A value-added tax identification number or VAT identification number (VATIN) is an

identifier An identifier is a name that identifies (that is, labels the identity of) either a unique object or a unique ''class'' of objects, where the "object" or class may be an idea, physical countable object (or class thereof), or physical noncountable ...

used in many countries, including the countries of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, for value-added tax purposes. In the EU, a VAT identification number can be verified online at the EU's official VIES website. It confirms that the number is currently allocated and can provide the name or other identifying details of the entity to whom the identifier has been allocated. However, many national governments will not give out VAT identification numbers due to data protection laws. The full identifier starts with an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (2 letters) country code (except for Greece, which uses the ISO 639-1 language code ''EL'' for the Greek language, instead of its ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code ''GR'', and Northern Ireland, which uses the code ''XI'' when trading with the EU) and then has between 2 and 13 characters. The identifiers are composed of numeric digits in most countries, but in some countries they may contain letters. Foreign companies that trade with private individuals and non-business organisations in the EU may have a VATIN starting with "EU" instead of a country code, e.g. Godaddy EU826010755 and Amazon (

AWS Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. These cloud computing web services provide di ...

) EU826009064. From 1 January 2020 the valid VAT number of the customer is a material requirement to be able to apply the zero VAT rate for intra-Community supplies of goods in the EU. If the customer’s VAT number is not valid, 0% VAT rate cannot be applied. Companies must make sure that the VAT numbers of their customers are checked.Check VAT numbers
/ref> You should always verify that th
VAT number
is valid in each corresponding country’s tax system, as giving false IDs is considered a form of fraud.

VAT numbers by country

European Union VAT identification numbers

VAT numbers of non-EU countries

VAT numbers of Latin American countries

References

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External links