What you get, country by country
The answer differs a lot by country, so here it is in full. Every column is generated from the checks themselves rather than written by hand, so this table cannot quietly fall behind what the tool actually does.
| Country | Registered | Check digit | National register | Company state | VAT status | IBAN owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Belgium | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Bulgaria | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Croatia | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Cyprus | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Czechia | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| Denmark | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Estonia | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Finland | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — | — |
| France | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Germany | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Greece | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Hungary | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Ireland | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Italy | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Latvia | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Lithuania | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | — |
| Luxembourg | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Malta | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Netherlands | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Northern Ireland | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Poland | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | Yes |
| Portugal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Romania | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — |
| Slovakia | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Slovenia | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | — |
| Spain | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sweden | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| United Kingdom | — | Yes | — | — | — | — |
The United Kingdom is the gap: HMRC requires an approved application for its VAT API which this site does not hold, so a GB number gets its check digit verified and a link to the free official checker. Northern Ireland (XI) is checked in full through VIES.
What the columns mean
- Registered — VIES confirms whether the number is registered, and returns a company name and address for 25 of the 28 jurisdictions. Germany and Spain publish no name; Cyprus is untested.
- Check digit — verified locally, so a mistyped number is caught even when VIES is down. Eight countries are deliberately left unchecked because their numbers carry sub-formats where a single validator would reject legitimate numbers.
- National register — the company name comes from the country’s own register rather than only VIES, and it answers on the days VIES does not.
- Company state — whether the company is in liquidation, bankrupt, insolvent, struck off or ceased. A company in any of those usually still has a VAT number that resolves perfectly cleanly, which is why this is the most valuable column here.
- VAT status — whether the company is actually registered for VAT. Where the tax number and the VAT number are the same digits, this is what separates a real company that is not VAT-registered from a number belonging to nobody.
- IBAN owner — whether the IBAN can be checked against the accounts the supplier registered. Poland alone publishes this.
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