In investigating a director for fraud, I have come into possession of a copy of a VAT certificate for one of his companies that I believe may be a made up copy (and presented in a previous court case). HMRC will only confirm that the number is not currently allocated and the company is not currently registered. I understand there is an algorithm that I can check but does that apply to 2013-2014 numbers as well?
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The formula will help you decide if this VAT number might have been somebody's VAT number in 2013 - but it won't help you confirm that the VAT certificate is genuine.
By analogy, you can easily check to see if 10 Downing Street is a genuine address - but that doesn't confirm that I lived there in 2013.
David
Is this any help? It's the new version of the VIES website which can be used to check UK numbers https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/enter-vat-details
There are two algorithms which are described here: -
https://library.croneri.co.uk/cch_uk/bvr/43-600
I'm not sure when the newer one (modulus 9755) started, but you can check both.