How to Validate a VAT Number in Java

Due to advances in technology, international trade and business have been steadily climbing over the past couple decades. Increased online interactions have done their part to make the world smaller and trade prospects wider, and while the pandemic hit the global trading business hard last year, the World Trade Organization is projecting a boost of 8.0% in 2021.

In order to position your company for successful international business travel and transactions in the upcoming year, Value-Added Tax (VAT) regulations must be considered. The European Union requires businesses to be registered with a VAT identification number on the VAT Information Exchange System; if the business is not registered, then they are not eligible to trade within the EU. To internally validate VAT registration, the following API will allow your systems to parse and verify input VAT numbers and return contact information for the corresponding business. Each VAT number should begin with the two-letter ISO country code; possible country codes include Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Cyprus (CY), Czech Republic (CZ), Germany (DE), Denmark (DK), Estonia (EE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), Finland (FI), France (FR), United Kingdom (GB), Croatia (HR), Hungary (HU), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Latvia (LV), Malta (MT), The Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Sweden (SE), Slovenia (SI), and Slovakia (SK).

To begin the process, we will install the Maven SDK by adding a reference to the repository in pom.xml:

<repositories>

    <repository>

        <id>jitpack.io</id>

        <url>https://jitpack.io</url>

    </repository>

</repositories>

Then, we will add a reference to the dependency:

xxxxxxxxxx

<dependencies>

<dependency>

    <groupId>com.github.Cloudmersive</groupId>

    <artifactId>Cloudmersive.APIClient.Java</artifactId>

    <version>v3.90</version>

</dependency>

</dependencies>

With the installation complete, we’re ready to move on to adding the imports to the top of our controller and calling the validation function with the following code:

x

// Import classes:

//import com.cloudmersive.client.invoker.ApiClient;

//import com.cloudmersive.client.invoker.ApiException;

//import com.cloudmersive.client.invoker.Configuration;

//import com.cloudmersive.client.invoker.auth.*;

//import com.cloudmersive.client.VatApi;

ApiClient defaultClient = Configuration.getDefaultApiClient();

// Configure API key authorization: Apikey

ApiKeyAuth Apikey = (ApiKeyAuth) defaultClient.getAuthentication("Apikey");

Apikey.setApiKey("YOUR API KEY");

// Uncomment the following line to set a prefix for the API key, e.g. "Token" (defaults to null)

//Apikey.setApiKeyPrefix("Token");

VatApi apiInstance = new VatApi();

VatLookupRequest input = new VatLookupRequest(); // VatLookupRequest | Input VAT code

try {

    VatLookupResponse result = apiInstance.vatVatLookup(input);

    System.out.println(result);

} catch (ApiException e) {

    System.err.println("Exception when calling VatApi#vatVatLookup");

    e.printStackTrace();

}

To ensure the operations run smoothly, you will need to include the following parameters:

• VAT Code - the VAT code you wish to perform the validation function on
• API Key - your personal API key; this can be retrieved by registering for a free account on the Cloudmersive website.

The output for this simple process will indicate the validity of the VAT number, and as promised, will also deliver business contact information for the valid VAT numbers including the business name, address, and the building in which it’s located. This will set you and your company up for success as you pursue new international business opportunities.