Lookup

Description
Limitations
Actions
Workflows

View implementation guide ›


Developer	Invopop
Category	Validation

The Lookup app checks the tax ID of a party against the official register that issues it, as a step in your workflows. For an invoice, it checks the customer or the supplier; for a party document, it checks the party itself.When the register confirms the tax ID, the app can also correct the party with the registered data: the legal name, and the address when the register gives it in a structured form. Answers are kept in a shared cache, so a batch of invoices for the same customer costs one register call, and each step decides how old a cached answer may be.

Key features

Workflow automation: Validate the customer or supplier of every invoice, or a party document, before you sign, send or register it.
Correction from the register: Write the registered name into the document, so invoices carry the legal name of the party.
Name mismatch detection: Report when the document’s name differs from the registered name, with a result code that a workflow can branch on.
Shared cache: Reuse an earlier answer for the same tax ID, up to the age that the step allows, or always ask the register live.
Result codes: Every outcome carries a code such as found, not-found or not-supported, so you can handle each case in your workflow.

Make sure to check out our Lookup guide for instructions on how to configure the step, read its results and handle them in your workflows.

Register	Status	Notes
VIES (EU VAT numbers)	Available	All EU member states, `EL` for Greece and `XI` for Northern Ireland
AEAT (Spain)	In development	Use the Spain app to verify Spanish tax IDs today
HMRC (United Kingdom)	In development

Only the party’s tax_id is checked. Entries in identities are not checked.
Some member states, such as Spain and Germany, do not disclose the trader’s name or address through VIES. The tax ID is validated, but there is no name to compare or write.
VIES gives the address as free text, so the app never writes it. Only structured addresses are written.
A signed document is validated, but never corrected.

Use these sample workflows as a starting point for your own.Invoice workflows

Lookup validate invoice customer

Validate the customer’s tax ID, write the registered name into the invoice, and sign it.

Lookup validate invoice customer workflow

{
    "name": "Lookup validate invoice customer",
    "description": "Validate and correct the customer's tax ID, then sign the invoice",
    "schema": "bill/invoice",
    "steps": [
        {
            "id": "01a0f8f1-7c00-7a10-9000-000000000001",
            "name": "Validate tax ID",
            "provider": "lookup.validate",
            "summary": "Validating and correcting customer, up to 30 days old",
            "config": {
                "party": "customer",
                "max_age": 30,
                "correct": true
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "01a0f8f1-7c00-7a10-9000-000000000002",
            "name": "Sign envelope",
            "provider": "silo.close"
        }
    ],
    "rescue": [
        {
            "id": "01a0f8f1-7c00-7a10-9000-0000000000ff",
            "name": "Set state",
            "provider": "silo.state",
            "summary": "Set state to `error`{.state .error}",
            "config": {
                "state": "error"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Lookup stop on unregistered customer

Set the state to rejected and stop when the customer’s tax ID is not on the register. Other invoices are signed as usual.

Lookup stop on unregistered customer workflow

{
    "name": "Lookup stop on unregistered customer",
    "description": "Reject an invoice whose customer tax ID is not on the register, sign the rest",
    "schema": "bill/invoice",
    "steps": [
        {
            "id": "01a0f8f1-7c00-7a10-9000-000000000011",
            "name": "Validate tax ID",
            "provider": "lookup.validate",
            "summary": "Validating and correcting customer, up to 30 days old",
            "config": {
                "party": "customer",
                "max_age": 30,
                "correct": true
            },
            "next": [
                {
                    "status": "KO",
                    "code": "not-found",
                    "stop": true,
                    "steps": [
                        {
                            "id": "01a0f8f1-7c00-7a10-9000-000000000012",
                            "name": "Set state",
                            "provider": "silo.state",
                            "summary": "Set state to `rejected`{.state .rejected}",
                            "config": {
                                "state": "rejected"
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "01a0f8f1-7c00-7a10-9000-000000000013",
            "name": "Sign envelope",
            "provider": "silo.close"
        }
    ],
    "rescue": [
        {
            "id": "01a0f8f1-7c00-7a10-9000-0000000000ff",
            "name": "Set state",
            "provider": "silo.state",
            "summary": "Set state to `error`{.state .error}",
            "config": {
                "state": "error"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Party workflows

Lookup validate party

Validate a party’s tax ID and write the registered name into the party.

Lookup validate party workflow

{
    "name": "Lookup validate party",
    "description": "Validate and correct a party's tax ID against its register",
    "schema": "org/party",
    "steps": [
        {
            "id": "01a0f8f1-7c00-7a10-9000-000000000021",
            "name": "Validate tax ID",
            "provider": "lookup.validate",
            "summary": "Validating and correcting party, up to 30 days old",
            "config": {
                "party": "customer",
                "max_age": 30,
                "correct": true
            }
        }
    ],
    "rescue": [
        {
            "id": "01a0f8f1-7c00-7a10-9000-0000000000ff",
            "name": "Set state",
            "provider": "silo.state",
            "summary": "Set state to `error`{.state .error}",
            "config": {
                "state": "error"
            }
        }
    ]
}

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