Can a company without a valid VAT number work lawfully?

Yes. Being registered for VAT and being entitled to trade are two distinct things, and several schemes allow a company to work without charging VAT.

VIES replies "service unavailable": is that a bad sign?

No. It is the absence of an answer, not an adverse answer. The administration being queried may be temporarily unreachable; the question can be put again later.

What should I do if the invoice charges VAT under an invalid number?

Ask for a corrected invoice before paying, and for the explanation that goes with it. It may be a typing error as much as a real problem, and the difference is settled in writing.

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An invalid VAT number: what it means, and what it does not

The VIES answer comes down to a single word, and that is what makes it easy to misread. "Invalid" does not say that a company is fraudulent, and "valid" does not say that it is sound. Here is what the answer actually covers.

Updated on 12 Aug 2026

What VIES checks, exactly

VIES is a European Commission interface that queries, live, the database of the tax administration in the country that issued the number. For Belgium, it is FPS Finance that answers.

The question put is a narrow one: is this number, today, a valid VAT number for intra-Community transactions? It is not a question about financial health, nor about quality, nor even about whether the company exists — a perfectly active company may have no valid number in the VIES sense.

The answer holds for the moment at which it was asked for. That is why a serious check keeps the date: a number valid in March and struck off in September was both, and only the date tells you which of the two answers you are holding.

The possible causes of an "invalid"

The most mundane, by some distance, is a keying error: a digit transposed, the "BE" prefix left off, or an old nine-digit number instead of the current ten. Worth ruling out before any other hypothesis.

Next comes the company that is not VAT-registered, or that is registered under a particular scheme. The exemption scheme for small businesses, below the turnover threshold set by FPS Finance, is the most common case: the company exists, it is in order, it does not charge VAT, and it says so on its invoice.

Finally, a number may have been struck off — cessation of activity, or removal by the administration of its own motion. That is the least frequent cause, and the only one that deserves an explanation before you pay.

What it changes on the invoice

A company that charges VAT must have a valid VAT number and must show it on the invoice. An invoice showing an amount of VAT under a number that is not one is an invoice to have corrected before payment, whatever the reason for it.

Conversely, an invoice without VAT is not abnormal. A company under the exemption scheme invoices without VAT and says so; and between professionals, in construction, the tax is often shifted onto the VAT-registered customer — the reverse charge, which is a rule and not an irregularity.

For a private individual, the practical question is rather the rate: 6% for work on a private home at least ten years old that meets the FPS Finance conditions, 21% otherwise. Since 2022, it is the contractor who has to justify the reduced rate on the invoice itself.

What an "invalid" does not prove

It does not prove fraud. The three causes above are all more likely than the fourth, and a company is under no obligation to be VAT-registered in order to work lawfully.

Nor does it prove that the company does not exist: existence is read at the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE), under the enterprise number, and the two registers answer two different questions.

What it does justify is a question asked before paying. Domara shows the VIES answer with its date and its source, and draws no conclusion from it about the company: a service that inferred "invalid, therefore suspect" would be wrong most of the time, at the expense of a named person.

Questions people ask

Can a company without a valid VAT number work lawfully?: Yes. Being registered for VAT and being entitled to trade are two distinct things, and several schemes allow a company to work without charging VAT.
VIES replies "service unavailable": is that a bad sign?: No. It is the absence of an answer, not an adverse answer. The administration being queried may be temporarily unreachable; the question can be put again later.
What should I do if the invoice charges VAT under an invalid number?: Ask for a corrected invoice before paying, and for the explanation that goes with it. It may be a typing error as much as a real problem, and the difference is settled in writing.

Sources

Every statement in this guide comes from one of these sources. They are public and free to consult.

A register says what it says on a given date. The absence of an adverse signal is not a guarantee about work still to come, and Domara does not rate or rank any company.