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PHP EU VAT Validation API

Validate EU VAT numbers from PHP backends using cURL or Guzzle. Works with Laravel, Symfony, WordPress, and plain PHP. Returns live company data from VIES in a single REST call — no SOAP or XML required.

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.

<?php
$country   = 'DE';
$vatNumber = 'DE123456789';
$apiKey    = getenv('TAXID_API_KEY');

$ch = curl_init("http://localhost:3000/api/v1/validate/{$country}/{$vatNumber}");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ["Authorization: Bearer {$apiKey}"],
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT        => 10,
]);

$data = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
curl_close($ch);

if ($data['valid']) {
    echo "Active EU business: " . $data['company_name'];
} elseif ($data['status'] === 'service_unavailable') {
    // VIES is down — do not silently zero-rate
    throw new \RuntimeException('VIES unavailable — retry later');
} else {
    echo "Invalid VAT number";
}

<?php
// Using Guzzle: composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle
use GuzzleHttp\Client;

$client = new Client([
    'base_uri' => 'http://localhost:3000',
    'timeout'  => 10,
]);

$response = $client->get('/api/v1/validate/DE/DE123456789', [
    'headers' => [
        'Authorization' => 'Bearer ' . getenv('TAXID_API_KEY'),
    ],
]);

$data = json_decode($response->getBody(), true);

if ($data['valid']) {
    echo "Active EU business: " . $data['company_name'];
}

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. Store your API key in your .env file as TAXID_API_KEY and load it with getenv() or your framework's config (config('services.taxid.key') in Laravel, $this->getParameter() in Symfony).

2. 2

   Make a GET request with cURL or Guzzle

   Use curl_init() and curl_exec() for plain PHP or WordPress, or the GuzzleHttp\Client for Laravel and Symfony. Both approaches send the Authorization header with your API key and parse the JSON response.

3. 3

   Parse the JSON response

   Call json_decode($body, true) to get an associative array. Check $data['valid'] === true for an active EU business. The $data['status'] field can be 'active', 'invalid', 'not_found', or 'service_unavailable'.

4. 4

   Handle errors and service downtime

   Throw a distinct exception for status 'service_unavailable' so you can handle it separately from a genuinely invalid VAT number. A good fallback: charge standard VAT, log the event, and queue the customer for re-validation once VIES recovers.

Frequently asked questions

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