Is VIES Down? › SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE
SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE
SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE means VIES itself failed, at the network or application level, rather than one member state. It says nothing about the VAT number: record it as unknown and retry later.
No member state reported SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE in our latest check, as of 2026-09-25 23:20 UTC. Your own request may still get a different answer. See the live board →
What it means
The European Commission's own definition, from the VIES service description: "an error was encountered either at the network level or the Web application level, try again later". The failure is on the VIES side, the EU application that routes your request to the member states, not in the national database that holds the number.
That is what separates it from MS_UNAVAILABLE, where VIES itself worked and one member state did not answer. With SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE the request may never have reached any member state at all, which is why it tends to hit several countries at once, and why switching countries rarely helps.
What it does not mean: that the VAT number is invalid, or that it is valid. The number was not checked. In the SOAP interface the code arrives as a fault whose message is SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, and most client libraries raise it as an exception; in the REST interface it arrives in errorWrappers with HTTP 200, so read the body rather than the status code.
Which member states return SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE most
We have not recorded a single SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE response yet. We started monitoring on 2026-08-09, and this table only ever fills in from things we actually observed — so it stays empty until we see one rather than guessing.
What to do about it
- Record the result as unknown, never as invalid. A customer whose valid number is marked invalid because VIES was down is a support ticket you created yourself.
- Retry with backoff and jitter. Start at about 30 seconds and back off exponentially. Most occurrences clear in minutes; the table above shows how often we have seen it and where.
- Check whether it is everywhere. If the live board shows several member states failing at the same moment, VIES itself is having an incident, and retrying country by country will not help until it recovers.
- Queue the check rather than block the invoice. For most businesses a VAT check is due diligence, not a gate: send the invoice, keep the failed attempt with its timestamp, and re-check in the background.
- Keep the evidence. If you rely on the check for a zero-rated or reverse-charge supply, store the date, time and outcome of every attempt, including the ones that failed.
Frequently asked questions
Does SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE mean the VAT number is invalid?
No. The number was never checked, so the response carries no information about it either way. Record it as unknown and retry later.
What is the difference between SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE and MS_UNAVAILABLE?
Where the failure is. SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE is VIES itself failing at the network or application level, so it can affect every member state at once. MS_UNAVAILABLE means VIES worked but one member state database did not reply, so numbers from other countries still check fine.
How long does a VIES SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE last?
Usually minutes, occasionally longer during an incident on the VIES side. Retry with exponential backoff starting at about 30 seconds, and look at the live board: if many member states fail at the same time, wait for VIES to recover rather than retrying each country.
Why does my SOAP client throw an exception with SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE?
The SOAP interface reports VIES errors as SOAP faults, and most client libraries turn a fault into an exception. Catch it, treat the result as unknown rather than invalid, and retry later.
Hit a different error?
MS_UNAVAILABLE— MS_UNAVAILABLE means VIES could not get an answer from the country holding the VAT number.MS_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ— MS_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ means a member state is already handling as many simultaneous VIES lookups as it will take.GLOBAL_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ— GLOBAL_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ means the VIES front end — not one member state — is handling as many simultaneous requests as it will take.TIMEOUT— A VIES timeout means no answer arrived before your deadline.
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