A company VAT number is a nine-digit registration number HMRC issues when a business registers, and it has to appear on every invoice that business raises. That obligation is the reason the number is easy to find when a company is actually trading with you, and the reason it is hard to find when it is not: it is published on paperwork rather than in a register you can browse. This page says where to look, in the order that works.
The invoice is the register
After registering, a business receives a nine-digit VAT registration number which must be included on all invoices it raises. That single rule does most of the work. If you have an invoice, a credit note, a receipted quote or a statement from the company, the number is on it, usually near the company registration number in the footer or beside the totals. If you have none of those, the website footer and the terms of business are the next places, because both are where a UK business normally publishes its statutory details.
Why no search by company name exists
Companies House publishes company numbers because incorporation is a public act. VAT registration is not: it is a tax record between the trader and HMRC, and HMRC's only public interface is a lookup that takes the number and returns the name, never the reverse. Services that advertise a company VAT number search by name are joining their own data to Companies House filings. They can be a useful starting point and they are not authoritative, so whatever they return still has to be verified against HMRC's own check.
Not every company has one
An empty search is often a correct answer. A company only has a VAT number if it is registered, and registration is compulsory only once taxable turnover passes the threshold or is about to. Plenty of real trading companies are below it and are not registered, which is why they charge no VAT. If a supplier is charging VAT on an invoice with no number on it, that is not a filing oversight to work around: ask for the number before you pay, because without it you have no valid VAT invoice and nothing to reclaim.
Questions people ask about company vat number
How do I find a company's VAT number for free?
Take it from any invoice, quote or receipt they have issued you, or from their website footer or terms of business, then verify it free on GOV.UK's check a UK VAT number service.
Can I find a VAT number by company name?
Not through any official route. HMRC's lookup takes the number and returns the name; there is no name-to-number search. Third-party name searches are matching their own data and still need verifying.
Is a company VAT number the same as a company registration number?
No. The company registration number comes from Companies House when the company is incorporated. The VAT registration number is nine digits and comes from HMRC only if and when the business registers for VAT.