So i’m trying to check VAT Numbers using the REST Service the EU provides.
Here is some documentation about it:
https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/technical-information
I’m using Postman for a check. Using this URL:
https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/rest-api/check-vat-test-service
The request body JSON example:
{
"countryCode": "DE",
"vatNumber": "DE129273398",
"requesterMemberStateCode": "DE",
"requesterNumber": "DE811115368",
"traderName": "Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft",
"traderStreet": "Petuelring 130",
"traderPostalCode": "80809",
"traderCity": "München",
"traderCompanyType": "AG"
}
I always (for over a week) get the answer the service is not available:
{
"actionSucceed" : false,
"errorWrappers" : [ {
"error" : "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE"
} ]
}
When using this URL:
https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/rest-api/check-vat-number
with the same request body i always get:
{
"countryCode": "DE",
"vatNumber": "DE811115368",
"requestDate": "2023-11-04T14:19:45.180Z",
"valid": false,
"requestIdentifier": "",
"name": "---",
"address": "---",
"traderName": "---",
"traderStreet": "---",
"traderPostalCode": "---",
"traderCity": "---",
"traderCompanyType": "---",
"traderNameMatch": "NOT_PROCESSED",
"traderStreetMatch": "NOT_PROCESSED",
"traderPostalCodeMatch": "NOT_PROCESSED",
"traderCityMatch": "NOT_PROCESSED",
"traderCompanyTypeMatch": "NOT_PROCESSED"
}
Am i doing something wrong?
2
Answers
Afaik detailed information on the holder is not available for German VAT numbers. If you omit the "DE" prefix from the fields
vatNumber
andrequesterNumber
, you will get a result forvalid
from https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/rest-api/check-vat-number though.If you test with a Austrian VAT#, for example, you’ll get more information.
results in
The test service isn’t intended to validate actual VAT numbers and more to test how your application responds to the various possible returns from the api. If you read the WSDL it has
So it would expect a vat number something like
would give a test result of something like
and as the wsdl states
As for the actual service, the VAT numbers shouldn’t start with DE, removing those should give some validation. Not sure about the field values or the test service though.