Normalise the input
Apply the selected country and handle common spacing, punctuation and identifier-format differences without changing the submitted meaning.
DATA SOURCES & METHODOLOGY
Resolve the company.
Understand the evidence.
VATFind connects company names and supported business identifiers to legal-entity records, then returns the available company fields with the context needed to interpret them.
Methodology reviewed 29 August 2026Review country formats
Company identity first—not one unexplained validation flag.
A company-name search returns candidate legal entities and available identifiers. A VAT or EIN search looks for a company record associated with the submitted number. VATFind normalises the response, keeps different facts separate and shows source information when it is supplied.
VATFind supplies company search, structured results, developer tools and verification workflows. Each result retains the available source category and retrieval context.
What each field tells you
| Field | How to read it |
|---|---|
| Resolution outcome | Shows whether the search returned a matched record, several ambiguous candidates, a completed no-match, an unavailable source, or another explicit status. Do not silently treat the first result as the intended entity. |
| Legal name & registration number | Use these together with the jurisdiction to identify the legal entity. A trading name alone may not be enough. |
| Jurisdiction & legal form | Explain where the entity is registered and the type of legal organisation returned by the source, when available. |
| VAT / tax ID | In Find mode, this is an identifier supplied in the company record. In Check mode, the result shows whether the submitted number returned a linked company record. |
| Source-reported company status | The status supplied in the company record. It describes a company fact and remains separate from a tax-registration response. |
| Registered address | The address provided in the result. Compare it with current company documents when the workflow depends on address agreement. |
| Optional company fields | Legal form, incorporation date and website can appear where the selected country, source, delivery method and individual record support them. |
| Source | The source name and link when supplied. A source link provides provenance; it does not mean VATFind performed a fresh authority status check. |
| Retrieved time | When VATFind obtained the result. It is not a guarantee that every underlying field was updated at that exact time. |
SOURCE CATEGORIES
Read the source category returned for the evidence.
Do not describe every record as a live registry response. The REST result identifies the source category actually available for the company or evidence dimension.
- Government registry
- Use only when the response explicitly identifies a government company registry as the source.
- VATFind company data
- Company records delivered by VATFind through licensed data services, with the available source category attached to the response.
- VATFind rules
- Used for VATFind's own structural format logic—not as evidence that a number was issued or remains registered.
FIELD AVAILABILITY BY DELIVERY
The meaning stays consistent. Representation can differ.
| Delivery | Company fields | Unavailable or missing data | Identity scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web lookup | Human-readable company details returned for the selected record | Missing values can be labelled as not supplied in the interface | Interactive result and saved workspace history |
| REST API | Documented company object plus evidence and status fields | Optional company properties can be absent; status dimensions remain explicit | Opaque company IDs scoped to workspace and environment |
| MCP | Structured REST-aligned result plus a concise client-readable summary | The agent must not infer omitted or unsupported evidence | OAuth connection to the signed-in VATFind workspace |
| Bulk delivery | Only the fields and record population stated in the contracted schema | Null, omitted and unavailable behavior defined in that feed specification | Contracted keys plus the customer's governed enterprise identity |
HOW A RESULT IS ASSEMBLED
Four steps from input to interpretable company evidence.
The exact source path varies by jurisdiction, but the result model follows a consistent sequence so users, systems and AI agents can distinguish the input, entity match, returned fields and evidence context.
Search company records
Use the company name or identifier to retrieve relevant legal-entity candidates for the selected jurisdiction.
Resolve the entity
Compare legal name, registration number, jurisdiction, address and returned identifiers instead of relying on name similarity alone.
Return evidence context
Return status dimensions, available company fields, source and retrieval time. Optional REST and MCP properties can be omitted when the source does not supply them.
COUNTRY & RECORD VARIATION
The schema is consistent. Availability is not identical everywhere.
Corporate registries and tax systems differ by jurisdiction. VATFind keeps the response shape understandable while reporting the data actually available for the selected country and company.
- Identifier systems
- Some jurisdictions use VAT, others GST, sales-tax or general business-tax identifiers. Registration numbers remain a separate legal-entity field.
- Source coverage
- Available sources, links and field depth differ between countries and can also differ between records in the same country.
- Optional fields
- Legal form, incorporation date, website and other documented company attributes appear only where the delivery contract and returned record support them.
- Freshness
- The retrieval time records when VATFind obtained the response. Underlying source update schedules and field dates can follow different cadences.
CLEAR LIMITS
A useful match.
An honest boundary.
Company matching and authority status are separate
VATFind resolves company records and returned identifiers. Where a workflow requires a current tax-authority response, preserve that evidence as a separate fact with its own source and time.
A no-match result has several possible causes
No match can reflect the submitted input, selected country, source coverage, record availability or a genuine absence of an associated record. It should trigger review, not an invented conclusion.
Details may be cached briefly
Company details can be cached for 15 minutes. The displayed retrieval time is when VATFind obtained the result, not field-level freshness.
USE THE RIGHT REFERENCE
Coverage, semantics and integration answer different questions.
Use the country directory for identifier formats and examples, the API documentation for request and response contracts, and this methodology page when deciding what a returned company fact means.
DATA METHODOLOGY QUESTIONS
Interpret company and VAT evidence precisely.
Answers about sources, matching, missing fields, freshness, ambiguity, and the authority-status boundary.
Where does VATFind company and VAT data come from?
VATFind supplies company records and associated identifiers through its lookup, API and MCP tools, with the available source category for each result. VATFind also applies documented structural rules, which do not prove that an identifier was issued.
What does a VATFind company-record match mean?
It means the returned source associated the submitted name or identifier with a company record under the stated result conditions. It is not by itself a live tax-authority response, tax-compliance finding, or supplier approval.
How does VATFind match a VAT number to a company?
VATFind normalizes the submitted value for the selected jurisdiction, searches available company records, resolves the legal entity, and returns separate status, company, source, and retrieval fields. The exact source path varies by country.
What is the difference between registry match and tax-authority status?
Registry match describes whether a company record was associated with the submitted identifier. Tax-authority status is a separate dimension and must remain unsupported or not checked unless an applicable authority response is actually obtained.
Why are some company fields missing from a result?
Field availability varies by jurisdiction, source, delivery method, and individual record. An omitted or unavailable value means it was not supplied under that result; it does not prove that the company lacks the attribute.
What does the VATFind retrieval time show?
It shows when VATFind obtained the response. It does not guarantee that every underlying company-record field was updated at that same moment, so field-level freshness can differ.
CHOOSE YOUR TASK
Find a VAT number. Or check one.
Three free searches a day. No credit card needed.