EU VAT Number Formats

Netherlands: Always contains "B" in position 10
Austria: Always starts with "U" after AT prefix
Greece: Uses "EL" not "GR" as prefix
France: First two characters can be letters or digits
Spain: Format varies for individuals vs companies

Reference guide for VAT identification number formats across all 27 EU member states.

Country	Prefix	Format	Length	Example
🇦🇹 Austria	ATU	U + 8 digits	11	`ATU12345678`
🇧🇪 Belgium	BE	10 digits	12	`BE0123456789`
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	BG	9-10 digits	11-12	`BG123456789`
🇭🇷 Croatia	HR	11 digits	13	`HR12345678901`
🇨🇾 Cyprus	CY	8 digits + letter	11	`CY12345678X`
🇨🇿 Czech Republic	CZ	8-10 digits	10-12	`CZ12345678`
🇩🇰 Denmark	DK	8 digits	10	`DK12345678`
🇪🇪 Estonia	EE	9 digits	11	`EE123456789`
🇫🇮 Finland	FI	8 digits	10	`FI12345678`
🇫🇷 France	FR	2 chars + 9 digits	13	`FR12345678901`
🇩🇪 Germany	DE	9 digits	11	`DE123456789`
🇬🇷 Greece	EL	9 digits	11	`EL123456789`
🇭🇺 Hungary	HU	8 digits	10	`HU12345678`
🇮🇪 Ireland	IE	7 digits + 1-2 letters	10-11	`IE1234567X`
🇮🇹 Italy	IT	11 digits	13	`IT12345678901`
🇱🇻 Latvia	LV	11 digits	13	`LV12345678901`
🇱🇹 Lithuania	LT	9 or 12 digits	11/14	`LT123456789`
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	LU	8 digits	10	`LU12345678`
🇲🇹 Malta	MT	8 digits	10	`MT12345678`
🇳🇱 Netherlands	NL	9 digits + B + 2 digits	14	`NL123456789B01`
🇵🇱 Poland	PL	10 digits	12	`PL1234567890`
🇵🇹 Portugal	PT	9 digits	11	`PT123456789`
🇷🇴 Romania	RO	2-10 digits	4-12	`RO1234567890`
🇸🇰 Slovakia	SK	10 digits	12	`SK1234567890`
🇸🇮 Slovenia	SI	8 digits	10	`SI12345678`
🇪🇸 Spain	ES	Letter + 7 digits + letter	11	`ESX1234567X`
🇸🇪 Sweden	SE	12 digits	14	`SE123456789012`

GB prefix: No longer valid for EU trade (UK left EU)

XI prefix: Northern Ireland protocol – XI + 9 digits for NI businesses trading with EU

Special Cases