Released in 2021, VATGST is an application from Kevin Wells that makes it possible to validate Value Added Tax (VAT) and Goods and Services Tax (GST) numbers – a sometimes handy thing for businesses to do when checking suppliers and customers.
Kevin has released an update to the software, giving it the ability to also look up and validate Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) numbers. These are required for entities that import or export goods to/from the European Union – which many companies based in the United Kingdom do (although, because of the peculiarities of the UK and the deal the UK has with the EU, they are also needed to move goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.)
Another change in the latest version – 1.02 – is that it now checks to see if it is already running, so that only one copy is loaded to the icon bar at any one time.
Like a lot of Kevin’s software, VATGST performs its lookup functions by relaying information between the user (via the RISC OS desktop) and a remote site’s application programmer interface (API). In this case the remote site is vatsense – with whom users will need to register to receive an API key, which will be needed by the software in order to work.
A copy of curl will also be needed.
If you find any of Kevin’s software or videos useful, why not consider rewarding him for it by buying some merchandise or with a small contribution.
