German VAT number check
Look up a German VAT ID (USt-IdNr) in the EU VIES service. A German number is DE followed by 9 digits.
Run the check
What this checks
- Format
- DE + 9 digits
- Source
- European Commission VIES, queried live
- Also works for
- The other EU member states and Northern Ireland (XI). Not for UK (GB) numbers.
Free to use, up to 6 checks a minute and 60 a day from one address. The check runs on our server and the result is not stored by this tool.
Where to find it
A VAT ID is printed on invoices and often in the website footer of a business.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out the DE prefix.
- Using the national tax number (Steuernummer), which is a different identifier.
- Entering a UK VAT number. VIES no longer covers Great Britain.
Questions
Where does the answer come from?
Each check is sent live to the EU VIES service, which in turn asks the member state. Nothing is cached on this site.
Why does it sometimes say the service is unavailable?
VIES depends on each country tax authority being online. When it is not, you get an unavailable message instead of a false "invalid". Try again shortly.
Does it show the company name?
Only when the member state shares it through VIES. When it does not, the field is marked as not provided.