UK VAT Validation

The UK formally left the EU on 1 January, 2021 and, as a result, also exited the EU VAT regime and the VAT Information Exchange System (VIES). Because of this, the UK has released its own online service for UK VAT number validation.

February 5th, 2021's patch to WHMCS 7.10 and later updates our VAT tax support to use the new HMRC system for your customers' UK VAT numbers. EU VAT numbers will continue to be validated through VIES.

Action Required
To continue successfully validating UK VAT numbers, you must update your information in WHMCS for HMRC access.

Next Steps

To continue UK VAT validation, you must:

1. Create an HMRC application through the HMRC Developer Hub. This will allow you to validate VAT numbers against HMRC records.
2. Update the VAT Settings tab at Configuration > System Settings > Tax Configuration to use your HMRC application's Client ID and Client Secret.

For detailed steps, see How to Create an HMRC Application for UK VAT.