KVKBase Team

Check Suppliers for Bankruptcy and Suspension of Payments

How to check suppliers structurally for bankruptcy, suspension of payments, deregistration and a valid VAT number, without checking each one by hand.

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A supplier that goes bankrupt rarely announces it on the day. You find out when the order does not arrive, when a deposit is gone, or when the production line stops because a part is missing. The data was there earlier: suspension of payments, a deregistration, a director who disappears. You just were not looking.

This article is about how to check suppliers structurally without it becoming a part-time job.

What can go wrong with a supplier

For procurement there are two kinds of problems, and they need a different response.

Continuity. A supplier in suspension of payments or bankruptcy delivers differently, later, or not at all. Deposits and advance payments are the first risk: they become a claim in a bankruptcy and rarely come back in full. Retention of title can help, but only if you are there in time.

Correct data. A supplier that changes name, address or legal form, or a VAT number that is invalid, causes administrative errors. An invoice in the wrong name can put your input VAT deduction at risk. How VIES checking works is covered in VAT number validation with VIES.

A one-time check is not enough

Most organisations check a supplier at onboarding: request a KvK extract, verify the VAT number, done. That is necessary, but it is a snapshot. An extract from three years ago says nothing about today.

Going through suppliers by hand periodically works on paper. In practice it happens the first time and then at the first fire. With dozens or hundreds of suppliers it is simply not feasible.

Who to watch

You do not need to follow everyone. Make a selection based on dependency:

  • Suppliers whose failure alone halts your production or service
  • Suppliers you prepay or pay a deposit to
  • Suppliers with a long contract term or high annual spend
  • Suppliers that are part of a compliance requirement, for example in the chain

For the rest the onboarding check and an annual refresh are enough.

Which signals you want to see

  • Suspension of payments or bankruptcy, as far as the source reports it
  • Deregistration or dissolution of the business
  • A VAT number that comes back invalid at VIES, when a number is known
  • A new address or a different name, for your master data and invoices
  • A different legal form, for example a sole proprietorship becoming a BV
  • A new director, only when the source provides directors for that company

An alert is a reason to look, not an established fact. Always confirm a bankruptcy in the official insolvency register before you take an action you cannot reverse.

How to set it up

  1. Collect the KvK numbers of your selection. If they are missing in your ERP, find them with the search endpoint in the API. An existing file can be enriched in one go with the batch lookup.
  2. Add the suppliers to your watchlist, in bulk from a list or CSV. Use your supplier number as the label.
  3. Choose the delivery. A daily digest gives procurement one overview each morning. A signed webhook can create a task or update master data automatically.
  4. Write down what happens. Who responds to a bankruptcy? Who changes an address? Without an owner, alerts pile up.
  5. Keep the list tidy. Add new critical suppliers, remove lapsed ones, so your slots are not taken up by companies you no longer use.

What to expect

The check runs daily, not in real time. The first check is a baseline without an alert, so check a supplier that already worries you by hand once. The source can lag behind reality, and for sole traders or foreign suppliers there is less to follow. For a foreign VAT number we follow the validity at VIES, not the rest of their register data.

What it costs: monitoring is part of the paid plans. Starter watches 10 companies, Pro 100 and Business 1,000. The free plan has no monitoring. See the pricing.

A short work instruction

An example you can adopt:

  • Bankruptcy or suspension alert: list open orders and deposits, approach an alternative supplier, inform legal.
  • Deregistration alert: check the contract, block the supplier in the ERP.
  • Address or name alert: update master data, and after a name change check that the VAT number still matches.
  • Invalid VAT number alert: hold payment until the supplier confirms the number.

Where supplier risk often comes from

Many surprises can be foreseen. A supplier that has been delivering late for months, a regular contact who leaves, a new address in a cheaper building: harmless on their own, a pattern together. The register does not tell you why, but a change gives you a reason to pick up the phone. A short conversation with the supplier’s account manager often tells you more than a report, and it costs ten minutes.

So combine alerts with what you already know internally. Let the department that talks to the supplier every day read along, and record which suppliers have an alternative. If you already know who would take over, an alert is routine rather than panic.

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