Check Croatia VAT numbers
Validate Croatian VAT numbers (OIB) against the EU VIES registry. Croatian numbers are HR followed by the 11-digit OIB (Osobni identifikacijski broj), a universal personal/legal-entity identifier. The same OIB is used for income tax, social security, and VAT, making it a central ID rather than a separate tax number. 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 $VATVERIFY_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"vat_number":"HR89018712265"}'Facts
Format
- Prefix
- HR
- Digits
- 11
- Regex
- ^HR\d{11}$
HR89018712265HR89018712260HR8901871226VAT rates (EUR)
accommodation, restaurant meals, newspapers, certain cultural events, edible oils and fats
food staples, books, medicines, certain agricultural products
What we return for Croatia
{
"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
- The Croatian HR-prefix number is simply HR + the 11-digit OIB. The OIB is the universal ID for VAT, income tax, and social security; there is no separate VAT-only number.
- Croatia joined the EU in 2013 and the Eurozone in 2023; HR-prefix numbers have been VIES-eligible since 2013.
- The OIB check-digit algorithm uses ISO 7064 MOD 11,10. Off-by-one digits in the 11th position always fail.
OIB is the Croatian tax identifier
Croatian VAT numbers are 11 digits prefixed with HR. The underlying
identifier is the OIB (Osobni Identifikacijski Broj, Personal
Identification Number), issued to every Croatian individual and
legal entity by the Ministry of Finance.
OIB is one identifier serving multiple purposes. The same 11-digit number is used for income tax, VAT, social insurance, corporate registration, and general tax administration. A Croatian business has one OIB; whether the entity is VAT-registered is a flag on the tax authority record.
vatverify validates HR\d{11} and routes through VIES. The OIB
carries a check digit that is verifiable offline (using an
ISO 7064 MOD 11-10 algorithm); numbers that fail it are rejected
before the registry call.
Porezna uprava is the tax authority
The Croatian tax administration is the Porezna uprava (Tax Administration), part of the Ministry of Finance. Porezna uprava maintains the VAT register and pushes updates to VIES on a regular batch cadence.
The public lookup portal at porezna-uprava.hr exposes domestic VAT details including registration date and reliability status. For VIES-equivalent checks the public portal is the right tool when you need additional fields beyond the binary valid flag.
Eurozone since 2023
Croatia joined the eurozone on January 1, 2023, replacing the kuna with the euro. VAT amounts on Croatian invoices issued after that date are denominated in euros; pre-2023 invoices in kuna remain historical artifacts in accounting records.
For invoicing systems handling Croatian counterparties, the kuna should be treated as a legacy currency for record-keeping only. New invoices, conversions, and rate lookups all operate in euros.
VAT rates
Croatia runs three rates: 25% standard, 13% reduced, and 5% super-reduced. The 13% bracket covers accommodation services, restaurant services (food), some agricultural products, and several other categories. The 5% super-reduced bracket covers basic foodstuffs, books, newspapers, pharmaceuticals, and a defined list of additional supplies.
Rate composition has been adjusted in recent budget cycles, including changes targeted at hospitality and tourism. Date-aware lookups against current Porezna uprava publications are the safer default.
Reverse-charge for several sectors
Croatia applies domestic reverse-charge to scrap metal, mobile phones, integrated circuits, gas, electricity, cereals, and construction services, mirroring rules applied across several member states. These rules apply between two Croatian VAT-registered businesses and are independent of EU intra-Community reverse-charge.
Cross-border with neighbours
Croatia borders Slovenia, Hungary (both EU), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro (third countries). Standard EU intra-Community reverse-charge applies to B2B supplies between Croatia and other-EU VAT-registered businesses.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a particularly active trading partner due to historical and linguistic ties. Bosnian counterparties fall under third-country export rules; the EU has association agreements covering specific sectors.
Tourism context
Croatia's economy is tourism-heavy. A disproportionate share of Croatian VAT activity flows through accommodation, restaurant, and travel-related supplies, with the 13% reduced rate doing a lot of the rate-bracket work. Invoicing systems serving the Croatian hospitality sector need careful handling of the reduced-rate matrix.
Caching against the Porezna uprava cycle
Porezna uprava pushes registration changes to VIES on a regular batch. Newly-issued Croatian OIBs 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 this cadence.
Automate Croatia VAT checks in your stack
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