Check Greece VAT numbers
Validate Greek VAT numbers (ΑΦΜ) against the EU VIES registry. Greece uses the EU country code EL, not GR: sending GR to VIES will return an error. Numbers are EL followed by 9 digits. 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 $VATVERIFY_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"vat_number":"EL094019245"}'Facts
Format
- Prefix
- EL
- Digits
- 9
- Regex
- ^EL\d{9}$
EL094019245EL094019240EL09401924VAT rates (EUR)
food, non-alcoholic beverages, agricultural inputs, certain pharmaceutical products
books, newspapers, medicines, cultural and sports tickets
What we return for Greece
{
"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
- Greece's EU VAT prefix is EL, not GR. Sending GR to VIES returns an error even for a perfectly valid number.
- The ΑΦΜ assigned to individuals doubles as their EU VAT number when EL-prefixed; the same number covers both personal and business tax.
- Greece has multiple reduced VAT rate tiers (24% / 13% / 6%); island regions in the Aegean have further reductions of 30% applied to each tier.
EL is the country code, not GR
Greece is one of two EU member states whose VIES country code does not match the ISO-3166 code:
- EL is the VIES prefix (derived from Hellas).
- GR is the ISO-3166 country code commonly used elsewhere.
A Greek VAT number flowing through VIES has the prefix EL, not
GR. Validators that only know the ISO-3166 form will reject a
correctly-formatted Greek number. vatverify accepts both EL and
GR as inputs and routes both through VIES under EL.
The other EU country code that diverges from ISO-3166 is XI for
Northern Ireland (post-Brexit). For Greece, the divergence is
historical and predates the EU itself.
AFM is the Greek tax identifier
Greek VAT numbers are 9 digits prefixed with EL. The underlying
identifier is the AFM (Αριθμός Φορολογικού Μητρώου, transliterated
as Arithmós Forologikoú Mētrṓou), issued by AADE (the Independent
Authority for Public Revenue, Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων).
AFM is one identifier serving multiple purposes. The same 9-digit number is used for income tax, VAT, and general tax administration. A Greek business has one AFM; whether the entity is VAT-registered is a flag on the AADE record.
vatverify validates EL\d{9} and accepts the GR prefix as a
synonymous input.
VAT rates and island reductions
Greece runs three primary rates: 24% standard, 13% reduced, and 6% super-reduced. The 13% bracket covers food, utilities, and several other categories. The 6% bracket covers books, newspapers, pharmaceutical products, and a defined set of additional supplies.
A reduced rate matrix has historically applied to a list of Greek islands (Leros, Lesvos, Kos, Samos, Chios) under EU-approved exceptional measures. The status and scope of the island reduction has changed multiple times since 2015. For invoicing logic targeting Greek island counterparties, treat the rate as a configuration value and rely on date-aware lookups against current AADE publications, not a hardcoded constant.
myDATA: Greece's e-invoicing platform
Greece operates myDATA, a central digital platform for invoice and income reporting maintained by AADE. VAT-registered Greek businesses are required to transmit invoice data to myDATA, with the rollout schedule expanded across sector and revenue thresholds since 2020.
For non-Greek sellers invoicing Greek buyers, the myDATA obligation typically falls on the buyer's side for self-billed reverse-charge flows. The seller still needs to validate the buyer's AFM through VIES before zero-rating.
Cross-border with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Turkey
Greece borders Bulgaria (EU) and the Republic of North Macedonia (non-EU). It maintains a maritime relationship with Cyprus (EU) and Turkey (third country and customs union with the EU on goods).
Standard EU intra-Community reverse-charge applies to B2B supplies between Greece and other-EU VAT-registered businesses. Turkish counterparties fall under third-country export rules with goods-side considerations under the EU-Turkey customs union.
Reverse-charge categories
Greece applies domestic reverse-charge to scrap metal, mobile phones, gaming consoles, tablets, laptops, and several other categories historically associated with carousel fraud. These rules apply between two Greek VAT-registered businesses and are independent of EU intra-Community reverse-charge.
Caching against the AADE cycle
AADE pushes registration changes to VIES on a regular batch. Newly-VAT-registered Greek AFMs are generally visible in VIES within 24 to 48 hours. vatverify's default TTLs (30 days for valid, 24 hours for invalid) align with this cadence.
Automate Greece VAT checks in your stack
Replace manual lookups with one API call against VIES. Drops into invoicing, checkout, and signup flows in any language. 500 free validations per month, no credit card.