VAT Number Mass Validation in Bulk

VAT numbers can be validated manually or automatically. They can be validated on the European Commission’s VIES website but it can only be checked manually one at a time.

The more convenient way to do it is to do it automatically, especially when you have to check a large quantity of VAT numbers. If you are considering mass validation, you may be in the following situation:

• You have a list of EU VAT numbers to validate in an Excel sheet or CSV file.
• Your customers are submitting EU VAT numbers on a daily basis.
• You don’t have the time and patience to validate VAT numbers one at a time. 

How to automate bulk EU VAT validation

To get started, you need an account with Vatstack. You can register an account if you don’t have one and follow the instructions to confirm your email address.

Navigate to Batches to create a new batch process and attach a CSV file containing your VAT numbers. A template to help you format the CSV file correctly is linked in the dialog.

Once created, the batch screen will look like this:

Click the Start Validation button to start your batch process. Vatstack will run through your entire list in the background and notify you by email once the process is complete.

The finished report is downloadable in CSV which makes it easy for you to analyze results in a spreadsheet software. Your list will include all relevant information:

• VAT number
• Valid or invalid status
• A unique reference number and the requested date (acts as piece of evidence for tax administrations)
• Company name and address where available
• Country code

This is a big time-saver especially if you have to repeat this process regularly.

Note that developers can also utilize our API endpoints to run batch processes programmatically and listen to webhook events when a batch process completes.

Benefits to mass EU VAT validation

You can quickly identify expired VAT numbers in the finished report and reach out to affected customers.

If a VAT number is officially de-registered for whatever reason but you fail to update your records, then you face a situation whereby you owe VAT to your tax administration that you did not collect from your customer. This could be picked up with the EC Sales List (ESL) filed quarterly.

It is therefore in your best interest to keep your records accurate and run such a bulk validation every month, or at least every quarter before filings are due. We recommend it to every business with repeat customers.

Our batch processes were built to ease your bureaucratic burdens as much as possible.