VAT number reverse lookup for validity

hpuse

Just wondering how your businesses validate a VAT invoice raised first time without accompanying a registration certificate copy.

For example, if company XYZ sends a VAT invoice with VAT ref no: 123456789, how do you make sure 123456789 belongs to XYZ itself. To speed up the payment process, sometimes its difficult to send letters requesting VAT certificate. Is there any electronic means, like looking up a website?

Lifeisbutadream

I have never checked! I didnt even think about it - I pay loads of VAT invoices - I suppose a problem may arise if I had an investigation and one was found to be false, but in all honesty I had never considered it until now!

ckerrd

This will tell you if it is a valid number but not who it belongs to, if that is any help

hpuse

I have a full time job, so I normally approve and raise payments for invoices via company internet banking account mostly over the weekend for the small business we run.

Now I notice, there is a supplier using "XYZ ABC LTD" and "XYZ LIMITED" in different invoices, they are run by the same staff/office as far as I know.

Tracing back the last 6 months, XYZ LIMITED and XYZ ABC LTD have used 5 different VAT numbers interchagebly for around 16 different invoices that I have raised payment. Is this something fishy ? Do I need to investigate ?. Your comments highly appreciated. Thanks !

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

I have never checked! I didnt even think about it - I pay loads of VAT invoices - I suppose a problem may arise if I had an investigation and one was found to be false, but in all honesty I had never considered it until now!

Lifeisbutadream

That is probably a bit of a concern if they are using different VAT numbers - again I have never even looked - I am going to do that from now on!

It might be worth asking your accountant if you have one - I would also be interested if you find anything out so please update the thread with anything you get.

Lost_in_Grey_Matter

Sorry to hijack this thread a bit, but can I ask if anyone knows how to find out what a companies VAT number is? My friend has just bought a share in a pub and they dont know what their own number is- it isnt on any stationary or anything like that- is there an online register to find these things out?Thanks, and sorry again!

mikewebs

For the OP

If you think there is something fishy going on with XYZ ltd, I would suggest you contact HMRC because they will be able to investigate. Also, if they are trying to pull a fast one with their customers, they will be raking in an extra 17.5% from everyone if they are charging VAT but not paying it out to the HMRC.

For the other person

As far as this pub goes, I would suggest your friend goes to the pub's accountant and they should be able to tell them the VAT Reg No.

Bm-Bloke

I have a link for a site where you can lookup VAT numbers and thier owners but I cannot post it here "Sorry as a new user you are not allowed to post with links. This is done to stop spammers clogging up the site. Please edit your message below to continue."

olly300

mikewebs wrote: »

For the OP

If you think there is something fishy going on with XYZ ltd, I would suggest you contact HMRC because they will be able to investigate. Also, if they are trying to pull a fast one with their customers, they will be raking in an extra 17.5% from everyone if they are charging VAT but not paying it out to the HMRC.

HMRC tell you to call them if you suspect fraud or don't think a number is valid 0845 010 9000

JasonLVC

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vieshome.do?selectedLanguage=EN

This is the EU community VAT number validator. Most member states reveal the name/address of the business but for the UK, becuase of 'data protection' laws all this website will do is confirm if the number is valid....but that doesn;t mean the number belongs to the business you are checking up on.

If you call the HMRC VAT helpline on 0845 010 9000 - if you tell them the name of the company and the number, they will confirm if the two match or not.

It does sound a bit unusual for a business to be using 5 different VAT numbers though. A VAT number is assigned to a legal entity (a sole trader, a partnership or a limited company) so XYZ Ltd will be a different legal entity to XYZ ABC Ltd...assuming these are legit Ltd companies. You can check if they are valid Ltd companies via www.companieshouse.gov.uk and click on their webcheck facility.

Two Ltd companies cannot have 4-5 VAT numbers, nor are they inter-changable, the VAT number is assigned to the Ltd company that applied for the number. It is, I suppose, a possibility here that the company(s) have changed their VAT registration due to them being taken over by a new owner following the sale of the business for instance or if the owners merge two similar Ltd companies into one so check to see if XYZ was using 123 VAT number then changed to say 789 VAT number but never changed back to 123 then the XYZ Ltd was bought out by someone, if the VAT numbers go back to 123 then they are getting it very wrong.