Validate EU VAT Numbers in Claude Desktop, Cursor, and ChatGPT — Official MCP Server

Vatnode has released vatnode-mcp, an official Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI assistants to validate EU VAT numbers, retrieve registered company names, and look up VAT rates for all EU countries directly within chat interfaces. The server ships five tools — four of which are fully offline and free — and works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT, and other MCP-compatible clients through a single configuration file edit.

Originally published at vatnode.dev . The version on vatnode.dev is the canonical source — refer to it for the latest content. Your AI assistant can now check if a VAT number is real, pull the registered company name, and look up VAT rates for every EU country — all without leaving the chat. We just released vatnode-mcp https://www.npmjs.com/package/vatnode-mcp , the official Model Context Protocol MCP server for vatnode. This post covers what MCP is in 30 seconds, how to install the vatnode server in Claude Desktop / Cursor / ChatGPT, and a few concrete examples of why this is useful for anyone doing EU B2B work. Model Context Protocol https://modelcontextprotocol.io is an open standard from Anthropic for connecting AI assistants to external tools and data sources. An MCP server exposes a small set of tools — named functions with described inputs — and the AI model picks the right one based on what the user is asking. Think of it as the "USB-C of AI integrations": write one MCP server and any compatible client Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT's custom-connectors, Cline, Continue, and more can use it. The user just edits a config file once — no per-app integration work. vatnode-mcp ships five tools, four of them fully offline and free: get country vat rates list eu vat rates check vat format list supported countries validate vat number Why four free tools? Because the data is bundled into the package via eu-vat-rates-data https://www.npmjs.com/package/eu-vat-rates-data also open source — there's nothing to charge for. The paid tool is the one that calls real VIES infrastructure. One config file edit. Open claude desktop config.json on macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ and add: { "mcpServers": { "vatnode": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "vatnode-mcp" , "env": { "VATNODE API KEY": "vat live ..." } } } } Restart Claude Desktop. That's it. The vatnode tools appear in the tool picker. For Cursor, paste the same JSON in Settings → MCP → Add new server . ChatGPT custom connectors and other MCP clients Continue, Cline follow the same pattern. The VATNODE API KEY is optional — without it you still get all four free tools. To enable live VIES validation, grab a free API key https://vatnode.dev/register no credit card; the free tier includes a monthly request quota . A few real example exchanges you don't have to name the tool — Claude picks it from the description : You:What's the standard VAT rate in Finland and Germany? Claude calls get country vat rates for FI and DE — free, no key needed. Claude:Finland's standard VAT rate is 25.5% raised from 24% in September 2024 . Germany's is 19%. Finland also has reduced rates of 13.5% and 10%; Germany has 7%. You:Is IE6388047V a valid VAT? Claude calls validate vat number — uses your API key. Claude:Yes, IE6388047V is valid. It belongs toGOOGLE IRELAND LIMITED, registered at Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. You:I have a list of 12 European customers. Tell me which countries have reduced VAT rates for restaurant services. Claude calls list eu vat rates , processes the result and answers in context. Claude:France 10% reduced , Spain 10% , Italy 10% , Portugal 13% intermediate ... the model interprets the data for the user's actual question The point isn't that Claude does VAT lookup faster than a Google search. It's that the result lands in the same conversation where you're drafting an invoice, double-checking a supplier, or writing checkout code — no context switch. Third-party MCP marketplaces sometimes ship VAT-validation wrappers built around our public API. Using vatnode-mcp directly is the only way to: The current release ships five tools. Coming soon: bulk validate for processing lists in one call, subscribe to vat changes for monitoring so the agent can warn you if a known-good VAT later de-registers , and a vies consultation number tool that returns the audit token VIES issues when a requester VAT is configured. If you have a specific use case the current tools don't cover, open an issue on GitHub https://github.com/vatnode/vatnode-mcp/issues — tool descriptions are tuned based on what people actually try, so feedback directly shapes the next release. Try it now Sign up for a free vatnode account optional — needed only for live VIES validation - Paste the config block above into your claude desktop config.json - Restart Claude Desktop and ask it a VAT question Full docs: vatnode.dev/docs/mcp