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VAT number valid but “invalid” in VIES?

Updated 2026-10-11

A customer sends you their VAT number, you check it in VIES, and it comes back invalid, yet they insist it's correct. Both can be true. Here are the usual reasons.

1. Registered for domestic VAT only

VIES only confirms numbers that are enabled for intra-EU transactions. In some countries a business can have a domestic VAT registration without being activated for cross-border trade. The best-known case is Spain: a business must be entered in the Registro de Operadores Intracomunitarios (ROI) before its NIF shows as valid in VIES.

2. Newly registered

New registrations can take days or weeks to propagate to VIES. If the customer just registered, ask for their registration certificate and re-check later.

3. Wrong prefix or format

Greece uses EL, not GR. Austria's numbers start with U. Dutch numbers contain a B. Check the format for each country; our checker normalises spaces and dashes and flags format errors before querying VIES.

4. They gave you a different tax number

Many countries have several tax identifiers. A German Steuernummer is not the USt-IdNr.; a Finnish Y-tunnus must be converted (1234567-8 becomes FI12345678). Only the EU VAT number can be checked in VIES.

5. Deregistered or suspended

Numbers get deregistered when a business closes, merges or is struck off for compliance reasons. A number that was valid last year may not be valid today, which is why periodic re-checks matter.

6. It's a GB number

Since Brexit, UK (GB) VAT numbers are not in VIES at all. Only Northern Ireland businesses trading goods have an XI number that VIES can check. See how to check a UK VAT number.

What should you do?

If VIES says invalid, don't apply the reverse charge until it's resolved. Ask the customer to confirm their intra-EU VAT number with their tax office, then re-check. Check a number now →

General information, not tax advice.

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