Cyprus VAT Number Validation

Cyprus VAT numbers consist of 8 digits followed by a check letter, using a lookup table algorithm for validation.

Format Overview

Regex Pattern

^CY[0-9]{8}[A-Z]$

Restrictions

• Cannot start with "12"

Checksum Algorithm

Cyprus uses a lookup table combined with MOD 26:

def validate_cy_vat(number):
    if number.startswith('CY'):
        number = number[2:]

    if len(number) != 9:
        return False

    # Cannot start with 12
    if number.startswith('12'):
        return False

    digits = number[:8]
    check_letter = number[8]

    if not digits.isdigit() or not check_letter.isalpha():
        return False

    # Lookup table for odd positions
    table = [1, 0, 5, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21]

    total = 0
    for i, d in enumerate(digits):
        digit = int(d)
        if i % 2 == 0:  # Odd position (1-indexed)
            total += table[digit]
        else:  # Even position
            total += digit

    expected = chr(ord('A') + (total % 26))
    return check_letter == expected

Important Notes

• The domestic Cyprus VAT number body is 9 characters, for example 10259033P. The EU/VIES form adds the CY country prefix, for example CY10259033P.
• Cyprus also uses 9-character Tax Identification Numbers / Tax Identification Codes (TIN/TIC). These can look similar to VAT numbers, but a Cyprus TIN/TIC is not automatically a VAT registration number.
• A Cyprus VAT number can pass format and checksum checks but still be inactive, deregistered, not issued, or not activated for intra-EU transactions. Use VatDB to check whether the number is active for EU-wide commerce.
• Company and registry identifiers such as HE123456, C273730, or EE123456 are not Cyprus VAT numbers. They should not be normalized into the CY VAT format.