VIES VAT validation API — VAT number check API for NL and EU. Validate any EU VAT number via the official VIES REST API of the European Commission.

GET /v1/finance/vat-verify

Validates an EU VAT number via the European Commission VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) REST API. All 27 EU member states are supported.

When the VAT number is valid, VIES may also return the registered company name and address — but only when the member state chooses to disclose them (Netherlands and Germany typically do; some others do not).

Request parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`country_code`	string	✓	ISO alpha-2 country code, e.g. `NL`, `DE`, `FR`
`vat_number`	string	✓	VAT number without country prefix, e.g. `854753480B01`

If you accidentally include the country prefix in vat_number (e.g. NL854753480B01), the API strips it automatically.

Example request

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://api.omnizoek.nl/v1/finance/vat-verify?country_code=NL&vat_number=854753480B01"

Example response — valid

{
  "valid": true,
  "status": "valid",
  "country_code": "NL",
  "vat_number": "NL854753480B01",
  "company_name": "Example B.V.",
  "address": "Damrak 1\n1012LG Amsterdam",
  "checked_at": "2026-03-06T10:00:00Z"
}

Example response — invalid

{
  "valid": false,
  "status": "invalid",
  "country_code": "NL",
  "vat_number": "NL000000000B00",
  "company_name": null,
  "address": null,
  "checked_at": "2026-03-06T10:00:00Z"
}

Response fields

Field	Type	Description
`valid`	boolean	`true` if VIES confirms the VAT number is active
`status`	`"valid"` \| `"invalid"`	Machine-readable verdict
`country_code`	string	ISO alpha-2 country code as provided
`vat_number`	string	Full VAT number including country prefix
`company_name`	string \| null	Company name — `null` when not disclosed
`address`	string \| null	Address — `null` when not disclosed
`checked_at`	string	UTC ISO 8601 timestamp of the VIES query

Error responses

Status	Cause
`503`	VIES did not respond after 3 retry attempts

Caching

Results are cached in RAM for 24 hours to avoid hammering VIES.

Retry behaviour

The service automatically retries up to 3 times (with 1 s, 2.5 s, 5 s back-off) before returning 503. VIES is periodically slow, especially during peak EU business hours.

EU VAT Verification (VIES)