VAT API

In the UK, if you (as a business or individual) are VAT registered and invoice in currencies other than Sterling, your invoices and VAT accounting are required to show the Sterling equivalent prices for the original currency price. The HMRC site states:

You can buy and sell in any currency, but when you keep your VAT accounts, amounts in foreign currencies must be converted into sterling. Invoices must always show sterling figures for the net totals and VAT for each VAT rate, even if they also show foreign currency figures. Source

There are two standard ways in which HMRC accepts the conversion from the transaction currency to Sterling:

UK market selling rate at time of supply (as published in national newspapers)
Period rate of exchange

It is the latter method that we are interested in here. HMRC publish exchange rates that are accepted for a given time period, with adjustments when required. The rate for the period at the time of supply can be used to convert to Sterling and for VAT accounting.

The API presented here provides that information through simple HTTP GET requests, in a JSON format, for integration with your own invoicing system.

API

This HTTP API accepts only GET requests and does so in two formats:

GET http[s]://api.datatables.net/vat/exchange-rate/[currency]
GET http[s]://api.datatables.net/vat/exchange-rate/[currency]/[date]

where:

[currency] - case insensitive three letter name of the transaction currency (ISO 4217 - see below for all available currencies and the countries that use them).
[date] - the date that the exchange rate is required for. This is in the ISO 8601 date format: YYYY-MM-DD. This parameter is optional and if not given, today's date (as it is in the UK - GMT/BST), will be used.

The returned JSON object contains the following properties:

currencyCode - three letter currency code (ISO 4217)
currencyName - Full name of the currency
effectiveFrom - ISO 8601 date indicating when this rate was active from
rate - the exchange rate (transactionCurrencyValue / rate = sterlingValue)

Examples

Get US Dollar (USD) exchange rate for today:

Request

GET https://api.datatables.net/vat/exchange-rate/usd

Response

{
    "currencyCode":  "USD",
    "currencyName":  "Dollar",
    "effectiveFrom": "2014-08-01",
    "rate":          1.7042
}

Get Euro (EUR) exchange rate for 1st August 2014:

Request

GET http://api.datatables.net/vat/exchange-rate/eur/2014-08-01

Response

{
    "currencyCode":  "EUR",
    "currencyName":  "Euro",
    "effectiveFrom": "2014-08-01",
    "rate":          1.2658
}

Currency names

The following table shows the currency codes, currency name, country name and country code that use the currency for easy lookup to check what currencies you can use with this API.

Name	Code	Name	Code
Country		Currency
Argentina	AR	Peso	ARS
Australia	AU	Dollar	AUD
Austria	AT	Euro	EUR
Belgium	BE	Euro	EUR
Brazil	BR	Real	BRL
Canada	CA	Dollar	CAD
Cyprus	CY	Euro	EUR
Denmark	DK	Krone	DKK
Estonia	EE	Euro	EUR
Finland	FI	Euro	EUR
France	FR	Euro	EUR
Germany	DE	Euro	EUR
Greece	GR	Euro	EUR
Hong Kong	HK	Dollar	HKD
India	IN	Rupee	INR
Ireland	IE	Euro	EUR
Israel	IL	Shekel	ILS
Italy	IT	Euro	EUR
Japan	JP	Yen	JPY
Latvia	LV	Euro	EUR
Luxembourg	LU	Euro	EUR
Malaysia	MY	Ringgit	MYR
Malta	MT	Euro	EUR
Mexico	MX	Mexican Peso	MXN
Netherland	NL	Euro	EUR
New Zealand	NZ	Dollar	NZD
Norway	NO	Norwegian Krone	NOK
Philippines	PH	Peso	PHP
Portugal	PT	Euro	EUR
Saudi Arabia	SA	Riyal	SAR
Singapore	SG	Dollar	SGD
Slovakia	SK	Euro	EUR
Slovenia	SI	Euro	EUR
South Africa	ZA	Rand	ZAR
South Korea	KR	Won	KRW
Spain	ES	Euro	EUR
Sweden	SE	Krona	SEK
Switzerland	CH	Franc	CHF
Taiwan	TW	Dollar	TWD
Thailand	TH	Baht	THB
USA	US	Dollar	USD
European Community	EU	Euro	EUR
Abu Dhabi	DH	Dirham	AED
Afghanistan	AF	Afghani	AFN
Albania	AL	Lek	ALL
Algeria	DZ	Dinar	DZD
Angola	AO	Readj Kwanza	AOA
Antigua	AG	E Caribbean Dollar	XCD
Armenia	AM	Dram	AMD
Aruba	AA	Florin	AWG
Azerbaijan	AZ	New Manat	AZN
Bahamas	BS	Dollar	BSD
Bahrain	BH	Dinar	BHD
Bangladesh	BD	Taka	BDT
Barbados	BB	Dollar	BBD
Belarus	BY	Rouble	BYR
Belize	BZ	Dollar	BZD
Benin	BJ	CFA Franc	XOF
Bermuda	BM	Dollar (US)	BMD
Bhutan	BT	Ngultrum	BTN
Bolivia	BO	Boliviano	BOB
Bosnia- Herzegovinia	BA	Marka	BAM
Botswana	BW	Pula	BWP
Brunei	BN	Dollar	BND
Bulgaria	BG	Lev	BGN
Burkina Faso	BK	CFA Franc	XOF
Burundi	BI	Franc	BIF
Cambodia	KH	Riel	KHR
Cameroon Republic	CM	CFA Franc	XAF
Cape Verde Islands	CV	Escudo	CVE
Cayman Islands	KY	Dollar	KYD
Central African Republic	CF	CFA Franc	XAF
Chad	TD	CFA Franc	XAF
Chile	CL	Peso	CLP
China	CN	Yuan	CNY
Colombia	CO	Peso	COP
Comoros	KM	Franc	KMF
Congo (Brazaville)	CG	CFA Franc	XAF
Congo (DemRep)	ZR	Congo Fr	CDF
Costa Rica	CR	Colon	CRC
Cote d'Ivoire	CI	CFA Franc	XOF
Croatia	HR	Kuna	HRK
Cuba	CU	Peso	CUP
Czech Republic	CZ	Koruna	CZK
Djibouti	DJ	Franc	DJF
Dominica	DM	E Caribbean Dollar	XCD
Dominican Republic	DO	Peso	DOP
Dubai	DU	Dirham	AED
Ecuador	EC	Dollar	ECS
Egypt	EG	Pound	EGP
El Salvador	SV	Colon	SVC
Equatorial Guinea	GQ	CFA Franc	XAF
Eritrea	ER	Nakfa	ERN
Ethiopia	ET	Birr	ETB
Fiji Islands	FJ	Dollar	FJD
Fr. Polynesia	PF	CFP Franc	XPF
Gabon	GA	CFA Franc	XAF
Gambia	GM	Dalasi	GMD
Georgia	GE	Lari	GEL
Ghana	GH	Cedi	GHS
Grenada	GD	E Caribbean Dollar	XCD
Guatemala	GT	Quetzal	GTQ
Guinea Bissau	GW	CFA Franc	XOF
Guinea Republic	GN	Franc	GNF
Guyana	GY	Dollar	GYD
Haiti	HT	Gourde	HTG
Honduras	HN	Lempira	HNL
Hungary	HU	Forint	HUF
Iceland	IS	Krona	ISK
Indonesia	ID	Rupiah	IDR
Iran	IR	Rial	IRR
Iraq	IQ	Dinar	IQD
Jamaica	JM	Dollar	JMD
Jordan	JO	Dinar	JOD
Kazakhstan	KZ	Tenge	KZT
Kenya	KE	Schilling	KES
Korea (North)	KP	Won	KPW
Kuwait	KW	Dinar	KWD
Kyrgyz Republic	KG	Som	KGS
Lao People's Dem Rep	LA	Kip	LAK
Lebanon	LB	Pound	LBP
Lesotho	LS	Loti	LSL
Liberia	LR	Dollar (US)	LRD
Libya	LY	Dinar	LYD
Lithuania	LT	Litas	LTL
Macao	MO	Pataca	MOP
Macedonia	MK	Denar	MKD
Madagascar	MG	Malagasy Ariary	MGA
Malawi	MW	Kwacha	MWK
Maldive Islands	MV	Rufiyaa	MVR
Mali Republic	ML	CFA Franc	XOF
Mauritania	MR	Ouguiya	MRO
Mauritius	MU	Rupee	MUR
Moldova	MD	Leu	MDL
Mongolia	MN	Tugrik	MNT
Montserrat	MS	E Caribbean Dollar	XCD
Morocco	MA	Dirham	MAD
Mozambique	MZ	Metical	MZN
Myanmar	MM	Kyat	MMK
Nepal	NP	Rupee	NPR
New Caledonia	NC	CFP Franc	XPF
Nicaragua	NI	Gold Cordoba	NIO
Niger Republic	NE	CFA Franc	XOF
Nigeria	NG	Naira	NGN
Oman	OM	Rial	OMR
Pakistan	PK	Rupee	PKR
Panama	PA	Balboa	PAB
Papua New Guinea	PG	Kina	PGK
Paraguay	PY	Guarani	PYG
Peru	PE	New Sol	PEN
Poland	PL	Zloty	PLN
Qatar	QA	Riyal	QAR
Romania	RO	New Leu	RON
Russia	RU	Rouble	RUB
Rwanda	RW	Franc	RWF
Saotome & Principe	ST	Dobra	STD
Senegal	SN	CFA Franc	XOF
Serbia	XS	Dinar	RSD
Seychelles	SC	Rupee	SCR
Sierra Leone	SL	Leone	SLL
Soloman Islands	SB	Dollar	SBD
Somali Republic	SO	Schilling	SOS
Sri Lanka	LK	Rupee	LKR
St Christopher & Anguilla	KN	E Caribbean Dollar	XCD
St Lucia	LC	E Caribbean Dollar	XCD
St Vincent	VC	E Caribbean Dollar	XCD
Sudan Republic	SD	Pound	SDG
Surinam	SR	Dollar	SRG
Swaziland	SZ	Lilangeni	SZL
Syria	SY	Pound	SYP
Tajikistan	TJ	Somoni	TJS
Tanzania	TZ	Schilling	TZS
Togo Republic	TG	CFA Franc	XOF
Tonga Islands	TO	Pa'anga (AUS)	TOP
Trinidad/Tobago	TT	Dollar	TTD
Tunisia	TN	Dinar	TND
Turkey	TR	Turkish Lira	TRY
Turkmenistan	TM	New Manat	TMT
UAE	HA	Dirham	AED
Uganda	UG	Schilling	UGX
Ukraine	UA	Hryvnia	UAH
Uruguay	UY	Peso	UYU
Uzbekistan	UZ	Sum	UZS
Vanuatu	VU	Vatu	VUV
Venezuela	VE	Bolivar Fuerte	VEF
Vietnam	VN	Dong	VND
Wallis & Futuna Islands	WF	CFP Franc	XPF
Western Samoa	WS	Tala	WST
Yemen (Rep of)	YE	Rial	YER
Zambia	ZM	Kwacha	ZMW
Zimbabwe	ZW	Dollar	ZWL

Legal

This service is provided in good faith, however there are a number of legal points to make:

The information contained on this page does not constitute legal, professional or financial advice (consult your accountant if you need advice on VAT matters).
SpryMedia Ltd accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the information obtained using this API.
This API is not rate limited, but any abuse of the service will result in IP banning.
This API is not an official HMRC API - we consume the data published by HMRC to make it available through this API.
SpryMedia Ltd is not affiliated with HMRC in any way.

If you are interested in using the API and require an uptime or maintenance guarantee, please get in touch to discuss your requirements.