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Confirming an EU customer's VAT number in Germany — before you invoice

Before you invoice a VAT-exempt supply of goods, or a service without German VAT, to a business in another EU Member State, have its VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.) confirmed by the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, BZSt) under § 18e no. 1 UStG — free, online, and AT THE TIME of the supply: there is no confirmation for past dates. The simple confirmation (einfache Bestätigung) only tells you whether the number is valid; only the QUALIFIED confirmation (qualifizierte Bestätigung) also checks the company name, town, postcode and street. The BZSt sends no written confirmation: your evidence is the printout or screenshot you keep yourself.

Up to date for 2026 — verified on September 23, 2026Official procedure, no printed formGuide: about 10 min

This content is part of the path: Handling VAT on business within the EU· Step 6 of 9· Next step: German EC sales list (Zusammenfassende Meldung)

Deadlines

Confirmation: at the time of the supply, not after the event
The procedure checks whether the supply goes to a registered business AT THE TIME it is made; according to the BZSt, confirmations for past dates or periods are not possible
Invoice for an intra-Community supply of goods: by the 15th day of the following month
§ 14a(3) sentence 1 UStG — showing the VAT number of the supplier AND that of the recipient (sentence 2)
Invoice for a service within § 3a(2) UStG supplied in another Member State: also by the 15th day of the following month
§ 14a(1) sentence 2 UStG — with both VAT numbers (sentence 3) and the wording "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers" (reverse charge, sentence 1)
Maintenance window: daily from 23:00 to 05:00
The BZSt warns of possible delays during that window; after a timeout it advises querying again at another time of day rather than immediately

Documents to prepare

  • Your own German VAT identification number
  • The customer's VAT number in the other EU Member State
  • The customer's company name including legal form, as registered in its Member State
  • The customer's street and house number, postcode and town
  • A place in your records for the printout, screenshot or data record of the query
  • The date of the supply, to work out the invoicing deadline of the 15th of the following month
See the procedure on the official site

No form is attached to this procedure: the link leads to the official page that describes it.

What this page gives you

The guide above and the link to the official site. ActioFin does not produce any document for this page: whatever you fill in or file is done on the official medium.

Who this applies to

  • Any holder of a German VAT identification number — only they may run a query, and every query must state their own German number
  • Anyone supplying goods to a customer in another Member State who wants to treat the sale as an exempt intra-Community supply (innergemeinschaftliche Lieferung): the customer must have used a VALID VAT number issued to them by another Member State (§ 6a(1) sentence 1 no. 4 UStG)
  • Anyone providing a service to a business in another Member State that, under § 3a(2) UStG, is supplied where the recipient runs its business — proving the recipient's business status allows, where the other conditions are met, the tax liability to shift to the recipient (reverse charge)
  • NOT anyone who still needs to obtain their OWN VAT number: that is allocation under § 27a UStG, requested on start-up through the tax registration questionnaire (Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung)
  • NOT anyone who needs to REPORT intra-Community transactions: that is the recapitulative statement (Zusammenfassende Meldung), a separate obligation
  • NOT the foreign business partner who wants to check YOUR German number: the BZSt confirms foreign numbers to German businesses only; the partner turns to the central authority of their own Member State
  • NOT for German VAT numbers: German businesses generally cannot query them; § 18e no. 3 UStG provides for this only for operators of electronic interfaces within § 25e(1) UStG

Worked example

Holzwerk Brandt GmbH ships a machine to a French SAS

Holzwerk Brandt GmbH, based in Kassel, sells a planing machine for EUR 18,000 net to Menuiserie Arnaud SAS in Lyon on 20 March and has it shipped to France by a haulier. On the day of dispatch the bookkeeper enters the company's own German VAT number and the customer's French number in the BZSt online form: the simple confirmation reports the number as valid. For the qualified confirmation she enters the company name with its legal form, street, postcode and town from the purchase order — the street comes back as "stimmt nicht überein" (does not match). The BZSt will not tell her what is on record; she calls the customer, who explains that the registered office has moved and that only they can update the data with their own tax authority. With the new address, the second query matches in full. She files the screenshot in the accounting system, since the BZSt sends nothing in writing. The invoice, without German VAT and showing both VAT numbers, goes out on 3 April — before 15 April, the limit set by § 14a(3) sentence 1 UStG. Had the customer given a wrong number, § 6a(4) UStG would preserve the exemption only if the inaccuracy could not have been detected even with the care of a prudent businessperson — the stored record of the qualified query is how the company can show that care.

How to fill it in, step by step

  1. Before the supply, obtain the customer's VAT number and its company name with legal form, street, postcode and town exactly as registered in its Member State.
  2. Open the BZSt online query (Bestätigung von USt-IdNrn.) or, for large volumes, the REST API — the XML-RPC interface has been obsolete since 30 November 2025.
  3. Start with the SIMPLE confirmation: enter your own German VAT number and the foreign number to be checked; it must always precede the qualified confirmation.
  4. Run the QUALIFIED confirmation: enter the company name including legal form, street and house number, postcode and town, and read the result field by field.
  5. If a field returns "stimmt nicht überein": contact your business partner — the BZSt does not disclose the data on record, and only the partner can have it corrected by their authority.
  6. Keep the evidence: a printout, the result saved in a commonly used format, or a screenshot in your system; with the interface, the data record received.
  7. Issue the invoice showing your VAT number and the customer's by the 15th day of the following month (§ 14a(3) UStG for goods, § 14a(1) UStG for services within § 3a(2) UStG).
  8. Then report the transaction in the recapitulative statement — the confirmation does not replace it.

Good to know

  • Germany stores no data on other Member States' VAT numbers: the BZSt forwards the query automatically to the authority of the Member State concerned and merely passes on its answer.
  • The BZSt's answer is not a legal assessment. According to the BZSt, questions about the exemption of an intra-Community supply belong with the competent local tax office (Finanzamt).
  • The supplier must prove the conditions of an intra-Community supply (§ 6a(3) sentence 1 UStG) — the confirmation is one building block, not the whole proof.
  • Good-faith protection under § 6a(4) UStG: where the exemption rests on incorrect information from the customer that could not have been detected even with the care of a prudent businessperson, the supply remains exempt — and the customer owes the VAT lost.
  • The confirmation is free; the BZSt charges no fees.
  • The BZSt sends no written confirmation — neither for online queries nor for the interface.
  • According to the BZSt, spelling mistakes, transposed letters or special characters do not usually produce a "does not match" result: such a result is a reason to check with the partner.
  • For services to a business, the place of supply is where the recipient runs its business (§ 3a(2) sentence 1 UStG); subsections 3 to 8 and §§ 3b and 3e UStG take precedence — for instance services connected with land, supplied where the land is located.

Common mistakes

  • Running only the simple confirmation. It tells you the number is valid, not that it belongs to the business you are supplying.
  • Planning to run the confirmation when an audit comes. Confirmations for past dates are not possible.
  • Waiting for a written confirmation from the BZSt. There is none — the evidence is your own printout, screenshot or data record.
  • Asking the BZSt for the correct data after a "does not match" result. It does not disclose them; only the business partner can give them or have them changed by their authority.
  • Issuing the invoice without both VAT numbers. § 14a(3) sentence 2 and § 14a(1) sentence 3 UStG require the supplier's number AND the recipient's.
  • Invoicing at the end of the following month. The limit is the 15th day of the following month (§ 14a(1) sentence 2 and (3) sentence 1 UStG).
  • Confusing the confirmation query with the application for your OWN VAT number. One is § 18e UStG at the BZSt, the other § 27a UStG.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the simple and the qualified confirmation?

The simple confirmation tells you whether the foreign VAT number is valid, at the time of the query, in the Member State that issued it. The qualified confirmation also checks whether the company name including legal form, town, postcode and street match the data registered there. The simple one must always come first.

Who may run a query?

Any holder of a German VAT number; each query must state your own German number. The legal basis is § 18e no. 1 UStG: the BZSt confirms to the business the validity of a number issued by another Member State and the name and address of its holder.

Can I have a number confirmed retroactively?

No. According to the BZSt, confirmations for past dates or periods are not possible — which is why the query belongs in the process BEFORE the invoice.

How do I evidence the query?

For the online query, by keeping the printout or saving the result in a commonly used format or as a screenshot in your system; for the interface, through the data record received from the BZSt. The BZSt refers to section 18e.1 of the VAT Application Decree (Umsatzsteuer-Anwendungserlass) for this.

What if the customer gave me a wrong number?

§ 6a(4) UStG: the supply is nonetheless treated as exempt where the exemption was claimed on the basis of incorrect information from the customer and you could not have detected the inaccuracy even with the care of a prudent businessperson; the customer then owes the VAT lost.

The online query is not working — what now?

Try again later: maintenance may run between 23:00 and 05:00, and the BZSt advises against repeating a query immediately after a timeout. According to the BZSt, when online queries are impossible because of technical faults or maintenance, telephone queries via the hotline are not possible either.

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Guide and document provided for information purposes only; they do not constitute personalised legal or tax advice. Check the recipient organisation's requirements and consult a professional if needed.