README

The official PHP library for the VAT Sense REST API. Validate VAT/EORI numbers, look up VAT/GST rates, calculate prices, convert currencies, and generate VAT-compliant invoices.

Installation

composer require vatsense/vatsense-php

Requires PHP 8.1 or higher.

Quick start

Create a client using your API key from the VAT Sense dashboard. The API uses HTTP Basic Auth with user as the username and your API key as the password.

<?php

use Vatsense\Client;

$client = new Client(
    username: 'user',
    password: 'your_api_key',
);

You can also set the VAT_SENSE_USERNAME and VAT_SENSE_PASSWORD environment variables and the client will pick them up automatically.

Validate a VAT number

$response = $client->validate->check(vatNumber: 'GB288305674');

if ($response->data->valid) {
    echo $response->data->company->companyName; // "BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION"
    echo $response->data->company->companyAddress;
    echo $response->data->company->countryCode; // "GB"
}

VAT validation works for the UK, EU, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, and Brazil.

Validate an EORI number

$response = $client->validate->check(eoriNumber: 'GB123456789000');

if ($response->data->valid) {
    echo $response->data->company->companyName;
}

EORI validation is available for UK and EU numbers only.

Get a consultation number

If you need an official consultation number from VIES (EU) or HMRC (UK), provide your own VAT number as the requester:

$response = $client->validate->check(
    vatNumber: 'FR12345678901',
    requesterVatNumber: 'FR98765432101',
);

echo $response->data->consultationNumber;

Note: GB requester numbers only work for GB validations, and EU requester numbers only work for EU validations. Cross-region requests are not supported.

Find the VAT rate for a country

$rate = $client->rates->find(countryCode: 'DE');

echo $rate->data->countryName;      // "Germany"
echo $rate->data->taxRate->rate;     // 19
echo $rate->data->taxRate->class;    // "standard"

Find a rate for a specific product type

$rate = $client->rates->find(countryCode: 'DE', type: 'ebooks');

echo $rate->data->taxRate->rate;  // 7
echo $rate->data->taxRate->class; // "reduced"

Find a rate by IP address

Useful for determining the correct rate based on your customer's location:

$rate = $client->rates->find(ipAddress: '185.86.151.11');

echo $rate->data->countryCode; // "GB"
echo $rate->data->taxRate->rate; // 20

Calculate a VAT-inclusive price

use Vatsense\Rates\RateCalculatePriceParams\TaxType;

$result = $client->rates->calculatePrice(
    price: '100.00',
    taxType: TaxType::EXCL,
    countryCode: 'FR',
);

echo $result->data->vatPrice->priceInclVat;  // Price including VAT
echo $result->data->vatPrice->priceExclVat;  // Price excluding VAT
echo $result->data->vatPrice->vatRate;       // VAT rate applied
echo $result->data->vatPrice->vat;           // VAT amount

List all VAT rates

$rates = $client->rates->list();

foreach ($rates->data as $rate) {
    echo $rate->countryCode . ': ' . $rate->countryName . PHP_EOL;
}

// Filter to EU countries only
$euRates = $client->rates->list(eu: true);

Handling errors

When the API returns an error, the library throws a typed exception:

<?php

use Vatsense\Core\Exceptions\APIConnectionException;
use Vatsense\Core\Exceptions\APIStatusException;
use Vatsense\Core\Exceptions\RateLimitException;

try {
    $response = $client->validate->check(vatNumber: 'GB288305674');
} catch (APIConnectionException $e) {
    // Network issue, could not reach the API
    echo $e->getMessage();
} catch (RateLimitException $e) {
    // 429: Too many requests (300/min general limit, 3/sec for UK validation)
    echo "Rate limited, try again shortly";
} catch (APIStatusException $e) {
    // Covers all other HTTP errors
    echo $e->getMessage();
}

A 412 error means the upstream validation service (VIES, HMRC, etc.) is temporarily unavailable. These requests do not count against your usage quota.

Cause	Error Type
HTTP 400	`BadRequestException`
HTTP 401	`AuthenticationException`
HTTP 404	`NotFoundException`
HTTP 409	`ConflictException`
HTTP 412	`APIStatusException`
HTTP 429	`RateLimitException`
HTTP >= 500	`InternalServerException`
Timeout	`APITimeoutException`
Network error	`APIConnectionException`

Retries

Failed requests are automatically retried up to 2 times with exponential backoff. This includes connection errors, timeouts, 429, and 5xx responses.

// Disable retries
$client = new Client(
    username: 'user',
    password: 'your_api_key',
    requestOptions: ['maxRetries' => 0],
);

// Or configure per request
$response = $client->validate->check(
    vatNumber: 'GB288305674',
    requestOptions: ['maxRetries' => 5],
);

Available services

Service	Description
`$client->validate`	Validate VAT and EORI numbers
`$client->rates`	VAT/GST rate lookups, price calculations
`$client->countries`	Country data and province lookups
`$client->currency`	Exchange rates and currency conversion
`$client->invoice`	Create and manage VAT-compliant invoices
`$client->usage`	Check your API usage

Documentation

Full API documentation is available at vatsense.com/documentation.

Versioning

This package follows SemVer conventions. As the library is in initial development and has a major version of 0, APIs may change at any time.

Contributing

See the contributing documentation.

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