France VAT (TVA) 2026 — 20% Standard, Three Reduced Rates

France applies a 20% standard TVA rate plus three reduced tiers — 5.5%, 10% and 2.1%. Here is every rate, threshold, invoice rule and cross-border treatment you need, with worked examples and links to free tools.

2026 TVA Rates at a Glance

Last verified: 27 October 2026. Sources: EU Commission VAT rates, ECB euro reference rates and national tax authorities. Confirm with your local authority before filing.

Scope: mainland France — Corsica and certain overseas departments and regions can have different VAT rates and rules; confirm locally if you operate there.

France is one of few EU states with four distinct TVA tiers. Use the VAT calculator in Custom-rate mode to compute any amount, or check a French VAT number with the VAT validator.

What Each Reduced Rate Covers

5.5% Taux reduit

• Food and non-alcoholic beverages — supermarket groceries, bread, dairy, fruit, vegetables. Restaurant meals are NOT included (they sit at 10%).
• Water supply — drinking water and sanitation services.
• Books, newspapers and magazines — printed publications and e-books. Note: physical book sales qualify but advertising in magazines does not.
• Medical equipment and aids — hearing aids, wheelchairs, prostheses, corrective glasses.
• Social housing construction — new-build social housing (logement social).
• Agricultural inputs — animal feed, fertiliser, seeds for farming.

10% Taux intermediaire

• Restaurant meals and catering — food consumed on premises, takeaway prepared food, catering services.
• Accommodation — hotels, B&Bs, holiday rentals, camping.
• Passenger transport — train, bus, domestic flights within France (international transport has specific exemptions).
• Social housing renovation — works on existing social housing properties.
• Domestic animal slaughter — abattoir services for livestock.

2.1% Taux super-reduit

• Non-refundable medicines — prescription drugs reimbursed by French social security (Secteur 1 and Secteur 2).
• Press publications — newspapers, magazines, and digital press subscriptions.
• Animal feedingstuffs — compound feed for livestock (distinct from the 5.5% basic agricultural inputs).

France has the most complex reduced-rate structure in the EU. If your business mixes rates, split your invoices per category. The invoice generator handles split-rate TVA automatically.

Franchise en Base — The French Small Business Exemption

France offers a VAT exemption for small businesses known as the franchise en base (Article 293 B du CGI):

• Eligibility: annual turnover below EUR37,500 for liberal and commercial services, or EUR85,000 for purchase/resale of goods (seuil de franchise).
• Effect: you do not charge TVA on invoices, do not file TVA returns, and cannot reclaim input VAT on purchases.
• Invoice impact: your invoices must NOT show a TVA amount. Include the statement: TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI. (VAT not applicable under Article 293 B of the General Tax Code.)
• Loss of exemption: if turnover exceeds the franchise limit without exceeding the increased limit (EUR93,500 for goods, EUR41,250 for services), the exemption covers the rest of that year and you become a regular TVA payer from 1 January of the following year. If the increased limit is exceeded during the calendar year, you lose the exemption from the day it is exceeded.
• Input VAT: because you do not charge output VAT, you cannot reclaim input VAT — a significant cost if you make large purchases.

Calculate your gross quote regardless of regime with the VAT calculator — use 0% in Custom mode if you are franchise en base.

TVA Registration in France

1. Who must register: any business exceeding the franchise en base threshold, plus all non-French businesses making taxable supplies in France.
2. Where: register via the Guichet Unique at economie.gouv.fr or your local Centre de Formalites de Entreprise (CFE).
3. What you receive: a SIREN number (9 digits) from INSEE, then apply for a numéro de TVA intracommunautaire (FR + 2 department digits + 9-digit SIREN) from the Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP).
4. Non-EU businesses: must appoint a fiscal representative (représentant fiscal) in France before registering for TVA.
5. Timeline: register before commencing taxable activity. Late registration triggers retroactive TVA assessments.

French Invoice Requirements

Under Articles 242 ter M and 289 of the French General Tax Code (Code Général des Impôts), every TVA invoice must contain:

1. Supplier details — full legal name, registered address, SIREN and numéro de TVA.
2. Customer details — full name, address, and for cross-border B2B their TVA number.
3. Invoice number — unique, sequential, no gaps in the numbering series.
4. Invoice date — date of issue; add date of delivery or service if different.
5. Description — nature, quantity and detail of goods or services supplied.
6. Unit price excluding TVA — net price per unit.
7. TVA rate and amount — applicable rate per line, subtotal excluding TVA per rate, total TVA, total including TVA.
8. Payment terms — due date and any early payment discount (escompte) or late payment penalty (pénalité de retard).
9. Special references — franchise en base notice if exempt, reverse charge reference where applicable, margin scheme if applicable.

Build a compliant French invoice in seconds with the invoice generator — select the correct rate, add your SIREN, and export as PDF.

Reverse Charge in France

The reverse charge mechanism shifts VAT accounting from seller to buyer in these French scenarios:

• B2B services from France to an EU customer: you invoice at 0 TVA with a reference like: Autoliquidation — Art. 196 de la Directive 2006/112/CE. Both your numéro de TVA and the customer must appear on the invoice.
• B2B services received from abroad: if a non-French supplier provides services to your French business, you self-account French TVA under the reverse charge and report on your CA3 return.
• Domestic construction (sous-traitance): the main contractor self-accounts TVA on payments to subcontractors — a unique French rule under Article 207 of the CGI.
• Gold investment: purchases and sales of investment gold are subject to reverse charge regardless of supplier location.

Check any cross-border scenario with the reverse-charge vs OSS checker before invoicing.

OSS — France and the One Stop Shop

France participates in the EU One Stop Shop (OSS) since 1 July 2021. What this means for French sellers:

• B2C distance sales of goods to other EU countries — once your pan-EU cross-border turnover passes EUR10,000 per year, you must charge the destination country TVA rate and declare it through OSS.
• Registration: register for OSS via the DGFiP portal. You file one quarterly OSS return covering all destination countries, and France distributes the collected TVA to each member state.
• Below EUR10,000: you may charge French 20% TVA on all B2C cross-border sales (domestic simplification).
• B2B: OSS does not apply to B2B — reverse charge governs those transactions.

Run any scenario through the reverse-charge vs OSS checker to confirm the correct treatment.

Worked Examples

Worked Example — Adding 5.5% Reduced TVA

A Paris bookshop sells books worth EUR600 net. The reduced 5.5% rate applies to printed publications.

Gross = EUR600 x 1.055 = EUR633 · TVA = EUR33

Verify instantly with the VAT calculator — select France and set 5.5% in Custom-rate mode.

How to Use the French VAT Calculator

1. Select France from the country dropdown — the standard 20% rate auto-fills.
2. Choose mode: Add TVA (net to gross), Remove TVA (gross to net), or Custom rate (use 5.5%, 10% or 2.1% for reduced items).
3. Enter the amount and click Calculate. Net, TVA and gross appear instantly.
4. Copy or download the result for your records or to paste into an invoice.

🔒 100% Client-Side Privacy: All calculations execute locally in your browser. No financial data, amounts, or tax entries are ever stored on or transmitted to our servers.

Other Countries VAT Guides

See all rates in our EU VAT rates 2026 table, or use the VAT calculator to compute any amount.

Frequently Asked Questions

Informational purposes only — not tax advice. Rates and thresholds sourced from the Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP) and EUR-Lex. Always confirm with your accountant or local Service des Impôts des Entreprises (SIE).