How to check if a business is VAT registered

You may wish to confirm that the business you are dealing with is VAT registered for a variety of reasons. If you traded with the EU before 01 January 2021, you may be familiar with the EU wide site where you can check an EU business’s VAT number. While that is no longer an option, you can still check a UK VAT number.

It can be a helpful check; if a VAT number is incorrect or invalid, so is their invoice and HMRC may disallow your VAT claim.

It is difficult to confirm if a business is VAT registered without their VAT number. Although there are various websites where you can enter a business name and they will give you their VAT number, these are not official government websites and the information may be incomplete or incorrect.

If you already have the VAT number for a business, it is a simple check to ensure it matches the business you are dealing with. Click here.

You can enter the VAT number and this will confirm the business name and the address, as per HMRC’s records. If you wish to keep a copy of this check or some reference that you have carried out this task, you can also enter your own VAT number and the site will allocate a reference number to this request.