Check Austria VAT numbers
Validate Austrian VAT numbers (UID) against the EU VIES registry. Austrian numbers always carry the ATU prefix: two letters plus the letter U before 8 digits. Entries without the U (e.g. AT12345678) are rejected by VIES. Every response includes the company name, registered address, and validity at query time.
Try it
curl -X POST "https://api.vatverify.dev/v1/validate" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $VATVERIFY_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"vat_number":"ATU13585627"}'Facts
Format
- Prefix
- ATU
- Digits
- 8
- Regex
- ^ATU\d{8}$
ATU13585627ATU13585620ATU1358562VAT rates (EUR)
cultural events, short-term accommodation, certain agricultural products, live animals
food staples, pharmaceuticals, books, newspapers, passenger transport
What we return for Austria
{
"data": {
"valid": true, // boolean validity at query time
"vat_number": "DE129273398",
"country": {
"code": "DE",
"name": "Germany",
"vat": { "standard_rate": 19 }
},
"company": {
"name": "SIEMENS AG", // legal entity name
"address": "..." // when VIES provides it
},
"verified_at": "2026-04-25T10:00:00Z"
},
"meta": {
"request_id": "019dc...", // for audit trail correlation
"source": "vies",
"source_status": "live", // live | cached | degraded
"cached": false,
"latency_ms": 234
}
}
Test against production VATs
Real numbers from publicly-documented corporate filings. Click to see the live result.
Watch out for
- Austrian UID uses the ATU prefix, not just AT. ATU is 11 chars total; VIES rejects formats missing the U (e.g. AT13585627).
- Do not confuse UID (EU VAT number) with the domestic Steuernummer; only UID is valid for intra-EU reverse charge.
- VIES may return valid status without disclosing company details for some AT registrations; vatverify surfaces validity regardless.
ATU is the Austrian VAT identifier
Austrian VAT numbers carry the country prefix AT, then a literal U,
then 8 digits. The full identifier looks like ATU12345678. The U
stands for Umsatzsteuer (VAT) and is fixed; it is not a check
character or version marker.
The underlying identifier is the Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer (UID), issued by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesministerium für Finanzen) through the local Finanzamt of the business.
vatverify validates the structural form before the VIES call and
rejects inputs that do not match ATU\d{8}.
UID is separate from Steuernummer
Austrian businesses also have a domestic Steuernummer (tax file number) used by the Finanzamt for income tax and administrative purposes. The Steuernummer is shorter (typically 9 digits across two zones) and is not a VAT identifier; it cannot be passed to VIES.
If a counterparty supplies a number that does not match the ATU
prefix and 8-digit shape, it is most likely a Steuernummer and you
need to ask for the UID explicitly.
Name disclosure can be suppressed
Austria is among the member states that intermittently suppress
trader name and address disclosure through VIES. A valid: true
response may come back with data.company.name and
data.company.address set to null, particularly for entities that
have opted into name-suppression at registration.
For B2B onboarding flows that need to confirm identity (not just existence), reconcile the company details with the counterparty directly. Austria does not currently expose a BZSt-equivalent qualified confirmation API.
VAT rates
Austria runs three rates: 20% standard, 13% reduced, and 10% reduced. The 13% bracket covers a specific list including domestic flights, some cultural admissions, and certain agricultural products. The 10% bracket covers food, books, public transport, and several social and cultural categories.
Two small Austrian regions, Jungholz and Mittelberg (Kleinwalsertal), are accessible only through Germany and have historically operated under special territorial arrangements. Businesses operating in those regions should consult current Bundesministerium für Finanzen guidance directly; the rest of Austria runs the standard three-rate matrix.
Reverse-charge for construction
Austria applies domestic reverse-charge to construction services between two Austrian VAT-registered businesses (Bauleistungen under §19 UStG). The supplier issues an invoice without VAT and the recipient self-accounts. The rule covers a defined list of construction-related supplies and is independent of EU intra-Community reverse-charge.
If you are validating Austrian UIDs inside a construction-sector invoicing flow, the domestic reverse-charge is the default for in-scope work.
EU-internal context
Austria sits in the centre of the EU and trades heavily with Germany, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Standard EU intra-Community reverse-charge applies to B2B supplies between Austrian and other-EU VAT-registered businesses; the UID is what triggers the zero-rate treatment.
Austrian businesses are also frequent buyers of services from EU counterparts. The seller's VIES check on the Austrian UID is the audit trail that justifies the zero-rate position.
Caching against the Finanzamt cycle
The Austrian Finanzämter push registration changes to VIES on a regular batch cadence. Newly-issued UIDs are generally visible in VIES within 24 to 48 hours. vatverify's default TTLs (30 days for valid, 24 hours for invalid) line up with that cadence.
Automate Austria VAT checks in your stack
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