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Why does the VIES website say my VAT ID is invalid?

  • 11 March 2024
  • Edited 23 October 2026
  • 1 min
  • International
  • Managing and growing
  • Sandra Visser-Meijer

Do you check your VAT number in VIES (VAT Information Exchange System)? And do you see a message saying that your VAT identification number is invalid? You have probably entered your VAT tax number instead of your VAT ID. This happens particularly often with eenmanszaken. So please check which number you are entering.

The message stating that your VAT number is invalid can sometimes be due to other reasons. For example, if your details have not yet been processed in VIES. VIES is a search engine run by the European Commission. It allows you to check the VAT numbers of European businesses and see immediately whether a VAT number is valid for trade within the EU. VIES is not a standalone database. The system searches the national databases of the various Member States itself.

Check which number you enter

As the owner of an eenmanszaak, you received two numbers from the Netherlands Tax Administration (Belastingdienst). A VAT identification number and a VAT tax number. You only use the VAT tax number for contact with the Tax Administration. For example, when you file tax returns. For eenmanszaken, the VAT tax number is based on the citizen service number (BSN).

Your VAT ID is not based on your citizen service number. This means your privacy is better protected than with your VAT tax number

VAT identification number

The VAT number you use for doing business is officially called VAT identification number, or VAT ID. This is a unique number for all legal structures. Also for sole proprietorships and freelancers. You use your VAT ID for your contact with customers and suppliers in the Netherlands and the EU. You put this number on your website and invoices, for example. You should also provide this number to suppliers if they want to check your VAT number in VIES.

Do not use your VAT tax number on the VIES website

Do not search the VIES website with your VAT tax number. This number is only for contact with the Tax Adminstration so it is not in the VIES system. If you enter your VAT tax number on the VIES website, you get the message 'Invalid VAT number for cross-border transactions within the EU'. If you enter your VAT ID, you get the message 'Yes, valid VAT number'.

Other reasons for an invalid number

There are also other reasons why VIES reports that a VAT number is invalid. 

  • The VAT number does not exist.
  • Changes have not yet been processed in VIES.
  • The national database is temporarily unavailable.

First, check that you are using your VAT ID and that you have entered it correctly. Is it still not working? Then please contact the Netherlands Tax Administration.

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