VIES Verification

VIES is the service that allows you to verify whether the VAT number of a European company is valid for intra-Community transactions.

The VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) is the European system for exchanging VAT information that allows you to verify whether a company is authorised to carry out cross-border transactions between European Union Member States.

Openapi's VIES service allows you to perform this verification in real time and directly via API, automating the check within software, management systems, ERP, CRM, e-commerce platforms and other business processes.

REQUEST EXAMPLE

In the following request, we use VAT number 12485671007 as the parameter:

GET https://company.openapi.com/EU-vies/IT/12485671007 

RESPONSE EXAMPLE

The information returned in the response allows you to verify:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "valid": true,
      "vatCode": "12485671007",
      "companyName": "OPENAPI SPA",
      "companyAddress": "VIALE F TOMMASO MARINETTI 221 \n00143 ROMA RM\n"
    }
  ],
  "success": true,
  "message": "",
  "error": null
}

The service is often used to verify, before a transaction, whether the VAT number of a European customer, supplier or business partner is valid for intra-Community transactions.

The VIES verification differs from simply checking whether a VAT number exists: it specifically allows you to verify whether the VAT number is authorised for cross-border transactions within the European Union.

During periods of high traffic, the official VAT registers of EU Member States may experience temporary slowdowns or become temporarily unavailable. In these cases, the endpoint returns an HTTP 429 response and the request should be retried after a short interval.