The rules the checker runs
What the EORI guide does: 8 tools
- EORI number checker type a GB, XI or EU number and see at once whether its prefix, length and characters fit the published rules.
- Check a list of EORI numbers paste up to 500 numbers from a spreadsheet and get a reason, a suggested fix and the right official service for every row.
- Compare an EORI with a UK VAT number see whether the first nine digits of a GB or XI number match the holder's VAT number, as HMRC says they should.
- Which EORI number do I need? say where you are based and what you will move, and learn whether you need a GB, an XI or an EU number.
- EORI number formats by country type how many characters your number has and see which of the 29 prefixes allow that length.
- Do I need an EORI number? answer four questions about who you are and how often you make customs declarations to see whether you must register.
- Where to apply for an EORI number pick your situation and see which customs authority issues the number, with a link to the official list of authorities.
- How long an EORI number lasts enter the date a number stopped being valid and see the earliest date its record can be deleted, ten years on.
The checker on eorilookup.com is a short list of fixed tests written in plain code. It looks at what you typed and nothing else. It sends no query to HMRC, to the European Commission or to any register, and it asks no AI model for an opinion.
The tests, in the order they run
- Clean-up. Spaces, dashes, dots, slashes and underscores are dropped and lower case becomes upper case. Any other symbol makes the number fail at once.
- Two letters first. An EORI number starts with the code of the country that issued it. Digits only, or a letter followed by a digit, fail here, and a bare 12-digit string is offered a GB prefix as a guess for you to confirm.
- A prefix that exists. GB, XI and the 27 EU country codes pass. UK fails, with a note that HMRC numbers start with GB, and every other code fails with a note that the number must begin with one of those prefixes.
- Characters after the prefix. GB and XI numbers must have digits only. For an EU number, letters and digits are both allowed.
- Length. GB and XI need 12 digits. A 15-digit number is marked possible but unusual, because HMRC's own input pattern mentions it. EU numbers may have up to 15 characters after the country code.
- Country shape. Where the Commission's national table publishes a shape, the number is compared with it. Six countries get this test today: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Portugal. For every other EU country the table gives no detail, so this step is skipped and the result says so.
Where each rule comes from
The GB and XI rules come from HMRC's EORI guidance and its input pattern page. The EU rule and the country shapes come from the Commission's EORI page and its table of national implementations (June 2022). Each result line on the site names the page behind it, and the Full trace mode lists every test with its source.
Three outcomes, not two
A number can come out as format matches, possible but worth confirming, or format wrong. The middle outcome exists so that an unusual but permitted length is not called an error.
What it never does
Nothing it prints can tell you whether a number is registered, active or held by the company that gave it to you. It cannot read the registers, and the official services are the only place that answers that. Every result ends with the link to the right one.
Examples are made up
Every sample number on the site is invented for illustration. If one of them happens to be assigned to a real business, that is chance, and it says nothing about that business.
Page last revised: 2026-10-26
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Edited