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Your first validation

The fastest way to confirm the install is working end-to-end.

Run the CLI​

bin/magento byte8:vat:validate GB123456789

You'll see something like:

Country:   GB
Number:    123456789
Status:    valid
Source:    hmrc
Name:      Acme Ltd
Address:   1 Main St, London, SW1A 1AA, GB
Ref:       CONS-2026-1234

Ref is the value you'd retain for §18 UStG qualified confirmation purposes (or HMRC's "consultation number" — same idea).

Confirm it landed in the log​

If you've left Persist Validations to DB enabled (default Yes):

SELECT entity_id, requested_at, country_code, vat_number, status, source, request_identifier
FROM byte8_vat_validator_log
ORDER BY entity_id DESC LIMIT 5;

Or in admin: Stores → Byte8 → VAT Validation Log.

Now hit the REST endpoint​

curl https://yourshop.test/rest/V1/byte8-vat-validator/validate/GB/123456789 | jq .

Same result, JSON-shaped:

{
  "country_code": "GB",
  "vat_number": "123456789",
  "status": "valid",
  "source": "hmrc",
  "name": "Acme Ltd",
  "address": "1 Main St, London, SW1A 1AA, GB",
  "request_identifier": "CONS-2026-1234"
}

Trigger an observer​

Place an order as a logged-in B2B customer with a valid intra-EU VAT and a different billing country to your store. Watch var/log/vat_validator.log and the validation log table — the sales_quote_address_save_before observer fires when the billing address is saved, and the customer_group_id on the quote flips before totals are recalculated.