The EU VAT number format is not the same everywhere: Germany uses 9 digits after DE, France 11 characters after FR, and an Austrian number always starts with the letter U. When a customer from another country gives you their number, knowing what it should look like lets you catch a typo before you even check it. Below is the VAT number format for all 27 EU member states and Northern Ireland, with the official structure, a made-up example for each and the mistakes that come up most often.
EU VAT number format: table for the 27 countries and XI
The “Official structure” column uses the European Commission’s notation: 9 is a digit, L a letter, X a letter or a digit, and S a letter, a digit, “+” or “*”. The examples are made up: they show the shape of the number, belong to no company, and none of them comes back as valid in VIES.
| Country (prefix) | Official structure | After the prefix | Made-up example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria (AT) | ATU99999999 |
9 characters: the letter U and 8 digits | ATU12345678 |
| Belgium (BE) | BE0999999999BE1999999999 |
10 digits, starting with 0 or 1 | BE0123456789 |
| Bulgaria (BG) | BG999999999BG9999999999 |
9 or 10 digits | BG123456789 |
| Croatia (HR) | HR99999999999 |
11 digits | HR12345678901 |
| Cyprus (CY) | CY99999999L |
9 characters: 8 digits and a final letter | CY12345678X |
| Czechia (CZ) | CZ99999999CZ999999999CZ9999999999 |
8, 9 or 10 digits | CZ12345678 |
| Denmark (DK) | DK99 99 99 99 |
8 digits (VIES shows them in 4 blocks of 2) | DK12345678 |
| Estonia (EE) | EE999999999 |
9 digits | EE123456789 |
| Finland (FI) | FI99999999 |
8 digits | FI12345678 |
| France (FR) | FRXX 999999999 |
11 characters: a 2-character key and the 9-digit SIREN | FR12123456789 |
| Germany (DE) | DE999999999 |
9 digits | DE123456789 |
| Greece (EL) | EL999999999 |
9 digits (the prefix is EL, not GR) | EL123456789 |
| Hungary (HU) | HU99999999 |
8 digits | HU12345678 |
| Ireland (IE) | IE9S99999LIE9999999WI |
8 characters (the 2nd may be a letter, the last is a letter) or 9: 7 digits, a letter from A to W and a letter from A to I | IE1234567TIE1234567WA |
| Italy (IT) | IT99999999999 |
11 digits | IT12345678901 |
| Latvia (LV) | LV99999999999 |
11 digits | LV12345678901 |
| Lithuania (LT) | LT999999999LT999999999999 |
9 or 12 digits | LT123456789 |
| Luxembourg (LU) | LU99999999 |
8 digits | LU12345678 |
| Malta (MT) | MT99999999 |
8 digits | MT12345678 |
| Netherlands (NL) | NLSSSSSSSSSSSS |
12 characters; the Belastingdienst describes them as 9 digits, the letter B and 2 digits | NL123456789B01 |
| Poland (PL) | PL9999999999 |
10 digits | PL1234567890 |
| Portugal (PT) | PT999999999 |
9 digits | PT123456789 |
| Romania (RO) | RO999999999 |
From 2 to 10 digits, not starting with 0 | RO12345678 |
| Slovakia (SK) | SK9999999999 |
10 digits | SK1234567890 |
| Slovenia (SI) | SI99999999 |
8 digits | SI12345678 |
| Spain (ES) | ESX9999999X |
9 characters: the first and last may be letters, but they cannot both be digits | ESB12345678 |
| Sweden (SE) | SE999999999999 |
12 digits; the last two are always 01 | SE123456789001 |
| Northern Ireland (XI) | XI999 9999 99XI999 9999 99 999XIGD999XIHA999 |
9 digits (12 for branch traders); GD or HA plus 3 digits for government departments and health authorities | XI123456789 |
Structures copied on 17 September 2026 from the “VAT identification number structure” table in the VIES FAQ (European Commission) and cross-checked against the “Aufbau der USt-IdNr. in den EU-Mitgliedstaaten” table published by Germany’s Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt), which is the source of the extra detail for Belgium, Ireland, Romania and Sweden.
How to read an EU VAT number
They all follow the same logic: two letters that identify the country that issued it, followed by the number. Article 215 of Directive 2006/112/EC sets this out: the prefix follows ISO 3166 alpha-2, with two exceptions written into the Directive itself. Greece may use EL, and XI is used for Northern Ireland.
What comes after the prefix is up to each country. In many of them it is the company’s domestic tax number with the country code in front. In others, such as Germany, it is a separate number issued through its own procedure. And some member states only record in VIES the numbers of businesses that have registered for intra-EU transactions, so a correct domestic tax number does not guarantee a valid VAT number.
Check digits are not published: in the same FAQ, the Commission says it cannot disclose the algorithms member states use to build their numbers. That is why the format helps you rule out errors, but only VIES tells you whether a number exists.
The countries that trip people up
Greece: EL, not GR
Greece’s ISO code is GR, but its VAT numbers start with EL. It is a frequent mistake with Greek customers, especially in shops that build the number from the billing country. It is not a detail: the VIES service works with 28 codes (the 27 countries, with EL for Greece, plus XI), and if you send it GR it returns an input error. If you sell there, the rates are in our guide to VAT in Greece.
Spain: ES and a 9-character NIF
ES is followed by 9 characters. The first and last may be letters, but they are never both digits. A number shaped like a company’s would be ESB12345678 (made up). Two easy mistakes: sending the number without ES, or with the prefix twice.
France: a 2-character key and the SIREN
According to Service Public Entreprendre, the French number is made up of FR, a 2-digit computer key and the company’s 9-digit SIREN. The VIES table also allows letters in those first two positions, so a letter there is not necessarily an error.
Netherlands: the btw-id, not the internal number
The Belastingdienst describes the btw-id as NL, 9 digits, the letter B and 2 digits. Dutch sole traders also have a different omzetbelastingnummer, which includes their personal number and is only used with the tax office: the one that goes on the invoice, and the one to ask for, is the btw-id. The VIES structure also allows letters and the “+” and “*” signs.
Austria, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden
- Austria: the U is part of the number.
AT12345678has the wrong format;ATU12345678has the right one (both made up). - Ireland: 8-character and 9-character numbers coexist, and both end in a letter.
- Belgium: 10 digits. Old 9-digit numbers are completed with a leading 0.
- Sweden: 12 digits, and the last two are always 01.
Northern Ireland: XI, not GB
VIES no longer accepts the GB prefix: when we queried it on 17 September 2026, the service returned an input error. Businesses in Northern Ireland that trade goods with the EU put XI in front of their usual VAT number, as explained in the GOV.UK guidance, and those numbers can be checked in VIES. For the rest of the UK, see our guide to VAT in the UK.
Numbers ending in EX
The Directive provides that a small business wishing to apply the VAT exemption in a member state where it is not established is identified in its own country by a number carrying the suffix EX (Article 284(3)). It is not a format error or the usual VAT number: it tells you the supplier uses the small business exemption, and it charges no VAT on the supplies it covers.
Common mistakes when typing it
When a number comes back as invalid, the VIES FAQ recommends starting with the basics: check with your customer the number of characters, the length and the country prefix. These are the most common slip-ups:
- GR instead of EL for Greece, or GB instead of XI for Northern Ireland.
- Spaces, dots and hyphens. VIES asks for the number as a continuous string, without spaces or dots, and with letters in upper case. The official notation for Denmark or France shows blocks, but you do not type them separately.
- Missing or doubled prefix. In forms where you pick the country from a drop-down, like the VIES one, the prefix is already there: check whether the field expects the number with or without it.
- Domestic tax number instead of VAT number. A valid domestic number may not be in VIES if the business has not registered for intra-EU trade.
- Missing letters. Austria’s U, the Netherlands’ B, or the final letter for Cyprus and Ireland.
- A number from another country. The prefix must match the country that issued the number; if it does not match your customer’s billing country, ask before you invoice.
Three checks before invoicing without VAT: the format matches the table, the number comes back valid in our EU VAT number checker (VIES), and the country and, if VIES returns them, the name and address match the order. If you are selling to a consumer, the EU VAT calculator tells you which rate to charge.
When you need your customer’s VAT number
For a supply of goods to a business in another EU country, Article 138 of the Directive exempts the sale from VAT when the buyer is a taxable person or a legal person, is identified for VAT in another member state and has given you that number. The exemption also depends on paperwork: under Article 138(1a) it does not apply if you fail to report the supply correctly in your recapitulative statement, unless you can duly justify it.
The number must also appear on the invoice: Article 226 lists it among the mandatory details for exempt intra-EU supplies of goods and for transactions where the customer is liable for the VAT under the reverse charge.
You need your own VAT number too, valid for intra-EU trade. In some countries that means a specific registration on top of your domestic one, so check it before your first cross-border B2B sale.
Consumers have no VAT number to ask for: the VAT you charge depends on whether you have crossed the €10,000 distance sales threshold. The whole mechanism, case by case, is in our guide to intra-community VAT in WooCommerce.
Do European customers enter VAT numbers in your WooCommerce store?
EHERO Woo VAT strips spaces, dots and hyphens, converts the number to upper case, adds the prefix from the billing country when the customer leaves it out (EL for Greece) and checks each country’s format before querying VIES. If the number is valid and the prefix matches the customer’s country, it applies the exemption server-side and keeps a record of the validation.
FAQ
How many characters does an EU VAT number have?
It depends on the country. In the 27 member states there are between 8 and 12 characters after the 2-letter prefix, except in Romania, which allows from 2 to 10 digits. The table above gives the exact length for each one.
Why does a Greek VAT number start with EL?
Because Article 215 of the VAT Directive allows Greece to use EL instead of its ISO code, GR. In VIES and on invoices, the correct prefix is EL; with GR, VIES returns an error.
If the format is right, is the number valid?
No. The format only rules out typos. The examples on this page have the right shape and none of them exists: we checked them in VIES on 17 September 2026. Validity is checked in VIES and must hold on the date of the transaction.
Can UK VAT numbers be checked in VIES?
GB numbers cannot: the United Kingdom has left the EU. Northern Ireland numbers with the XI prefix, used by businesses trading goods with the EU, can.
What does a number ending in EX mean?
It identifies a small business applying the VAT exemption in a member state where it is not established, under Article 284(3) of the Directive. The number is issued by its country of establishment, and it charges no VAT on the supplies covered by the exemption.
Keep reading
- Check an EU VAT number in VIES: the tool that tells you whether the number exists
- EU VAT rates by country in 2026: the table for all 27
- Intra-community VAT in WooCommerce: exemption, OSS and VIES in an online shop
Sources
- European Commission, VIES FAQ, “VAT identification number structure” table.
- Council Directive 2006/112/EC, consolidated text of 14 April 2025: Articles 138, 215, 226 and 284.
- Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, “Aufbau der USt-IdNr. in den EU-Mitgliedstaaten”.
- Belastingdienst, btw-identificatienummer en omzetbelastingnummer; Service Public Entreprendre, numéro de TVA intracommunautaire; GOV.UK, selling or moving goods between Northern Ireland and the EU.
This page explains the format of VAT numbers; it is not a substitute for your tax adviser’s view on a specific transaction.
