VatCheck

Need to verify VAT identification numbers in Ruby? VatCheck makes it easy and simple:

vat = VatCheck.new('GB333289454')
puts 'Legit' if vat.valid?

That's it. VatCheck first performs a regex validation. If it passes, it attempts to verify on VIES. Sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down. When it's down valid? gracefully falls back to regex.

Getting Started

Install it via RubyGems in your terminal:

gem install vat_check

Or in your Gemfile:

gem 'vat_check'

Note: VatCheck requires Ruby 2.0 or greater.

Basic Usage

require 'vat_check'
vat = VatCheck.new('VATIN')

This returns some nifty helper methods and attributes for all your VAT needs:

vat.regex # True if regex validated
vat.vies # True if VIES response is valid
vat.vies_available # True if VIES available
vat.response # Hash if VIES available

vat.valid? # True if regex and VIES validated (if available)
vat.exists? # True if VIES available and VATIN exists

valid? will be your goto method for quick verification. If VIES is currently available, you'll get a response hash:

{
  :country_code => "GB",
  :vat_number => "333289454",
  :request_date => Date.today,
  :valid => true,
  :name => "BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION",
  :address => "FAO ALEX FITZPATRICK\nBBC GROUP VAT MANAGER\nTHE LIGHT HOUSE (1ST FLOOR)\nMEDIA VILLAGE, 201 WOOD LANE\nLONDON\nW127TQ"
}

If you'd like to expose that info, go ahead and use exists?:

if vat.exists?
  puts vat.response.name
  puts vat.response.address
end

Examples

VIES is available, the VAT is formatted correctly, and the VAT is registered to a business:

vat = VatCheck.new('GB333289454')
vat.regex # true
vat.vies_available # true
vat.vies # true
vat.response # {:country_code=>"GB", :vat_number=>"333289454", :request_date=>#<Date: 2016-01-13 ((2457401j,0s,0n),+0s,2299161j)>, :valid=>true, :name=>"BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION", :address=>"FAO ALEX FITZPATRICK\nBBC GROUP VAT MANAGER\nTHE LIGHT HOUSE (1ST FLOOR)\nMEDIA VILLAGE, 201 WOOD LANE\nLONDON\nW12 7TQ"}
vat.valid? # true
vat.exists? # true

VIES is available, the VAT ID is formatted correctly, but the VAT ID is not registered to a business:

vat = VatCheck.new('GB999999999')
vat.regex # true
vat.vies_available # true
vat.vies # false
vat.response # {:country_code=>"GB", :vat_number=>"999999999", :request_date=>#<Date: 2016-01-13 ((2457401j,0s,0n),+0s,2299161j)>, :valid=>false, :name=>"---", :address=>"---"}
vat.valid? # false
vat.exists? # false

VAT is not formatted correctly:

vat = VatCheck.new('XX123456789')
vat.regex # false
vat.vies # false
vat.vies_available # false
vat.response # {}
vat.valid? # false
vat.exists? # false

VAT is formatted correctly but VIES is unavailable:

vat = VatCheck.new('GB333289454')
vat.regex # true
vat.vies_available # false
vat.vies # false
vat.response # {:error=>"Service unavailable"}
vat.valid? # true
vat.exists? # false

VAT is formatted correctly but VIES times out:

vat = VatCheck.new('GB333289454')
vat.regex # true
vat.vies_available # false
vat.vies # false
vat.response # {:error=>"Service timed out"}
vat.valid? # true
vat.exists? # false