French VAT return CA3 (form 3310)
The CA3 return (form 3310-CA3-SD) is the French VAT return under the standard regime: each month (or quarter if your annual VAT stays under €4,000) you report taxable turnover, VAT collected by rate and deductible VAT — the difference is the net VAT to pay, or a credit to carry forward or claim back. Filing and payment are exclusively online, from the impots.gouv.fr professional account.
Up to date for 2026 — verified on August 26, 2026Official form3310-CA3-SDGuide: about 20 min
This content is part of the path: Managing my company's VAT· Step 6 of 11· Next step: CA12 return — simplified-regime VAT
Deadlines
- Between the 15th and the 24th of the following month
- The exact date depends on your legal form and location — shown in your professional account and the tax calendar.
Documents to prepare
- Month's sales journal (VAT collected by rate)
- Purchase invoices (deductible VAT)
- impots.gouv.fr online filing credentials
The blank PDF remains downloadable from the official site. For pre-filling, we keep a copy of this public form (Licence Ouverte 2.0, source cited on the produced document).
What you get
- The official form itself, pre-filled with your entries. Only the boxes that match the fields below are filled in: complete the others on the form before filing it.
Free, no account and no email address.
The generated document is written in French — the language the receiving French authority expects. This page is in English; the document itself is not translated.
Fill in the official form online
Free. The official PDF is filled on the fly: your entries are not recorded in any of our databases and are only used to produce this document. They travel in the request body, never in the page address.
All fields are required unless marked “optional”.
A draft is a file you save wherever you like, just like the document itself: we keep no copy of it and nothing is left in your browser. When signed in, you can also save it to your space to pick it up later — only if you ask.
Official form pre-filled with your data: read every box and check the amounts before filing or paying.
Who this applies to
- VAT payers under the standard regime (by default above the simplified-regime thresholds, or by option) and the mini-réel.
- Quarterly filing is possible if annual VAT due stays under €4,000.
- Under the simplified regime: half-yearly instalments and the annual CA12 return (3517-S) — no CA3.
Worked example
Example: Méline's March CA3
In March, Méline invoices €24,000 before tax at the standard 20% rate: €4,800 of output VAT. Her month's purchases carry €1,900 of deductible VAT. Her CA3 shows €2,900 of net VAT due, paid online before the April deadline.
How to fill it in, step by step
- Break down your turnover by VAT rate and compute the output VAT.
- Total the deductible VAT on the month's purchases and expenses.
- Determine the net VAT (payable, or credit to carry forward).
- E-file on impots.gouv.fr in your professional account.
- Pay online before your deadline (between the 15th and 24th of the following month).
The form, line by line
- Taxable operations (box A)
- The period's turnover excl. VAT: taxable sales and services, exports and intra-EU supplies (exempt), reverse-charged purchases.
- VAT collected (box B)
- Gross VAT split by rate (20%, 10%, 5.5%, 2.1%) — cross-check your amounts with the linked VAT calculator.
- Deductible VAT
- VAT on goods and services, VAT on fixed assets, and the carried-forward credit from the previous return.
- Net VAT or credit
- Collected minus deductible: a positive balance is paid electronically with the return; a negative balance is a credit — carry it forward or claim a refund via form 3519 (from €760).
- Line A1 of box A (code 0979)
- "Ventes, prestations de services": the line for the period's net-of-tax turnover, in the "Opérations taxées (HT)" column.
- Lines 08, 09, 9B and T6 of the "TVA brute" box
- One line per rate, each with its net-of-tax base on the left and the tax due on the right: line 08 "Taux normal 20 %" (code 0207), line 09 "Taux réduit 5,5 %" (code 0105), line 9B "Taux réduit 10 %" (code 0151). The 2.1 % rate for mainland France goes on line T6 (code 1010) — NOT on line 11, which is the overseas-departments line. The rate lines are only a few points apart: that is the classic mis-entry.
- Box 16 — total gross VAT due
- "Total de la TVA brute due (lignes 08 à 5B)": the total of every rate line in the box above.
- Boxes 20, 22, 23 and 24 — deductible VAT
- Box 20 "Autres biens et services" (code 0702) for VAT on day-to-day purchases; box 22 "Report du crédit apparaissant ligne 27 de la précédente déclaration" (code 8001); box 23 "Total TVA déductible (ligne 19 à 2C)". Watch out for box 24, "Dont TVA déductible sur importations hors produits pétroliers", which comes straight after box 23 and is not a total.
Good to know
- If your annual VAT is below €4,000 you may file quarterly.
- A VAT credit carries forward automatically; a refund goes through form 3519.
- A VAT credit does not carry itself over: it must be entered in box 22 of the next CA3, taken from line 27 of the previous one. A CA3 filed without that entry leaves the credit with the tax authority.
Common mistakes
- Missing a deadline: surcharges and late interest apply.
- Misallocating collected VAT by rate.
- Forgetting the previous period's credit carry-forward line.
- Deducting VAT on excluded expenses (passenger cars, gifts above the cap…).
- Ignoring yearly consistency between CA3 returns and the tax package's revenue (2052).
Frequently asked questions
Who files a CA3 and how often?
Standard-regime VAT payers: monthly by default, quarterly if annual VAT due is under €4,000. The simplified regime uses instalments plus the annual CA12 instead.
What if deductible VAT exceeds collected VAT?
You have a VAT credit: carry it forward, or claim a refund with form 3519 once it reaches €760 (guide linked on this page).
Can a filed CA3 be corrected?
Yes: errors are fixed via an amending return or a regularisation on a later CA3 — do not wait for an audit.
Can a CA3 already filed be corrected?
Yes: an error is corrected either on an amending return or by adjusting a later CA3, depending on the case — do not wait for an audit to put it right.
Go further
Compute the related amounts
Understand this form: the related course
Related forms
- French form 3519 — VAT credit refund
- French form 2052 — income statement of the tax package (operations)
- Cerfa 3514 — VAT instalment notice (simplified regime)
- Cerfa 3310-A — assimilated taxes (annex to CA3)
- CA12 return — simplified-regime VAT
- European services declaration (DES) — services sold within the EU
- Tax on dissolution — immediate taxation and four deadlines that do not align
- Form 2502 — annual French payroll tax return
Official sources
- impots.gouv.fr — Form 3310-CA3-SD: VAT, standard regime (2026 vintage) — August 26, 2026
- BOFiP — BOI-TVA-DECLA-10: VAT tax regimes and filing obligations — September 7, 2026
This topic in other countries
Each country applies its own law: these pages are written in its language and read from its official sources.
Guide and document provided for information purposes only; they do not constitute personalised legal or tax advice. Check the recipient organisation's requirements and consult a professional if needed.