VAT validation oK but wrong

The response in relation to a VAT number validation comes from the VIES service. There are only two cases in which the EU VAT Assistant can apply an exemption:
1. The VIES service returned a “valid number” response.
2. Some custom code intercepted the result of the VAT number validation, and forced an exemption to be applied.

If you can enter the VAT number at checkout and see an exemption applied, you should check for these two conditions. You can see the result of the validation in the order details. The VAT Information box will show the response returned from the VIES service, indicating if the number vas returned as valid.

Please note that the EU VAT Assistant always errs on the side of caution. It doesn’t apply an exemption unless there’s a valid reason to do so. Even if the option “accept invalid VAT number” is enabled, that allows invalid VAT numbers to go through, but no exemption is applied.

As an additional note, it’s also possible that exemption is applied by a different element altogether. Technically, any plugin can set the customer’s session as exempt from VAT, therefore some other plugin, or custom code, could be the one setting the order as exempt despite the VAT number being incorrect. The usual approach of going by exclusion, disabling other plugins, can help determining if this could be the case.

Hello Diego, thank you for your reply
we don’t use any other plugin to handle VAT.
The exemption was made during checkout using the field that the plugin has and it gives it as valid, I also checked in the order the report and it says valid but when I checked on the VIES website the same vat gives an invalid result.
is there a way to get a report or check a log to give proof of the check the plugin did?
according to our accountant as the vies service gives the vat number as invalid, we would have to pay for the vat that was not charged to the customer.

If, in the order details, the number appears as valid, then it means that the VIES system returned that validation result when the order was placed. To be 100% clear, it’s not possible that the EU VAT Assistant arbitrarily decided to consider a VAT number valid when the VIES system says otherwise.

If the VAT number was valid when the order was placed, and it’s not valid now, the reason could be that the company ceased trading, changed VAT number or got absorbed, or restructured into another entity. It’s something we saw a couple of times ourselves, where a company used a valid VAT number in a quarter, and the same number came up as invalid three months later.

How to confirm the VAT number validation
In relation to the validation logging, if you added your own EU VAT number in the plugin settings (see https://prnt.sc/YBzM3AwCLVtA), the EU VAT Assistant passed that information to the VIES system, which would have returned a consultation number. That number can serve as a proof of validation. The EU VAT Assistant then shows the consultation number in the VAT Information box, visible on the order.

If you enabled the debug mode in the EU VAT Assistant settings (see https://prnt.sc/Xc2DlK2wi2Xl), then the log file will also contain the raw response returned by the VIES service. Please be aware that the debug mode option is disabled by default, because tracking the response of every validation would consume a significant amount of space.

If neither of the above is available, one way to confirm that the VAT number was valid when the order was placed would be to consult the company register of the customer’s country. The register should show the company details and VAT number, and indicate why the number that was valid in the past is no longer valid now.