Tax and register numbers · United Kingdom

UK VAT Number Field for Gravity Forms

UK VAT Number Field for Gravity Forms brings a field for the British VAT registration number into Gravity Forms, the form plugin for WordPress. The field checks the number against its check digits on your own server on submission and so catches typos before the number ends up in your data. A check digit is a digit calculated from the other digits that reveals typos.

Since the United Kingdom left the EU, this number can no longer be checked in the European VIES system, only with the British tax authority HMRC. If you have entered access credentials, the field asks HMRC whether the number has been issued.

How it works
View the manual

Who it is for

Who benefits.

The field is for forms in which business customers or suppliers from the United Kingdom enter their details, for example for billing addresses or for onboarding new suppliers. It is also for developers who need a validated British VAT number in the settings of their own plugin.

What you get: only numbers in the correct form end up in your entries, because typos and wrong numbers are caught on submission. Your customer data, your invoices and your e-invoices build on that. An e-invoice is an invoice as a structured file that software can read.

The field checks in two stages: the first runs on every submission, the second is added only if you switch it on.

On your server only Plus the lookup with HMRC
Format and check digits ✓ ✓
The number has been issued – ✓
What the check on your server catches and what the lookup with HMRC adds.

The field works without access credentials, too. It then checks the number only on your server.


What the field does for you

  • You find the field VAT Number (United Kingdom) in the form editor in the field group e-Invoicing Fields and add it to your form like any other field.
  • It checks every number on your server. It knows the nine-digit format with its two check digits, the twelve-digit format for branches and the special formats for government departments (GD) and health authorities (HA).
  • Your customer can enter the number with or without GB in front, and with spaces. So nobody has to think about which notation to type.
  • If you want, it also confirms the number with HMRC. So you find out whether the number has actually been issued, not just correctly formed. The lookup runs with your own access credentials or through your invoicePress account.
  • Developers are covered as well: the same check is available as a field type for the settings pages of their own plugins, so you do not have to rebuild the rules yourself.

What it does not do

  • It does not check VAT numbers from Northern Ireland that start with XI. The VAT ID field of this series is meant for those.
  • It does not fill in other fields of the form. It does not copy the name or address from the register.
  • It does not store the responses from HMRC.
  • It does not make your form depend on HMRC. If HMRC is unreachable at the moment or the access credentials are missing, your customer can still submit the form.

How it works

From entry to saved record

1 · Entry
your customer types the number
2 · Check on your server
format and check digits
3 · Optional: HMRC
Has the number been issued?
4 · Saved
with a checked number
How the field checks an entry on submission: first on your server, then, if you want, with HMRC, and after that the entry is saved.

You cannot try a demo here yet. The manual explains step by step how to set up the field.


Requirements

What you need.

WordPress a running WordPress installation
PHP version 7.4 or newer
Gravity Forms version 2.5 or newer, installed and active
Register check Free access credentials (client ID and client secret) for the “Check a UK VAT number” interface from the HMRC Developer Hub. Alternatively, the lookup can run through your invoicePress account with an API key from invoicePress, that is, an access code.

Manual

Everything explained step by step.

In the manual you will find the installation, the first steps, every setting and special cases as well. It applies to version 1.0.1 of the plugin.

View the manual
Manual as PDF

Deutsches Handbuch · PDF


Goes well with

Fields that go well with it

EU VAT ID · EU

VAT ID Field for Gravity Forms brings a field for the VAT identification number of the EU, called USt-IdNr. in Germany. If you want, it confirms the number with VIES, the lookup system of the European Commission.

Learn more

LEI · worldwide

LEI Field for Gravity Forms brings a field for the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), a worldwide identifier for companies and other legal entities that is issued only once. If you want, it confirms the identifier in the GLEIF register.

Learn more

ISO 6523 (ICD) · worldwide

ISO6523 ICD Field for Gravity Forms brings a field for organization identifiers according to ISO 6523. An e-invoice uses this list of identifier types to identify the seller and the buyer.

Learn more

EN16931 fields

Gravity Forms EN16931 Fields brings the code lists of the e-invoice into Gravity Forms as ready-made choices. A code list is a defined list of allowed values, for example the currency codes.

Learn more

All identifier fields · All extensions


Request it now, coming soon to the shop.

This plugin will be available in the shop on invoicePress.de shortly. Until then, you can get it on request. A short message to us is all it takes.

Request the plugin