VAT number check
Paste a VAT number and we check its shape straight away, in your browser. For Irish numbers we also run the check letter, so a typo shows up before the invoice goes out.
Ireland: 7 digits + 1 or 2 letters. Type it with or without the country prefix.
Enter a number to check the format offline. Nothing is sent anywhere.
The bit that catches people out
Well formed
The digits and the check letter agree. This is arithmetic, so it is certain, and it catches almost every typo. It says nothing about whether the business exists.
Registered on VIES
The European Commission confirms the number is active for intra-EU trade. This is what you need before zero-rating a supply, and it gives you a consultation number to keep on file.
Domestic only
Revenue can register a business for Irish trade without intra-EU status. That number is perfectly real, works on Irish invoices, and will never show up in VIES.
So “not found in VIES” has two possible meanings, and most checkers online only tell you one of them. Read Revenue’s own page on two-tier VAT registration if a supplier insists their number is fine.
VAT number formats across the EU
Every member state writes them differently. The country prefix is part of the number when you use it for intra-EU trade.
- IEIreland7 digits + 1 or 2 letters
- ATAustriaU + 8 digits
- BEBelgium10 digits
- BGBulgaria9 or 10 digits
- CYCyprus8 digits + 1 letter
- CZCzechia8 to 10 digits
- DEGermany9 digits
- DKDenmark8 digits
- EEEstonia9 digits
- ELGreece9 digits
- ESSpain9 characters
- FIFinland8 digits
- FRFrance11 characters
- HRCroatia11 digits
- HUHungary8 digits
- ITItaly11 digits
- LTLithuania9 or 12 digits
- LULuxembourg8 digits
- LVLatvia11 digits
- MTMalta8 digits
- NLNetherlands9 digits + B + 2 digits
- PLPoland10 digits
- PTPortugal9 digits
- RORomania2 to 10 digits
- SESweden12 digits
- SISlovenia8 digits
- SKSlovakia10 digits
- XINorthern Ireland9 digits
While you are here
Questions about VAT numbers
There are two separate questions. Is the number itself well formed, and is the business registered for intra-EU trade. The checker above answers the first one instantly and offline, because Irish VAT numbers carry a check letter that has to match the digits. For the second, use the link through to the European Commission’s VIES service.
Because Revenue runs two-tier registration. A business can hold a domestic-only registration, which is enough for trading inside Ireland and with countries outside the EU, and those numbers never appear in VIES. Only intra-EU registrations are published there. So a VIES miss can mean the number is wrong, or it can simply mean the business has not applied for intra-EU status.
It is arithmetic. The seven digits are weighted, added up, and the remainder picks a letter from a fixed list. Change one digit and the letter no longer matches, which is how a typo in an invoice gets caught before you send it. Our checker runs that same calculation.
Seven digits followed by one or two letters, for example 1234567FA. Older registrations can look different, with a letter or a plus sign in second position. Both shapes are accepted above.
Yes. For zero-rated intra-EU supplies you need a valid VIES-registered number for the customer, and Revenue expects you to have verified it. Keep the consultation number that VIES gives you as evidence with the invoice.
Format-wise, yes: pick the country from the list and we check the shape against that member state’s published pattern. There are 28 countries in the list, including Northern Ireland. Only Ireland has an offline check letter here, so for the others the format is all we can confirm without VIES.
No. The format and check-letter test runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is logged, stored or transmitted. The only outbound step is the optional link to VIES, which you choose to click.