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You invoice and file French VAT

Managing my company's VAT

First check whether the small-business exemption relieves you of charging VAT at all, convert between pre-tax and after-tax at the right rates, learn what you may reclaim on your purchases, file under the regime that applies to you — monthly or quarterly CA3 under the standard regime, annual CA12 under the simplified one —, reclaim or carry over a VAT credit, and settle the simplified-regime instalments: 11 steps, from the threshold to the deadline.

Start here: The small-business VAT exemption

Understand VAT: small-business exemption, rates, right to deduct

  1. Step 1 of 11
    CoursePaid individually26 min

    The small-business VAT exemption

    The two rows of ceilings by year assessed, the ban on deducting and the exact wording required on invoices, then leaving on the date of the overshoot or by an election that commits for two years. Three modules on a ceramics workshop. All the prose is free to read; the case study and quizzes are sold.
  2. Step 2 of 11
    CoursePaid individually25 min

    Filing French VAT without mistakes

    The collected-vs-deductible mechanism, the CA3 return box by box, and VAT credit through to refund: three numbers-first modules with the Méline example followed throughout. All the prose is free to read; only the quizzes are sold.
  3. Step 3 of 11
    CoursePaid individually24 min

    Deducting VAT on your purchases

    The four conditions of the right to deduct, only one of which shows on the invoice; the deduction coefficient as the product of three rounded-up coefficients; and the one that does not depend on you. Three modules on €12,000 of tax borne. All the prose is free to read; only the quizzes are sold.

Compute: the exemption threshold, then pre-tax, after-tax and VAT due

  1. Step 4 of 11
    CalculatorFree result

    French VAT exemption threshold

    From your activity and your turnover for the previous and current years, the calculation tells whether the VAT exemption is kept, lost on the following 1 January or lost from the day the threshold is exceeded, with the remaining margin and the theoretical VAT at the standard rate.
  2. Step 5 of 11
    CalculatorFree result

    French VAT calculator

    Convert between pre-tax and after-tax amounts at the current French VAT rates — 20%, 10%, 5.5% or 2.1% — with the VAT amount detailed.

File: CA3 (standard), CA12 (simplified), the 3310-A schedule of assimilated taxes, 3519 for a refund and 3516 to carry a credit over

  1. Step 6 of 11
    FormFree20 min

    French VAT return CA3 (form 3310)

    The monthly French VAT return under the standard regime: who files it, when, box by box (collected by rate, deductible, credit), and what to do with a VAT credit.
  2. Step 7 of 11
    FormFree25 min

    CA12 return — simplified-regime VAT

    The annual VAT return (3517-S): July and December instalments, balance, credit refundable from €150, CA12 and CA12E deadlines — the simplified regime box by box.
  3. Step 8 of 11
    FormFree25 min

    Cerfa 3310-A — assimilated taxes (annex to CA3)

    The assimilated-taxes annex to the French VAT return: attached to the CA3, or filed on its own if the business is not liable to VAT. Some twenty sector taxes, each with its own box code.
  4. Step 9 of 11
    FormFree15 min

    French form 3519 — VAT credit refund

    Recover your VAT credit: conditions (€760 threshold under the standard regime), filing 3519-SD with the CA3, documents to keep, timelines, and carry-forward vs refund.
  5. Step 10 of 11
    FormFree15 min

    Form 3516 — paying a tax deadline with a tax receivable

    Use a VAT credit or a corporate-tax overpayment awaiting refund to settle an upcoming instalment or balance: the two parts of form 3516-SD, the 30-day rule and the case where set-off is no longer possible.

Pay: the half-yearly instalments of the simplified regime, notice 3514

  1. Step 11 of 11
    FormFree25 min

    Cerfa 3514 — VAT instalment notice (simplified regime)

    The half-yearly VAT instalment notice under the simplified regime: pay, adjust by at least 10 % up or down, or suspend. Exempt below €1,000 of VAT due for the previous year.

The other paths

A different procedure, the same principle: the three pillars in order.

Read in French