> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://rilwanorganization.mintlify.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Validate VAT numbers.

> This endpoint allows you to validate a company's VAT number. It returns the company's data if the VAT number is valid

## Description

The `VatAPI.validate()` method is used to communicate with this endpoint as seen below:

`VatAPI.validate(vat_number)`

## Query Parameters

<ParamField path="vat_number" type="String" required>
  The VAT number you want to validate
</ParamField>

## Usage

Below is a code snippet to query the `VatAPI.validate()` method:

```python theme={null}
from abstract_python import VatAPI

api_key = "your-vat-api-key"

api = VatAPI(api_key)
vat_number = "SE556656688001"
response = api.validate(vat_number)

print(response)

```

Below is the response object:

```
{
    "vat_number": "SE556656688001",
    "valid": true,
    "company": {
        "name": "GOOGLE SWEDEN AB",
        "address": "GOOGLE IRLAND LTD \nM COLLINS, GORDON HOUSE \nBARROW STREET, DUBLIN 4 \nIRLAND"
    },
    "country": {
        "code": "SE",
        "name": "Sweden"
    }
}
```

## Response Fields

<ResponseField name="vat_number" type="String">
  The VAT number to validate
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="is_vat_valid" type="Boolean">
  A boolean value to check if the VAT number is valid. True if VAT number is valid.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="company_name" type="String">
  The company associated with the VAT number
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="company_address" type="String">
  The company's address.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="company_country" type="String">
  The country where the company is located
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="company_country_code" type="String">
  The two letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the country associated with the VAT number.
</ResponseField>

## Error response

If you entered an invalid VAT number in the query, you will get an error message as seen below:

```
{
    'error': {
        'message': 'A validation error occurred.', 
        'code': 'validation_error', 
        'details': {
            'vat_number': ['Invalid VAT number']
        }
    }, 
    'status': 400
}
```