the validity of VAT number. If you are getting the same result after crosschecking the VAT number, you should inform them as early as possible. In such cases, company will contact HMRC and ask them whether the VAT number inputted in VIES is correct or not.

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