Belgian VAT & Enterprise Number Checker

Check one number or a whole list

Paste Belgian VAT numbers, enterprise numbers or establishment numbers, one per line, and every line is validated, normalised and converted. BE0417497106, 0417.497.106, BE 0417 497 106 and old 9-digit numbers all work. You get the canonical forms for invoices and the KBO, the matching Peppol participant IDs, and a CSV or JSON export for the whole batch. Validation runs in your browser. Only when you press Look up online are the numbers sent to our server to ask the EU VIES service and the Peppol network.

How a Belgian enterprise number is built

• It has 10 digits and starts with 0 or 1.
• The last two digits are a check: 97 − (first 8 digits mod 97).
• The VAT number is the same number with BE in front.
• Numbers issued before 2007 had 9 digits: add a leading 0.
• Establishment units (vestigingseenheden, unités d'établissement) have their own 10-digit numbers starting with 2 to 8, written 2.123.456.789, with the same check rule.

Worked example

Take BE0417497106. Remove BE and the last two digits to get 04174971. Dividing by 97 leaves a remainder of 91, and 97 − 91 = 6, which matches the check digits 06. The number is therefore well-formed. It is written 0417.497.106 in the KBO, BE0417497106 on an invoice and in VIES, and its Peppol IDs are 0208:0417497106 (the Belgian default) and 9925:BE0417497106.

Enterprise number versus VAT number

Every enterprise registered in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE) has an enterprise number. Only enterprises that are liable to VAT also have a VAT number, which has the same digits. A number can therefore pass the checksum and still be unknown to VIES, simply because the company is not VAT-registered or is no longer active. That is the reason for the optional online check.

What the online lookup adds

• The registered name and address from VIES and whether the VAT number is currently active.
• Whether the company can receive Peppol e-invoices, which matters since Belgian B2B e-invoicing became mandatory. See the Peppol ID tool and the Peppol validator for the next steps.

Checking EU VAT numbers from Belgium

Switch the scope above the input to European Union when you receive invoices from suppliers in other EU Member States. You can mix German, French, Dutch, Polish, Greek and Belgian VAT numbers in one list. Include the country prefix, such as DE136695976, FR40303265045, PL1132191233 or EL022188887. Greek VAT numbers use EL for VIES. The tool uses the MIT-licensed, self-hosted jsvat-next validation rules; Belgium continues to use our KBO parser. Results are calculated locally, including country-specific checksums when implemented, and can be exported in bulk.

Choose Look up online only if you need a live status from the European Commission's VIES service; that action sends the selected numbers to our server and VIES. VIES can report a number as inactive even when its format and checksum are correct, and temporary VIES errors are shown as unavailable rather than invalid. The Europe mode covers the 27 EU Member States, not Norway, the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland's XI scheme. For Belgian enterprise numbers, establishment units and Peppol checks, keep Belgium mode selected.

Common reasons a number fails

• A mistyped or swapped digit, so the check digits no longer match.
• A national register number or IBAN pasted by mistake. Use the national number checker or the IBAN checker for those.
• In Europe mode, an absent EU country prefix or incorrect country-specific VAT format/checksum.

A valid checksum proves that the number is well-formed, not that the company exists or is active. For cleaning a long list in one go there is also the enterprise number batch cleaner.