Sweden · SE
The Swedish VAT number
The easiest number in the Union to derive: the organisation number, hyphen removed, with SE in front and 01 on the end.
Format: SE + 10 digits (the organisation number) + 01
Example: SE202100293201 — organisation number 202100-2932
Issued by: the Swedish Tax Agency, on VAT registration.
The format
A Swedish VAT number is always fourteen characters: the country code and twelve digits.
- SEThe country code.
- 2021002932The organisation number, without its hyphen.
- 01A fixed suffix, always 01.
The 01 is a sequence number for the VAT registration, not a check digit. The check digit is already inside the organisation number, as its last digit, computed with the Luhn formula.
Domestically the organisation number is written with a hyphen before the last four digits — 202100-2932 — and the hyphen disappears in the VAT number. The first two digits indicate the legal form: 16 for limited companies, 20 for state agencies, 26 for municipalities, 55 for partnerships.
Organisation number and VAT number
The organisation number is assigned by the Companies Registration Office or the Tax Agency when the business is registered, and stays with it for life. The VAT number is the same number in different packaging — but it only exists if the business is actually VAT registered.
That is the distinction that matters: every business has an organisation number, not every business is VAT registered. A dormant company, a non-profit with no economic activity or a business below the turnover threshold has an organisation number and no valid VAT number in VIES.
For a sole trader the organisation number is the personal identity number. The VAT number is then SE + that number + 01, which puts a personal identity number on the invoice — a well-known and much-debated consequence of the design.
Finding the company behind the number
Bolagsverket
The Swedish Companies Registration Office keeps the business register and has for some years published its high-value datasets for free under the EU open data directive. Because the VAT number is the organisation number plus 01, every row can be reached directly from a VAT number — Sweden is one of the few member states where building your own lookup is genuinely feasible.
The Tax Agency
Skatteverket confirms VAT registration and offers a check on foreign VAT numbers, but does not release names and addresses for Swedish numbers that way.
VIES
Sweden discloses both name and address through VIES. The address often comes back as a PO box, and the postcode is written with a space in the middle — 751 05 — which is worth knowing when splitting the address.
Sweden-specific pitfalls
- Do not forget the
01.SE2021002932is not a VAT number; without the suffix it fails validation. - The hyphen has to go. The organisation number is written
202100-2932domestically, but a VAT number never contains a hyphen. - An organisation number is not a VAT registration. Everyone has the first; far from everyone has the second.
- Sole traders expose a personal identity number. It is built into the design and cannot be avoided.
- The suffix is always 01 in practice. Other values are theoretically possible and essentially never seen.
One API for 27 member states
Vatlas turns a European VAT number into a company record: legal name, national identifier, legal form, status and address. Same call, same shape, for Sweden and for the other twenty-six.
curl "https://api.vatlas.dev/v1/vat/SE202100293201" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VATLAS_KEY"Response:
200 OK
{
"data": {
"vatNumber": "SE202100293201",
"countryCode": "SE",
"nationalNumber": "202100293201",
"nationalId": null,
"name": "UPPSALA UNIVERSITET",
"legalForm": null,
"status": "active",
"address": {
"line1": "BOX 256",
"line2": null,
"postalCode": "751 05",
"city": "UPPSALA",
"country": "SE"
}
},
"meta": {
"origin": "vies",
"source": "VIES",
"sourceUpdatedAt": "2026-08-28T10:17:11.011Z",
"checked": ["database", "VIES"]
}
}meta.origin says where the answer came from: database for a register imported locally, source for a national API queried live, vies as a last resort. The shape of the response never changes from one country to the next.
Free to try. An email address creates an account — no credit card, no sales call — with 100 requests a month and a working key in about a minute.
Frequently asked
The Swedish VAT number in short
How many digits does a Swedish VAT number have?
Twelve after the SE country code, so fourteen characters in total.
Why do all Swedish VAT numbers end in 01?
It is a sequence number for the VAT registration rather than a check digit. In practice it is always 01.
Are the organisation number and the VAT number the same?
The digits are the same, but the VAT number adds SE in front and 01 on the end — and it only exists if the business is VAT registered.
Why does VIES say an existing Swedish number is invalid?
Almost always because the business is not VAT registered: a dormant company, activity below the turnover threshold, or a non-profit with no economic activity.
Can I download the whole Swedish company register for free?
Yes. Bolagsverket publishes high-value datasets openly, and because the VAT number is built on the organisation number the rows can be reached directly.
VAT numbers in other countries
Last updated 28 August 2026.