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Node.js EU VAT Validation API

Validate EU VAT numbers from any Node.js backend — Express, Fastify, Next.js API routes, or plain scripts — using Node 18+ native fetch or axios. Returns company name, address, and registration status from VIES in under 100ms.

Quick start

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  http://localhost:3000/api/v1/validate/DE/DE123456789

Code example

Full integration example including error handling for service_unavailable responses from VIES.

// Node.js 18+ — uses native fetch, no extra dependencies
const res = await fetch(
  'http://localhost:3000/api/v1/validate/DE/DE123456789',
  { headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' } }
);
const data = await res.json();

if (data.valid) {
  console.log('Active EU business:', data.company_name);
} else if (data.status === 'service_unavailable') {
  // VIES is temporarily down — do not silently zero-rate
  console.warn('VIES unavailable — retry later');
} else {
  console.log('Invalid VAT number');
}
// data.valid         => true
// data.status        => "active"
// data.company_name  => "Example GmbH"
// data.country_code  => "DE"

import requests

resp = requests.get(
    "http://localhost:3000/api/v1/validate/DE/DE123456789",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"},
    timeout=10,
)
data = resp.json()

if data["valid"]:
    print("Active EU business:", data["company_name"])
elif data["status"] == "service_unavailable":
    raise RuntimeError("VIES unavailable — retry later")
else:
    print("Invalid VAT number")

API response

The TaxID API returns a consistent JSON response for every validation:

{
  "valid": true,
  "status": "active",
  "country_code": "DE",
  "vat_number": "DE123456789",
  "company_name": "Example GmbH",
  "company_address": "Musterstraße 1, 10115 Berlin",
  "request_date": "2026-05-10T00:00:00.000Z",
  "cached": false,
  "request_id": "req_01j..."
}

Implementation steps

1. 1

   Get a free TaxID API key

   Sign up at taxid.dev/signup. No credit card required. Store your API key as an environment variable (TAXID_API_KEY) — never hardcode it in source files or commit it to version control.

2. 2

   Make a GET request using native fetch (Node 18+) or axios

   Call GET /api/v1/validate/:country/:vat with your API key in the Authorization header. Node 18 and above include native fetch — no extra dependencies needed. For older Node versions, use axios or node-fetch.

3. 3

   Parse the response and check valid and status fields

   The API returns a JSON object with valid (boolean), status (string), company_name, and company_address. Check valid === true for a passing EU business. The status field gives more detail: 'active', 'invalid', 'not_found', or 'service_unavailable'.

4. 4

   Handle VIES service_unavailable gracefully

   VIES has occasional downtime. When status === 'service_unavailable', do not reject the customer — instead, log the event and apply a conservative fallback (charge standard VAT and follow up). The TaxID API caches results for 24h (valid) and 1h (invalid) to reduce upstream dependency.

Frequently asked questions

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