EU VAT Number developer snippets

This developer reference shows how to control which countries display the EU VAT Number field at checkout.

Add one of these examples to a custom plugin or another site-specific customization layer. Test the change on a staging site before using it on a production store.

Before you begin

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• Make sure the EU VAT Number extension is installed and active.
• Add the code with a custom plugin, a child theme, or a code-snippet manager.
• Use only one of the examples below. Each example replaces the extension’s default list of countries.
• Test the resulting checkout behavior on a staging site before using it in production.

Choose which countries display the VAT field

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Use the woocommerce_eu_vat_number_country_codes filter to change the countries where the VAT number field is available.

Show the field only for Belgium

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This example replaces the default list with Belgium (BE).

add_filter( 'woocommerce_eu_vat_number_country_codes', 'wccom_show_vat_number_for_belgium' );

function wccom_show_vat_number_for_belgium( $vat_countries ) {
    // Show the VAT number field only for customers in Belgium.
    return array( 'BE' );
}

Hide the field for selected countries

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This example removes Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (GB) from the default list while keeping the remaining countries.

add_filter( 'woocommerce_eu_vat_number_country_codes', 'wccom_hide_vat_number_for_selected_countries' );

function wccom_hide_vat_number_for_selected_countries( $vat_countries ) {
    // Remove Sweden and the United Kingdom from the VAT field countries.
    $vat_countries = array_diff( $vat_countries, array( 'SE', 'GB' ) );

    return array_values( $vat_countries );
}

Related customization

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VAT numbers are stored in the _billing_vat_number order meta field. The wc_eu_vat_get_vat_from_order( $order ) function retrieves the value, including the legacy _vat_number field.

To move the VAT field to another checkout location, see this tutorial for reordering the EU VAT field.