Our Approach: Official Sources Only
Why we exclusively validate against government databases, the real challenges this creates, and how we are solving them.
Most validation providers dont tell you where their data comes from. We think you deserve to know.
The Core Principle: Official Sources Only
LookupTax exclusively integrates with official government databases. When you validate a VAT number, GST ID, or any other Tax ID through our API, youre getting data directly from the tax authority that issued it.
We dont use:
- Private aggregated databases
- Third-party data resellers
- Scraped or cached registry data
- "Black box" validation services with undisclosed sources
Why this matters: When a business claims a Tax ID is valid, you need to trust that the validation actually checked the government registry, not a stale cache from six months ago or a third-party database that "claims" to have official data.
If a government says an ID is registered, we return that. If they say its not, we return that. No middlemen, no guesswork.
The Honest Part: Official DBs Have Downtimes
Heres the tradeoff nobody talks about.
Official government databases go down. Tax registries across the world experience maintenance windows, outages, and slowdowns. Its an increasing problem, and our customers have felt it.
Some providers resolve this by switching to cached databases or third-party aggregators when the official source is unavailable. That might give you "better uptime," but it also means youre no longer validating against the source of truth.
We refuse to make that tradeoff.
When a government database is down, we tell you its down. Our API returns a clear error state instead of pretending to validate against stale data. This is intentional transparency.
Yes, this creates friction. Yes, it means occasional timeouts. And yes, we know this is a real pain point.
How We are Solving This
We are not just accepting the status quo. Heres what we are actively building to give you official-source reliability and uptime:
Multiple Backup Sources
Many countries offer multiple official endpoints (e.g., EU VIES for VAT, national registries for local IDs). We are implementing intelligent fallback logic to retry across official mirrors when one endpoint is down.
Batch API for Async Validation
For workflows where instant responses arent critical (bulk validation, overnight reconciliation), our Batch API handles async validation with automatic retries. Submit thousands of IDs, get results when complete. No blocking, no timeouts.
Country Status Pages
We are building proactive status tracking so you can see which government databases are operational before you even try to validate. If Frances tax registry is down for maintenance, youll know before hitting our API.
Why We Built It This Way
We could have taken the easy path:
- Use aggregated databases for "99.9% uptime"
- Market ourselves as "always available"
- Avoid the hard conversations about government registry downtimes
But we didnt build LookupTax to be the easiest solution. We built it to be the most trustworthy one.
If you are validating a Tax ID to determine whether to charge VAT, offer a B2B discount, or comply with tax regulations, you need to know the data is real. Not "pretty close," not "good enough"real.
That means going to the source, even when it's inconvenient. And it means being honest with you when the source is unavailable.
How LookupTax Compares
| Approach | LookupTax | Others |
|---|---|---|
| Data Source | Official government databases only | Mix of official sources + private aggregated DBs |
| Transparency | Explicitly lists which countries are DB-checked vs format-only | Often vague. "100+ countries" without details on validation depth |
| When DB is Down | Returns clear error. No fake validations | May fallback to cached/aggregated data (undisclosed to user) |
| Future-Proofing | Backup sources, async validation, status pages in development | Varies by provider |
Try Official-Source Validation
See the difference transparency makes. Start validating Tax IDs with confidence.
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