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Laravel EU VAT Validation API

Add EU VAT validation to your Laravel application with the TaxID API. Wire it into a Form Request validation rule, a dedicated service class, or a queued job so a business customer's VAT number is checked against VIES before you apply reverse-charge treatment or persist it to your database.

Quick start

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://www.taxid.dev/api/v1/validate/DE/DE123456789

Code example

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

<?php
// app/Services/VatValidator.php
namespace App\Services;

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;

class VatValidator
{
    public static function check(string $country, string $vat): array
    {
        return Http::withToken(config('services.taxid.key'))
            ->timeout(10)
            ->get("https://www.taxid.dev/api/v1/validate/{$country}/{$vat}")
            ->json();
    }
}

// Usage in a controller or action
$result = VatValidator::check('DE', 'DE123456789');

if ($result['status'] === 'active') {
    // Valid EU business — apply reverse charge
    $customer->update([
        'vat_number'       => $result['vat_number'],
        'vat_company'      => $result['company_name'],
        'vat_validated_at' => now(),
    ]);
} elseif ($result['status'] === 'service_unavailable') {
    // VIES down — allow through and re-check later
    ReValidateVat::dispatch($customer)->delay(now()->addMinutes(5));
}

<?php
// app/Rules/ValidVatNumber.php — php artisan make:rule ValidVatNumber
namespace App\Rules;

use App\Services\VatValidator;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\Rule;

class ValidVatNumber implements Rule
{
    public function passes($attribute, $value): bool
    {
        $country = strtoupper(substr($value, 0, 2));
        $result  = VatValidator::check($country, $value);

        // Treat a VIES outage as a soft pass, not a failure
        return $result['status'] !== 'invalid';
    }

    public function message(): string
    {
        return 'The :attribute is not a valid, registered EU VAT number.';
    }
}

// In your Form Request rules():
// 'vat_number' => ['required', 'string', new ValidVatNumber],

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, 100 validations/month on the free plan. Add the key to your .env file as TAXID_API_KEY and reference it through config/services.php rather than reading env() directly, so it works under config:cache in production.

2. 2

   Create a VatNumber service

   Add an App\Services\VatValidator class that wraps Laravel's Http client (Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http). Call Http::withToken(config('services.taxid.key'))->get("https://www.taxid.dev/api/v1/validate/{$country}/{$vat}") and return the decoded JSON. Set a timeout of 10 seconds so a slow VIES lookup never hangs a request.

3. 3

   Enforce it with a Form Request rule

   Generate a custom rule with php artisan make:rule ValidVatNumber and call the service inside passes(). Attach the rule to your checkout or onboarding Form Request so an invalid number is rejected with a validation error before it ever reaches your controller. Treat a status of 'service_unavailable' as a soft-pass, not a failure.

4. 4

   Store the validated result

   When status === 'active', persist the returned company_name, company_address, and a validated_at timestamp alongside the VAT number on your Customer model. This gives you the audit trail a tax authority will ask for, and lets you skip re-validation for numbers checked within the cache window.

5. 5

   Re-validate subscriptions with a scheduled command

   For recurring billing, add an Artisan command to app/Console/Kernel.php scheduled monthly that re-checks every customer flagged for reverse-charge. VAT registrations can be cancelled between billing cycles, and you need proof the number was valid at the time of each invoice — dispatch the checks onto a queue to avoid rate limits.

Frequently asked questions

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