VAT Number Verification Guide

Within the EU VAT system, a business that makes or receives intra-Community supplies is expected to check that its counterparty's VAT identification number is valid at the time of the transaction. Two distinct tools serve this purpose for German taxpayers: the European Commission's VAT Information Exchange System (VIES) and the German Bundeszentralamt für Steuern's Bestätigungsverfahren. They overlap in scope but differ in the depth of information they return and in the evidential weight they carry in a tax audit.

VIES: the EU-level lookup

VIES is operated by the European Commission as a front-end to the national VAT databases of the member states. A VAT number queried through VIES is checked in real time against the database of the issuing state, and the service returns whether the number is currently valid for intra-Community transactions. For some member states, VIES also returns the registered name and address of the holder; for others, only the validity status is shown, because national law restricts further disclosure. The service is free, requires no registration and is accessible to anyone.

Because VIES relies on national systems, interruptions and delays can occur when a particular member state's database is unavailable. Users should capture and archive the query response, including the consultation number where offered, as contemporaneous evidence of the check.

The BZSt Bestätigungsverfahren

For German taxpayers, the BZSt offers its own confirmation service in two variants. Both are available online and by batch interface to entities holding a valid German USt-IdNr.

Simple confirmation

The einfache Bestätigung confirms only whether the VAT ID submitted is currently valid in the member state that issued it. It is the quickest of the options and is sufficient where the only question is whether the counterparty is registered for VAT in its home country.

Qualified confirmation

The qualifizierte Bestätigung additionally checks whether a supplied company name, legal form, street address, postcode and city match the data held by the issuing state. For each element the BZSt returns an individual response indicating a match, a mismatch or the absence of a check. This granular output is important because a simple yes/no answer would not allow the supplier to show exactly which identifying data was verified on a given day.

Feature	VIES	BZSt simple	BZSt qualified
Validity of VAT ID	Yes	Yes	Yes
Name check	Partial (country-dependent)	No	Yes
Address check	Partial (country-dependent)	No	Yes
Written confirmation	Screen/printout	Online response	Online plus postal confirmation
Audience	Any user	Holders of a German USt-IdNr.	Holders of a German USt-IdNr.

Why cross-border invoicing depends on the check

A supplier claiming the zero rate for an intra-Community supply of goods must satisfy both substantive and documentary conditions, including that the customer is a taxable person identified for VAT in another member state. A timely confirmation of the customer's VAT ID is a key piece of evidence. German case law and administrative practice expect the qualified confirmation for significant or recurring cross-border flows, because the simple confirmation does not document that the named counterparty actually holds the number in question.

Similar logic applies in reverse for the purchaser who wants to ensure that reverse-charge rules apply correctly, and for service providers under the place-of-supply rules for B2B services.

Scope and limits of the tool

Confirmation services operate within a narrow remit. They tell the user whether a VAT ID is valid and, in the qualified case, whether selected identifying data matches, as of the moment of the query. They do not:

• Prove that the counterparty actually exists as a going concern.
• Replace a commercial register extract for questions of legal form, seat or representation.
• Attest to the creditworthiness or tax compliance of the counterparty.
• Carry forward over time — a prior valid confirmation does not guarantee validity today.

For these reasons, the confirmation services are typically used alongside commercial register information and internal counterparty files rather than as a standalone check.

Record keeping

Good practice is to store the full query and response for each confirmation, including date and time, the VAT ID queried, the data submitted for matching, and the result returned. Retention periods follow the general rules for tax documentation in Germany, which require records to be kept for several years after the end of the relevant tax period. The exact duration and form of retention are set by statute and can change over time.

Related pages

• VAT ID guide — Format and issuance of the USt-IdNr.
• Tax numbers — Differences among German tax identifiers.
• Register extract — For registered legal facts about a counterparty.