A tax clearance certificate and a VAT registration confirm that a company meets its obligations to Irish Revenue. Both facts are verifiable from official sources before a transaction closes. Control over a counterparty begins with knowing whether its tax standing is current — and whether the VAT number presented is the one Revenue actually issued.
The extract does not establish who owns the company. It establishes that the company is in good standing with Revenue, that its VAT number is active, and — where applicable — that it holds sector-specific clearances. Those are distinct questions. This page addresses the first set only.
What the extract showsCurrent tax clearance status (valid or refused), VAT registration number, VAT registration date, and the taxable person category. Source: Revenue Online Service (ROS) and the VIES public checker · verified 2026-09-15 Public accessVAT number validity is publicly verifiable through VIES at no charge. Tax clearance status is accessible to the certificate holder and to authorised third parties via a verification code. Source: Revenue Commissioners, Ireland · verified 2026-09-15 Condition of accessThird-party verification of tax clearance requires the verification code issued to the certificate holder. Without that code, Revenue does not confirm or deny clearance status to an external party. What the extract does not showOutstanding tax liabilities, audit history, PAYE compliance detail, or the identity of beneficial owners. Those are not disclosed through any public channel.Source: Revenue Commissioners, Ireland (ROS) · VIES · verified 2026-09-15
Tax clearance in Ireland: what the certificate establishes
Irish Revenue issues a tax clearance certificate to a company that has met its tax obligations. The certificate carries a unique verification code. A counterparty or contracting authority can enter that code on the Revenue portal to confirm validity.
The certificate does not quantify the company's tax position. It records a binary outcome: clearance granted or refused. The date of issue is visible; the underlying compliance detail is not.
Tax clearance is required by statute for certain public contracts and licences. In a commercial due diligence context, the certificate is one layer of the control picture — it confirms the company is not in a position of active non-compliance with Revenue at the date of issue.
The certificate lapses. A certificate valid today may not be valid in thirty days. The extract produced for a report carries the date of retrieval; it does not warrant future status.
Source: Revenue Commissioners, Ireland — Tax Clearance · verified 2026-09-15
VAT registration: what VIES returns for an Irish number
The VAT Information Exchange System (VIES) allows any party to query whether an IE-prefix VAT number is currently registered. The query returns:
- valid or invalid status
- the name of the taxable person (for Irish numbers, Revenue returns the name)
- the address on record (for Irish numbers, Revenue returns the address)
VIES is a European Commission system. For Irish numbers, Revenue participates fully: name and address are returned. This distinguishes Ireland from several other EU member states where only valid/invalid is returned.
An invalid result does not mean the company does not exist. It means the number queried is not currently registered for VAT in Ireland. The company may trade below the registration threshold, may have deregistered, or the number presented may be incorrect.
A valid result confirms registration at the moment of query. It does not confirm that the company is filing VAT returns or that no arrears exist.
Source: European Commission VIES — ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies · verified 2026-09-15
What the sources do not show: the control question
Tax and VAT status data answers a narrow question: is this entity in good standing with Revenue? It does not answer who controls the entity.
The following are not available through Revenue or VIES:
- the identity of directors or shareholders
- the identity of beneficial owners
- outstanding liabilities or the quantum of any tax debt
- the history of VAT returns or PAYE submissions
- whether a Revenue audit is open or concluded
Control — in the sense of who directs the company and who can enforce rights against it — is established through the Companies Registration Office (CRO), not through Revenue. The tax extract is a compliance layer, not an ownership layer.
Where a transaction requires both layers, the tax extract is ordered alongside the CRO company extract and the CRO beneficial ownership filing. The two sources do not overlap; they answer different questions.
Where the sources disagree
VIES and the CRO register may show different names for the same entity. A company may trade under a business name registered with the CRO that differs from the legal name on the VAT certificate. A recently changed company name may appear in one system before it propagates to the other.
The VAT registration date in VIES and the incorporation date in the CRO are independent data points. A company incorporated in 2018 may have registered for VAT in 2021. That gap is not an anomaly — it reflects the registration threshold — but it is a fact worth recording in a due diligence file.
Where the name on the VAT certificate does not match the name on the CRO extract, that discrepancy is noted in the report. It is not resolved by the report; it is a question for the counterparty.
Source: Companies Registration Office (CRO) — cro.ie · verified 2026-09-15
The limit of what the sources allow
Irish Revenue does not publish tax liabilities. No public portal shows whether a company owes tax, is subject to a Revenue audit, or has entered a phased payment arrangement. The tax clearance certificate is the only public-facing output of the compliance assessment, and it is binary.
VIES returns current registration status. It does not return filing history, return frequency, or the VAT periods for which returns have been submitted.
The verification code for tax clearance must be provided by the certificate holder. If the counterparty does not provide the code, third-party verification is not possible. The report will record that the code was not provided and that status could not be confirmed through the Revenue portal.
For companies in sectors requiring sector-specific clearances — construction, road haulage, certain licensed activities — those clearances are held by separate bodies and are not visible through Revenue or VIES. They fall outside the scope of this extract.
The ceiling of what the sources allow is stated before payment.
Free public sources: what they return and what the report adds
VIES is public and free of charge. The Revenue tax clearance verification portal is accessible to any party holding the verification code, also at no charge.
What the report provides is the removed path: identification of the correct legal name and VAT number from the CRO register, cross-referencing of the VIES result against the CRO filing, retrieval of the verification code from the counterparty where instructed, and a structured record of the result with source attribution and retrieval date.
A VIES query takes thirty seconds. Knowing which number to query, confirming it matches the legal entity in the transaction, and recording the result in a form usable in a due diligence file takes longer. That is what the report delivers.
This register is public and free of charge. What you are paying for is the removed path: registration, national identifier, language, electronic signature, declaration of legitimate interest.
Scope and fixed price
| Tier | Price | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €440 | VIES query on the stated VAT number; valid/invalid result with name and address as returned; retrieval date; source attribution | Tax clearance verification; CRO cross-reference; discrepancy analysis; sector-specific clearances |
| Standard | €890 | Signal scope plus: tax clearance verification (where verification code is provided); CRO name cross-reference; discrepancy note where name or address differs between sources | Audit history; liability quantum; PAYE compliance; sector-specific clearances; beneficial ownership |
| Extended | €1800 | Standard scope plus: full CRO company extract cross-referenced against tax and VAT data; discrepancy analysis across all three sources; written summary of findings with source citations | Legal qualification of findings; audit history; liability quantum; beneficial ownership; representation before Revenue |
FAQ
What is the difference between a tax clearance certificate and a VAT registration? A tax clearance certificate records that a company has met its obligations across all taxes administered by Revenue at the date of issue. A VAT registration records that the company is registered as a taxable person for value added tax. A company can hold one without the other. Both are verifiable through separate channels.
Can the report confirm that a company has no outstanding tax debt? No. Revenue does not publish liability data. The report confirms current clearance status (binary) and current VAT registration status. It does not confirm the absence of debt, arrears, or audit exposure.
What happens if the counterparty does not provide the tax clearance verification code? The report records that the code was not provided. VIES status is confirmed independently. The tax clearance section of the report notes that verification was not possible through the Revenue portal and states the reason.
How current is the result? Each result carries the date and time of retrieval. Tax clearance status can change. The report is a point-in-time record; it does not warrant future status.
Does the report cover VAT compliance in other EU jurisdictions? No. The report covers Irish Revenue records only. VAT registrations in other member states are queryable through VIES using the relevant country prefix but fall outside the scope of this product.
What is the typical turnaround? Signal tier: one to two business days from receipt of the VAT number. Standard and Extended tiers: three to five business days, subject to availability of the tax clearance verification code.
Sources
- Revenue Commissioners, Ireland — Tax Clearance — www.revenue.ie/en/starting-a-business/tax-clearance/index.aspx — verified 2026-09-15
- European Commission VIES VAT Number Validation — ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies — verified 2026-09-15
- Companies Registration Office, Ireland — cro.ie — verified 2026-09-15
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Disclaimer: This report is a factual compilation from official registers and public sources. It is provided for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and contains no legal qualification of the facts established. VLO Law Firm assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@vlolawfirm.com.
Author: James Whitfield — Partner, UK & Common Law, VLO Law Firm
