Validate VAT Registration Numbers
It is important that the VAT registration numbers you have for customers, vendors, and contacts are valid, if you use Business Central in a country/region that uses VAT. For example, companies sometimes change their tax liability status, and in some countries/regions tax authorities might ask you to provide reports, such as the EC Sales List report, that list the VAT registration numbers you use when you do business.
The European Commission provides the VIES VAT Number Validation service on its website, which is public and free. Business Central can save you a step and let you use the VIES service to validate and track VAT numbers and other company information for customers, vendors, and contacts. The service in Business Central is named EU VAT Reg. No. Validation Service. The service is available on the Service Connections page, and you can start using it right away. The service connection is free, and additional sign up is not required.
Configure the service to verify VAT registration numbers automatically
To enable the EU VAT Reg. No. Validation Service, open the entry in the Service Connection page. If the Service Endpoint field is not already filled in, use the Set Default Endpoint action. Then set the Enabled field, and you are good to go.
Important
To enable the validation service, you must have administrator permissions.
Optionally, set up templates for the types of VAT-related data that you want the service to also check. For more information, see the Validation templates section.
When you use our service connection, we record a history of VAT numbers and verifications for each customer, vendor, or contact, in the VAT Registration Log, so you can easily track them. The log is specific to each customer. For example, the log is useful for proving that you have verified that the current VAT number is correct. When you verify a VAT number, the Request Identifier column in the log will reflect that you have taken action.
You can view the VAT Registration log on the Customer, Vendor, or Contact cards, on the Invoicing FastTab, by choosing the lookup button in the VAT Registration No. field.
There are a couple of things to note about the VIES VAT Number Validation service:
- The service uses the http protocol, which means that data transferred through the service is not encrypted.
- You may experience downtime for this service for which Microsoft is not responsible. The service is part of a broad EU network of national VAT registers.
Important
It is your responsibility to check that the data is valid. On occasion, data with errors is returned by the VIES VAT Number Validation service. If validation fails, validate the VAT registration numbers on the web site, print the result or save it to a shared location, and then add the link to the record for your customer, vendor, or contact. For more information, see Manage Attachments, Links, and Notes on Cards and Documents.
Validation templates
You can use the VIES service to also check other company information, such as the address, as well as the VAT registration number. In the VAT Reg. No. Validation Templates page, create an entry for each country/region that you want to get further validation for, and then specify the information that you want to get validated automatically.
For example, add an entry for Spain where you want to get validation for name, street, city, and post code, and then another entry for Germany where you just want validation for post code, for example. Then, in the EU VAT Registration No. Validation Service Setup page, specify the default template.
Note
Always make sure that the default template works for your needs. You can change the default to match your requirements, such as get validation for all fields or no fields.
The next time that you specify a VAT registration number, the service validates the number and any additional data as determined by your validation templates. If the specified values are different from the values that are returned by the service, you will see the details in the Validation Details page where you can accept or reset the values.
See Also
Set Up Value-Added Tax
Setting Up Unrealized Value Added Tax
Report VAT to a Tax Authority
Work with VAT on Sales and Purchases
Local functionality in Business Central