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Check an EU VAT number before you invoice.

Type your customer's VAT number. We ask the EU's VIES database whether it's valid and show the name and address it's registered to, where the country shares them.

  • All 27 EU countries and Northern Ireland
  • Answers straight from VIES
  • Free, no sign-up

Cyprus: CY and 8 digits and a letter. Paste it with or without the country letters.

The answer appears here.

Type a number and press Check. VIES usually answers in a few seconds, with the name and address where the country shares them.

The answer comes from VIES, the European Commission's database of the VAT registrations each country reports. Some countries don't share the name or address. Nothing you check is stored. For a record that names you as the one who checked, use the VIES website with your own VAT number: it issues a consultation number.

Why the number has to be valid.

When you sell to a business in another EU country without charging Cyprus VAT, its VAT number is your evidence that it's a business. Check it before you invoice.

  • Reverse charge on services

    Services to a business customer in another EU country carry no Cyprus VAT. The customer accounts for it. Their VAT number shows they're a business.

  • Zero-rated goods

    Goods sent to a business in another EU country are exempt only if the customer has a valid VAT number from an EU country other than Cyprus. Without one, Cyprus VAT applies.

  • Your VIES return

    Each of those sales goes on your VIES return under the customer's VAT number. A wrong number shows up as a mismatch.

  • A record of the check

    Keep the date you checked and the answer with the invoice. If the Tax Department asks, it shows you took care.

VAT numbers, answered.

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CY, then 8 digits and a letter, like CY12345678X. The checker catches a number with the wrong shape before it asks VIES, so a missing digit shows straight away.

The VAT Information Exchange System, run by the European Commission. Each EU country reports its VAT registrations to it, and anyone can check a number there. Businesses also file a VIES return listing their sales to VAT-registered customers in other EU countries.

Ask your customer to confirm it. A new registration can take a while to appear, and some businesses are registered for VAT at home but not for trade with other EU countries, so VIES shows them as not valid. Until the number checks out, don't leave Cyprus VAT off the invoice.

Some countries, Germany among them, don't share the name and address through VIES. The number can still be valid. If you need the details, ask your customer for a copy of their VAT registration.

Only numbers starting XI, for Northern Ireland businesses trading goods with the EU. Other UK numbers starting GB are checked on HMRC's own service, not VIES.

It's good practice to keep the date and the answer with the invoice. For a formal record, check on the VIES website with your own VAT number: it gives you a consultation number that proves when you checked and what it said.

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