My VAT number is rejected, what should I do?

Short answer: Read the message: “not recognized by the VIES service” points at the number, “verification service unavailable” points at our checker. In both cases the number is not saved.

The number was submitted to the European Commission's service, which does not know it.

Check what you typed: the country code in front, no spaces, no dashes, no dots. A French number starts with FR, a Belgian one with BE.

If what you typed is right and the rejection persists, the number may not be active with the authorities yet. That delay is not on our side.

This time the number is not at fault: the verification service is not answering. Try again a little later, there is nothing else to do.

The field falls back to its previous value: nothing is saved until the number has been recognized.