How to validate a VAT number in Java

VAT numbers can be a huge boon come tax season, but looking up numbers manually is a hassle that you should not have to deal with. Today we will be looking at a much easier way to tackle this problem. Let’s set up an automated system for VAT number validation in just a couple of minutes using Java.

First we need to add references to our Maven POM file so that our library can be dynamically compiled via Jitpack.

Repository reference:

<repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>jitpack.io</id>
        <url>https://jitpack.io</url>
    </repository>
</repositories>

Dependency reference:

<dependencies>
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.github.Cloudmersive</groupId>
    <artifactId>Cloudmersive.APIClient.Java</artifactId>
    <version>v2.75</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>

Now that that’s done, we simply call vatVatLookup:

// 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();
}

We will be given back a response in the following format:

{
  "CountryCode": "string",
  "VatNumber": "string",
  "IsValid": true,
  "BusinessName": "string",
  "BusinessAddress": "string",
  "BusinessBuilding": "string",
  "BusinessStreetNumber": "string",
  "BusinessStreet": "string",
  "BusinessCity": "string",
  "BusinessStateOrProvince": "string",
  "BusinessPostalCode": "string",
  "BusinessCountry": "string"
}

As you can see, we are provided the validity of the number, as well as plenty of useful information about the company in question.