diff --git a/include/ajax/ajax_check_vatnumber.php b/include/ajax/ajax_check_vatnumber.php
index 5fbc7a17c..7feb9369f 100644
--- a/include/ajax/ajax_check_vatnumber.php
+++ b/include/ajax/ajax_check_vatnumber.php
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ try {
     record_log($e);
     return;
 }
-$vatnr = strtoupper($vatnr);
+$vatnr = str_replace([" ",".","-"],"",strtoupper($vatnr??""));
 $country = substr($vatnr, 0, 2);
 $vatnr = preg_replace("/[[:^digit:]]/", '', $vatnr);
 $array = array(