Validate Endpoint

GET /v1/validate/:vat_id

Validates a VAT ID against VIES and/or BZSt.

Authentication: Optional for first 5–10 requests (Tier 0 anonymous). API key required thereafter.

Path Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
vat_id	string	The VAT ID to validate (e.g., DE811575812)

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
requester_vat_id	string	Your own VAT ID (for BZSt qualified requests)
company_name	string	Expected company name (triggers qualified confirmation)
company_street	string	Expected street address
company_city	string	Expected city
company_zip	string	Expected postal code
force_live	boolean	Skip cache, query source directly

Response

{
  "valid": true,
  "vat_id": "DE811575812",
  "country_code": "DE",
  "vat_number": "811575812",
  "company_name": "SAP SE",
  "company_address": "Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16, 69190 Walldorf",
  "source": "vies",
  "source_timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "cache": false,
  "qualified_confirmation": null,
  "request_id": "abc123",
  "requested_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}

Qualified Confirmation

When company_name, company_city, company_zip, or company_street are provided, BZSt performs a qualified confirmation (§ 18e UStG) and the response includes match results:

{
  "qualified_confirmation": {
    "name_match": "match",
    "street_match": "match",
    "zip_match": "match",
    "city_match": "match",
    "receipt_id": "GQ-QC-20260410-A7K2M9P4R3",
    "issued_at": "2026-04-10T12:34:56.000Z",
    "source": "giltiq-issued"
  }
}

Match values: match, mismatch, not_queried, not_provided

When company data is supplied, the response includes a receipt_id you can later retrieve via GET /v1/qualified-confirmations/{receipt_id} for audit purposes.

For full details on the §18e UStG audit workflow, including how to retrieve past receipts and what the receipt model covers, see the Qualified Confirmation Guide.