eu_vat_rates_data · Ruby

Gem Version Last updated License: MIT

VAT rates for 45 European countries — EU-27 plus Norway, Switzerland, UK, and more. EU rates sourced from the European Commission TEDB and checked daily. Non-EU rates maintained manually.

  • Standard, reduced, super-reduced, and parking rates
  • eu_member flag on every country — true for EU-27, false for non-EU
  • vat_name — official name of the VAT tax in the country's primary official language
  • vat_abbr — short abbreviation used locally (e.g. "ALV", "MwSt", "TVA")
  • format — human-readable VAT number format (e.g. "ATU + 8 digits") — unique to this package
  • pattern — regex for VAT number validation + built-in valid_format?() — free, no API key needed — unique to this package
  • No dependencies — pure Ruby 3.0+
  • Data bundled in the gem — works offline, no network calls
  • EU rates checked daily via GitHub Actions, new version published only when rates change

Also available in: JavaScript/TypeScript (npm) · Python (PyPI) · PHP (Packagist) · Go

Need live VIES validation?

This package gives you VAT rates and format checks for free, offline, in your code. It does not call VIES — valid_format?() only checks the shape of a VAT number, not whether it actually exists.

For live VIES validation — confirming a VAT ID is real, pulling the registered company name and address, and getting the VIES consultation number as your reference for the check — there's vatnode:

  • Live VIES validation, with national-database fallback when VIES is down
  • Registered company name, address, registration date
  • VIES consultation number for compliance and audit trails
  • Webhooks for VAT status changes
  • Official MCP server so AI agents (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT) can validate VAT IDs directly
  • Free tier — no credit card needed
curl https://api.vatnode.dev/v1/vat/IE6388047V \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

See what the API adds → · Get a free API key

Installation

gem install eu_vat_rates_data
# or in Gemfile:
gem 'eu_vat_rates_data'

Usage

require "eu_vat_rates_data"

# Full rate hash for a country
fi = EuVatRatesData.get_rate("FI")
# {
#   "country"       => "Finland",
#   "currency"      => "EUR",
#   "eu_member"     => true,
#   "vat_name"      => "Arvonlisävero",
#   "vat_abbr"      => "ALV",
#   "standard"      => 25.5,
#   "reduced"       => [10.0, 13.5],
#   "super_reduced" => nil,
#   "parking"       => nil
# }

# Just the standard rate
EuVatRatesData.get_standard_rate("DE")  # => 19.0

# EU membership check — false for non-EU countries (GB, NO, CH, ...)
if EuVatRatesData.eu_member?(user_input)
  rate = EuVatRatesData.get_rate(user_input)
end

# Dataset membership check (all 45 countries)
if EuVatRatesData.has_rate?(user_input)
  rate = EuVatRatesData.get_rate(user_input)
end

# All 45 countries at once
EuVatRatesData.all_rates.each do |code, rate|
  puts "#{code}: #{rate['standard']}%"
end

# When were EU rates last fetched?
puts EuVatRatesData.data_version  # e.g. "2026-03-27"

# VAT number format validation — no API key, no network call
EuVatRatesData.valid_format?("ATU12345678")  # => true
EuVatRatesData.valid_format?("DE123456789")  # => true
EuVatRatesData.valid_format?("INVALID")      # => false

# Access format metadata directly
at = EuVatRatesData.get_rate("AT")
puts at["format"]   # "ATU + 8 digits"
puts at["pattern"]  # "^ATU\\d{8}$"

# Flag emoji from a 2-letter country code — no lookup table, computed from regional indicator symbols
EuVatRatesData.flag("FI")  # => "🇫🇮"
EuVatRatesData.flag("DE")  # => "🇩🇪"
EuVatRatesData.flag("XX")  # => "" (empty string for unknown/invalid codes)

Example: charging VAT on an invoice

Rates on their own rarely answer the question you actually have, which is what to put on the invoice. Two rules cover most of it: charge the buyer's domestic rate, unless the sale is cross-border B2B inside the EU, where the reverse charge applies and you invoice 0%.

# Money in minor units (cents). Never floats.
def invoice_total(net_cents, seller_country, buyer_country, buyer_vat_id = nil)
  cross_border_b2b = buyer_country != seller_country &&
                     !buyer_vat_id.nil? &&
                     EuVatRatesData.valid_format?(buyer_vat_id)

  return { vat_cents: 0, total_cents: net_cents, reverse_charge: true } if cross_border_b2b

  rate = EuVatRatesData.get_standard_rate(buyer_country)
  vat_cents = (net_cents * rate / 100.0).round

  { vat_cents: vat_cents, total_cents: net_cents + vat_cents, reverse_charge: false }
end

# Domestic sale in Finland — 25.5%
invoice_total(10_000, 'FI', 'FI')
# => { vat_cents: 2550, total_cents: 12550, reverse_charge: false }

# Finnish seller, German business buyer — reverse charge
invoice_total(10_000, 'FI', 'DE', 'DE123456789')
# => { vat_cents: 0, total_cents: 10000, reverse_charge: true }

valid_format? only checks the shape of the number. Applying the reverse charge requires the buyer to actually be VAT-registered, which is a VIES lookup — see above.

Data source & update frequency

How the daily check works, and what changed when: vatnode.dev/data.

  • EU-27 rates: European Commission TEDB, checked against the source daily at 07:00 UTC, updated on any change
  • Non-EU rates: maintained manually, updated on official rate changes
  • Published to RubyGems only when actual rates change

Keeping rates current

Rates are bundled at install time. A new package version is published automatically whenever rates change — but your installed version will not update itself.

Recommended: add Renovate or Dependabot to your repo. They detect new versions and open a PR automatically whenever rates change — no manual update commands needed.

Need real-time accuracy? Fetch the always-current JSON directly:

https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/vatnode/eu-vat-rates-data@main/data/eu-vat-rates-data.json

No package needed — parse it with a single fetch() / http.get() / file_get_contents() call and cache locally.

Covered countries

EU-27 (checked daily against EC TEDB, updated on any change):

AT BE BG CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GR HR HU IE IT LT LU LV MT NL PL PT RO SE SI SK

Non-EU Europe (manually maintained):

AD AL BA CH GB GE IS LI MC MD ME MK NO RS TR UA XK

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md.

License

MIT

If you find this useful, a ⭐ on GitHub is appreciated.