VAT number formats

If a check reported "Wrong format", the number does not match the shape its country uses. That is checked before the registry is contacted, so the number was never looked up — fix the format and run it again.

The most common cause is a transposed pair of digits. It is worth re-reading the number from the invoice rather than from what you typed, because a transposition looks correct when you already know what it should say.

Two codes that are not what you expect

• Greece is EL, not GR. Greek VAT numbers are filed under EL, which is not the ISO country code. Entering GR will fail before it reaches the registry.
• Northern Ireland is XI. Since the Windsor Framework, Northern Irish businesses use XI for goods and are checked through VIES, while the rest of the UK uses GB and is checked through HMRC.

Every country, and its own page

One row per country here, and one page per country behind it — the prefix, the exact pattern, two format examples, where to verify a number and the mistakes people make with that country in particular. Switzerland and Norway are included because their suppliers turn up on invoices; neither is in VIES and this site does not check either, which their pages say plainly.

Formatting that does not matter

Spaces, dots, slashes and hyphens are stripped before checking, and so is the country prefix if you include it. DE 123 456 789and 123456789are treated identically.

A valid format is not a valid number

Passing the format check only means the number has the right shape. Whether it is registered, and to whom, is what the registry lookup answers — and a registered number still tells you nothing about whether the bank details on the invoice are right.