How to check European VAT number validity

VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) is an electronic means of transmitting information relating to VAT-registration (= validity of VAT-numbers) of companies registered in EU.

Use PHP and SOAP to create easy verification of the VAT-number validation.

namespace libs\vies;

use SoapClient;
use SoapFault;


class VatChecker {

 /**
  *
  * @var boolean
  */
 private $valid;

 /**
  *
  * @var string
  */
 private $vatId;

 /**
  *
  * @var SoapClient
  */
 private $client;

 public function __construct($vatId){
  $this->vatId = $vatId;
  $this->client = new SoapClient("http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/checkVatService.wsdl");
  $this->valid = $this->validate();
 }

 private function validate(){
  $countryCode = substr($this->vatId, 0, 2);
  $vatNumber = substr($this->vatId, 2);
  $params = array('countryCode' => $countryCode, 'vatNumber' => $vatNumber);
  try{
   $result = $this->client->checkVat($params);
   return $result->valid;
  } catch(SoapFault $e) {
   echo 'Error: '.$e->faultstring;
  }
 }

 /**
  * @return boolean
  */
 public function isValid()
 {
  return $this->valid;
 }
}

And here is an example of the use of this class:

use \libs\vies\VatChecker;

$vatNumber = 'CZ27251748';

/* @var $vatChecker \libs\vies\VatChecker  */
$vatChecker = new VatChecker($vatNumber);
echo $vatChecker->isValid();

That's all. Now you can easily check if your business partner from the European Union is a VAT payer.