Is this client real? Check a company before you load
Put in a VAT number or company code. We ask the EU VAT register, the national company registers and the sanctions lists, and tell you what is wrong — before the truck is loaded and the invoice is unpaid.
LV40003032949 or PL5260250274. Latvian companies can be searched by name: Latvijas Pasts.What this checks
- Every EU country: VAT number in VIES, the name on the order against the register, the email domain's age and mail server, the IBAN checksum and country, and the EU and US (OFAC) sanctions lists.
- Latvia: Enterprise Register status and age, VID taxpayer rating, VID-suspended activity, insolvency and liquidation, sanctions links, board and owner changes, and the figures from the annual accounts.
- Poland: VAT white-list status, whether the bank account belongs to the company, KRS registration, liquidation or bankruptcy entries, and whether the accounts are filed.
- Czechia: ARES register, insolvency register, liquidation, board changes, the unreliable-VAT-payer list and whether the bank account is one the company registered with the tax office.
- Slovakia: register of financial statements — company, age, filings, turnover, profit and equity — and termination from the register of legal entities.
- France: company status, age, managers and turnover from the national register, and court notices (liquidation, receivership) from BODACC.
- Romania: ANAF — inactive taxpayer, VAT registration, split VAT, deregistration — and balance-sheet figures. Finland: liquidation, bankruptcy, restructuring. Estonia: registered, in liquidation, bankrupt or deleted.
- Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy and the rest: no free register API, so VIES only, plus direct links to the official register and insolvency search.
- Not included: credit scores and payment history. Those are sold by Creditsafe, Creditreform, Lursoft and Dun & Bradstreet, and are worth buying for a client who wants credit terms.
Checking a freight client: questions
How do I check that a transport company is real?
Check the VAT number in VIES, then compare the name and address with what is on the order. Then check the things a fraudster controls: the email domain (how old, is it theirs), the phone number (look it up yourself, do not use the one in the email) and the bank account. Most freight fraud uses a real company's VAT number with a fake email or account, so a valid VAT number alone proves very little.
How do I check an EU VAT number?
The European Commission's VIES service confirms whether a VAT number is valid for cross-border trade, and in most countries returns the registered name and address. Germany and Spain return only valid or not valid, without the name. This page runs the VIES check for you and puts the result next to the other registers.
What does the VID taxpayer rating mean?
The Latvian State Revenue Service rates every company: A means it meets its tax obligations, B that compliance needs improvement, C that it breaches them (usually tax debt), J that it is newly registered, and N that it is an inactive taxpayer. C and N are red flags for a client; B is common and on its own means little.
How do I check a Polish carrier's bank account?
The Polish Ministry of Finance publishes every VAT payer's bank accounts on the white list (biała lista). Put the account in the bank account field and this page tells you whether it belongs to that company. Paying more than PLN 15,000 into an account that is not listed can cost the payer the tax deduction, so Polish companies check it themselves.
Does a clean result mean they will pay?
No. It means the company exists, is registered and is not insolvent, liquidated or sanctioned. Whether it pays on time is a credit question, answered by payment-history databases. For a new client asking for 60 days, prepayment on the first loads is the free alternative.
What are the usual signs of freight fraud?
A company registered in the last few months, an email from a free mailbox or a domain registered weeks ago, a name on the order that differs from the register, a new board on an old company, a bank account in another country, and urgency: a well-paid load that must go today. Any two of those together is reason to stop and phone the company on a number you found yourself.