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Alexander Nitrovich
Alexander Nitrovich

Posted on • Originally published at blog.eurovalidate.com

Check VAT France API

#api #vat #europe #tutorial

How to Check a French VAT Number via API

To check a French VAT number (numero de TVA intracommunautaire), send a GET request to https://api.eurovalidate.com/v1/vat/{number} with your API key. The API validates the format locally, then queries VIES (the EU VAT Information Exchange System) and returns the result. Unlike Germany or Spain, France returns both the company name and address from VIES, making it one of the most developer-friendly EU countries for VAT validation.

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://api.eurovalidate.com/v1/vat/FR40303265045
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French VAT Number Format

A French VAT number (numero de TVA intracommunautaire) consists of:

  • Country prefix: FR
  • 2-character validation key: two digits, two letters, or one of each
  • 9-digit SIREN number: the company's official registration number

Total length: 13 characters including the prefix.

The validation key is calculated from the SIREN using modulo 97. This means the API can reject obviously invalid numbers before contacting VIES, saving your quota.

Examples:

  • FR40303265045 (Sodimas SA)
  • FR82542065479 (Danone SA)
  • FRXX999999999 (invalid key format)

The key can contain letters (A-Z except I and O) or digits. This catches developers off guard because most EU countries use digits only.

Quick Examples

curl 

# Valid French VAT
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  https://api.eurovalidate.com/v1/vat/FR40303265045

# Invalid format (rejected locally with 400)
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  https://api.eurovalidate.com/v1/vat/FR123
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Node.js 

npm install @eurovalidate/sdk
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import { EuroValidate } from '@eurovalidate/sdk';

const ev = new EuroValidate(process.env.EUROVALIDATE_API_KEY);

const result = await ev.validateVat('FR40303265045');

if (result.status === 'valid') {
  console.log('Company:', result.company_name);
  console.log('Address:', result.company_address);
  console.log('Country:', result.country_code);
} else {
  console.log('VAT is invalid or not registered');
}
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Python 

pip install eurovalidate
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from eurovalidate import Client
import os

client = Client(api_key=os.environ["EUROVALIDATE_API_KEY"])
result = client.validate_vat("FR40303265045")

print(f"Status: {result.status}")
print(f"Company: {result.company_name}")
print(f"Address: {result.company_address}")
print(f"Confidence: {result.meta.confidence}")
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Valid Response 

{
  "vat_number": "FR40303265045",
  "country_code": "FR",
  "status": "valid",
  "company_name": "SA SODIMAS",
  "company_address": "RUE DE LA PAIX 75002 PARIS",
  "request_id": "req_fr789",
  "meta": {
    "confidence": "high",
    "source": "vies_live",
    "cached": false,
    "response_time_ms": 203,
    "last_verified": "2026-04-12T09:00:00Z",
    "upstream_status": "ok"
  }
}
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France returns both company_name and company_address from VIES. This is a significant advantage over Germany and Spain, which return null for both fields due to data protection restrictions.

Invalid Response 

{
  "vat_number": "FR00000000000",
  "country_code": "FR",
  "status": "invalid",
  "company_name": null,
  "company_address": null,
  "request_id": "req_fr456",
  "meta": {
    "confidence": "high",
    "source": "vies_live",
    "cached": false,
    "response_time_ms": 195,
    "upstream_status": "ok"
  }
}
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Format Error Response (400) 

{
  "type": "https://eurovalidate.dev/errors/http",
  "title": "VAT number for FR must be 11 characters (got 3)",
  "status": 400,
  "detail": "VAT number for FR must be 11 characters..."
}
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The API returns 400 immediately for FR123 without contacting VIES. This protects your hourly quota from typos and malformed input.

France vs Other EU Countries

Country Returns name? Returns address? Key format
France (FR) Yes Yes 2 chars + 9 digits
Germany (DE) No No 9 digits
Spain (ES) No No Letter + 7 digits + letter/digit
Italy (IT) Yes Yes 11 digits
Netherlands (NL) Yes Yes 9 digits + B + 2 digits

France is one of the best-behaved VIES responders. It has high uptime, returns full company data, and responds quickly compared to countries like Germany whose VIES backend is frequently overloaded.

The Alphanumeric Key

The two-character key after FR trips up many developers. Unlike most EU countries where the VAT number is purely numeric after the prefix, France allows letters in positions 3 and 4.

Valid key patterns:

  • Two digits: FR40... (most common)
  • Two letters: FRAB... (excluding I and O)
  • One digit + one letter: FR4A...
  • One letter + one digit: FRA4...

If you pre-validate the format yourself before calling the API, your regex must account for this. The API handles it automatically, accepting any valid combination.

// Correct regex for French VAT
const frVatRegex = /^FR[0-9A-HJ-NP-Z]{2}\d{9}$/;

// Wrong: digits only
const wrongRegex = /^FR\d{11}$/;
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Latency

Scenario Time
Cached (Redis hit) 1-5 ms
Live VIES call 150-250 ms
Format error (no VIES call) <10 ms
VIES timeout (rare) 5-15 s

France has one of the fastest and most reliable VIES backends. Typical response times are 150-250 ms for live lookups, consistently faster than Germany (250-400 ms) and Spain (200-350 ms).

Common Pitfalls

Rejecting letters in the key. The two-character key after FR can contain letters A-H, J-N, P-Z. If your input validation rejects FRAB123456789, you are blocking valid VAT numbers.

Confusing SIREN and SIRET. French businesses have a 9-digit SIREN (company identifier) and a 14-digit SIRET (establishment identifier). The VAT number uses the SIREN, not the SIRET. If a customer provides a SIRET, take the first 9 digits.

Case sensitivity. Some systems send fr40303265045. The API normalizes case, but if you validate the prefix yourself, accept both FR and fr.

Monaco companies. Monaco uses French VAT numbers with the FR prefix. A valid FR VAT number might belong to a Monaco-registered entity. If you need to distinguish between France and Monaco for tax purposes, check the address field in the VIES response.

DOM-TOM territories. French overseas territories (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion, etc.) are outside the EU VAT territory. Companies there may have SIREN numbers but no valid intra-community VAT number. The API will return invalid for these.

Using Company Data from VIES

Since France returns company data, you can use it for:

  1. Auto-filling checkout forms — pre-populate company name and address after VAT validation
  2. KYB verification — cross-reference the VIES company name with what the customer entered
  3. Invoice generation — use the official registered name and address on invoices

For richer company data (LEI, registration details), use the company lookup endpoint:

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  https://api.eurovalidate.com/v1/company/vat/FR40303265045
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This queries GLEIF and returns additional data if the entity has a Legal Entity Identifier.

Pricing

Tier Price Requests
Free EUR 0 100/hour
Starter EUR 19/mo 5,000/hour
Growth EUR 49/mo 25,000/hour
Scale EUR 149/mo 100,000/hour

The free tier covers development and testing. Starter handles most B2B SaaS billing flows with French customers.

Try It Now

Get a free API key and paste this into your terminal:

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  https://api.eurovalidate.com/v1/vat/FR40303265045
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