What does a Belgian VAT number look like?

BE followed by ten digits, for example BE0123.456.789. The ten digits are the enterprise number issued by the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises; the first digit is 0 or 1 and the last two are a check key.

VIES says the number is not valid. Does the company exist?

Possibly. A company can be active in the register without an active VAT number: a holding company with no taxable activity, a non-profit association, an exempt activity, a member of a VAT unit, or a registration not yet active or ended. Check the register, then ask the company.

Does a valid VAT number mean the company is sound?

No. VIES only says whether the number is valid for trade between EU countries on the day you check. A company's financial health is read in the annual accounts it files with the National Bank of Belgium.

Can the VAT number differ from the enterprise number?

For a Belgian company it is normally the same number preceded by BE. The exception is a VAT unit: linked companies form a single taxable person, which has its own number, also listed in the register.

Do I need a Belgian customer's VAT number to invoice without VAT?

When you sell goods or services from another EU country to a Belgian business without charging VAT, its valid VAT number is one of the conditions. Check it in VIES before invoicing and keep the consultation record.

How to check a Belgian VAT number: format, VIES, invoice

You are about to sell to, buy from or sign with a Belgian business, and its quote or invoice carries a VAT number starting with BE. Checking it takes two minutes and two free sources: the Belgian company register and the European VIES service. This guide explains how the number is built, what each source tells you — and what it does not — and the signals worth a question before you invoice or pay.

A Belgian VAT number is the enterprise number with the BE prefix (fictitious number).

Step by step: where to look, what to read

Read the number

Where: on the quote, the invoice, the website or the letterhead

A Belgian VAT number is written BE followed by ten digits, for example BE0123.456.789 or BE 0123 456 789: dots and spaces do not matter. The first digit is 0 or 1. The ten digits are the company's enterprise number, the single identifier used by every Belgian register — the counterpart of a Companies House number, a Dutch KvK number or a French SIREN.

The last two digits are a check key: they equal 97 minus the remainder of the first eight digits divided by 97. A number that fails this test contains a typo, or was made up. A number that passes it has only the right shape: it still has to belong to the company you are dealing with.

Find the company behind the number

Where: Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE), public search — free

Type the ten digits into the CBE public search (available in English) or into the Idonis company search. Compare with your document:

The name and the legal form — a trade name or a logo is not a company. The guide Belgian company legal forms explained says what SRL, BV, SA or NV mean.
The status: active, or in liquidation, judicial reorganisation or bankruptcy.
The registered office, which should match the address on the invoice, or be explained by a recent move.
VAT liability: the public search lists the company's capacities (in French Qualités, in Dutch Hoedanigheden), including whether it is subject to VAT and since when.

On an Idonis company page, the Company section shows the enterprise number, the VAT number written in its BE form and the Peppol registration with the date it was checked. The BE form is only the format of the number: whether the company is subject to VAT is what the register and VIES tell you.

Check the number in VIES

Where: VIES, European Commission — free

The European Commission's VIES service queries the Belgian tax administration and answers one question: is this VAT number valid for trade between EU countries, today? For a Belgian number, it usually also shows the name and address the administration holds. If you enter your own EU VAT number as the requester, VIES gives you a consultation number: keep it, with the date, as a record of your check.

VIES saysValid or not valid, on the day of the checkAnd, for Belgium, usually the registered name and address.

VIES does not sayWhether the company is soundNothing about its accounts, its debts, its directors or its status in the register.

VIES does not sayWho is writing to youA valid number on an invoice does not prove the invoice comes from that company, nor that the bank account is its own.

Compare the name shown by VIES with the name on your document. A valid number that belongs to a different company is one of the plainest warning signs there is.

Remember that VAT registration is not existence

Where: the register and VIES, read together

Every Belgian company has an enterprise number; not every company has an active VAT number. A not valid answer in VIES therefore does not mean the company does not exist. It can be:

a company with no taxable activity: a holding company that only holds shares, or a non-profit association (ASBL / VZW) with no economic activity;
a business whose activities are exempt from VAT (certain medical, educational or property letting activities);
a business under the small-business exemption scheme, which invoices without VAT and says so on the invoice;
a member of a VAT unit: companies linked to one another can form a single taxable person, which has its own VAT number, different from each member's enterprise number;
a company whose VAT registration is not yet active, or has ended — for instance after it stopped trading.

The reverse is just as true: a valid number says nothing about the company's financial health. For that, read its filed accounts — the guide How to check a Belgian company goes through them step by step.

Check the number on the invoice

Where: on the invoice itself

A Belgian VAT invoice must show, among other things, the supplier's name, address and VAT number and, when the customer is a business, the customer's VAT number (Royal Decree no. 1 of 29 December 1992, art. 5). The Code of Companies and Associations (art. 2:20) adds, for any company: its name, its legal form, the address of its registered office, its enterprise number and the letters RPM or RPR followed by the court of its registered office.

The VAT number and the enterprise number match: BE + the same ten digits. The exception is a VAT unit, whose number differs; the unit itself is listed in the register.
Belgian VAT is charged, yet VIES says the number is not valid: ask before paying.
You invoice a Belgian business from another EU country without VAT: its valid VAT number is one of the conditions. Check it before invoicing and keep the VIES record.

Check Peppol registration

Where: Peppol Directory, or the Idonis Peppol ID lookup — free

Since 1 January 2026, VAT-registered businesses established in Belgium must exchange structured electronic invoices with each other, in principle through the Peppol network (FPS Finance, e-invoicing). Suppliers not established in Belgium are outside the obligation. A Belgian company's Peppol identifier is usually 0208 followed by its enterprise number: check it with the Peppol ID lookup or in the Peppol Directory. Peppol identifies the sender; it does not check the bank account on the invoice.

Warning signs

NumberFails the check keyA typo or an invented number: ask for the correct one in writing.

VIESValid, but under another nameThe number belongs to a different company than the one on the invoice.

InvoiceBelgian VAT charged on a number that is not validEither an error or an issuer that is not registered: ask before paying.

DocumentsVAT number and enterprise number that differUnless it is a VAT unit listed in the register, it is an inconsistency to clear up.

Bank accountNew, abroad, or announced by e-mailConfirm by phone on a number you already had, never the one in the message.

An invoice you are about to pay deserves the full check, including the bank account: see Checking a Belgian supplier invoice.

Before you invoice or pay a Belgian business

The VAT number is BE + ten digits and passes the check key.
The ten digits are an active enterprise number in the register, under the same name as your document.
VIES says valid today, under the same name; consultation number kept if you sell without VAT.
A not valid answer has an explanation: no taxable activity, exemption, VAT unit, end of registration.
Peppol identifier checked if you invoice or are invoiced in Belgium.
Any new bank account confirmed by phone on a number you already had.

The ratios used to read a company's accounts are defined in the glossary.

Sources

European Commission, VIES VAT number validation.
FPS Economy, Crossroads Bank for Enterprises: public search.
FPS Finance, VAT and e-invoicing in Belgium ; OpenPeppol, Peppol Directory.
Royal Decree no. 1 of 29 December 1992, art. 5 (VAT invoice details) — Justel (French).
Code of Companies and Associations, art. 2:20 — Justel (French).

Sources of the publications cited: company register (CBE), filed annual accounts (NBB — Central Balance Sheet Office), Belgian Gazette. This guide is general information, not advice for a specific case. How the soundness score is computed