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Finnish VAT Number Checker
A Finnish VAT number is built from the business ID (Y-tunnus): drop the hyphen and add FI. Business ID 1234567-8 becomes FI12345678.
Every Finnish business has a Y-tunnus, but only businesses entered in the VAT register (arvonlisäverorekisteri) have an active VAT number.
Checked live against VIES, the European Commission’s VAT Information Exchange System. Not affiliated with the European Commission or the Finland tax authority.
Finland VAT number format
- Local name
- ALV-numero (Arvonlisäveronumero)
- Structure
- FI + 8 digits
- Format example
- FI12345678Illustrative: right shape, not a registered business.
- Standard rate
- 25.5% · reduced 14%, 10%
FI plus eight digits, no hyphen. The last digit is the Y-tunnus check digit.
How this Finland check works
- Format, in your browser. As you type, the number is compared with the Finland pattern (prefix, length and characters). This costs nothing and sends nothing: a number in the wrong shape is rejected on the spot and never reaches the registry.
- Registration, live. A well-formed number is then looked up in VIES, the European Commission’s VAT Information Exchange System, which says whether it is registered today and, where the register publishes them, the business name and address. Free checks are limited per visitor per hour so the registry is not scraped through this page.
- More checks, or from your code. A free account gives you an API key with 100 validations a month, the same answer as this page as JSON.
What usually goes wrong
Sending the Y-tunnus with its hyphen
1234567-8 is the business ID as Finns write it. The checker strips the hyphen, but code that passes the raw string to VIES will fail.
Assuming every business ID is VAT registered
Small businesses below the registration threshold have a Y-tunnus and no VAT registration. VIES will report the number as invalid.
Frequently asked questions
How do I turn a Y-tunnus into a VAT number?
Remove the hyphen and put FI in front: 1234567-8 → FI12345678.
What is an ALV-numero?
ALV is the Finnish abbreviation for VAT, so an ALV-numero is the VAT number.
Is checking the format enough?
No. The format check catches typos; the VIES lookup tells you whether the number is registered today.
Validating Finland numbers from your own code instead of by hand? The Finland VAT validation API guide has the endpoint, the response shape and examples in four languages. To check a number from another country, go back to the VAT number checker.