VAT Number Check

Check whether a South African VAT number is valid.

Paste a VAT number below and get an instant answer: valid or not. Worth doing before you capture a supplier invoice or claim input VAT on it.

VAT number check

Spaces and hyphens are fine; they’re ignored. The check runs in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.

VAT return due?

Govchain files VAT201s through a registered tax practitioner: connect your bank account or upload statements, transactions get classified by VAT rate, and the return is prepared, reviewed and filed for R2,000 a month. Overdue periods can be caught up in the same process.

See how VAT returns work
Not sure where your company stands with SARS?Run the free company health check

Valid doesn’t always mean registered

A valid result means the number itself checks out. It can’t tell you whether the registration behind it is still active, or that it belongs to the business whose name is on the invoice. A deregistered vendor keeps a valid-looking number; so does anyone who copies a real number onto a fake invoice.

The authoritative check is the SARS VAT vendor search on the eFiling site. It’s free and needs no login, but it verifies a number against a trading name, and only an exact match counts: the trading name as SARS has it on record, which is not always the name on the letterhead. If a legitimate supplier comes back as not found, ask them for the trading name on their VAT registration certificate and try again. The database behind the search updates weekly, so a vendor registered in the last few days may not appear yet.

SARS also added a vendor search to its Online Query System during 2026. The official SOQS guide hasn’t caught up with it at the time of writing, so expect that flow to move around; look for “VAT vendor search” among the query types on the SARS website.

Why this is worth five minutes: input VAT. If SARS verifies your VAT201 and an invoice behind a claim carries a wrong or unregistered VAT number, that claim can be disallowed. And a tax invoice over R5,000 must show your VAT number as well as the supplier’s, so on big invoices it pays to check both directions.

Common questions

Is a tax reference number the same as a VAT number?
No. A company gets an income tax reference number when SARS registers it (it starts with 0 to 3, or 9), and a separate VAT number only once it registers for VAT (always starting with 4). Tax invoices need the VAT number.
Can I work out a VAT number from a CIPC registration number?
No. CIPC issues one, SARS the other; they share no digits.

This check runs in your browser; the number you enter isn’t sent anywhere. It doesn’t query SARS, so it can’t see registration status or who a number belongs to.