France finalises VAT-agent rule: mandate no longer counts as VAT number

A taxable person that is neither established nor VAT-identified in France and entrusts goods to a person established there may appoint that person as mandataire à l'international under article 289 A bis of the code général des impôts (CGI), so the agent handles the principal's French value-added tax (TVA) obligations on the eligible operations. Only two families of operations qualify: imports on which TVA is fully deductible under article 271, II of the CGI, and operations on goods in trade with third territories that are exempt with a right to deduct, relieved of payment or subject to suspended chargeability, as exhaustively listed in article 95 ter of annex III to the CGI — export deliveries, exits from suspensive regimes immediately followed by an export or another delivery exempt under article 262 of the CGI, and certain exonerated imports.

The principal that appoints a mandataire is not treated as holding a TVA identification number for the reverse charge in the second subparagraph of article 283, 1 of the CGI.Impots TVA due on a domestic delivery of goods in France to a non-established, unidentified buyer is therefore not paid by that buyerImpots. The non-established seller must register for TVA in France in order to charge itImpots, and the buyer then claims a refund itself. Only TVA on the eligible operations, on the entrusted goods, may be taken as deductible on the return the mandataire files for the principal; any other French input TVA goes through the principal's own refund claim under articles 242-0 Z quater et seq. of annex II to the CGI.

Imports followed by domestic taxable supplies for which a TVA-identified French customer self-assesses stay within the scheme where the supplier is established outside the European Union. Imports followed by intra-Community supplies (régime 42, article 262 ter of the CGI) stay outside it, as do imports followed by supplies to non-taxable or unidentified persons. A later change in the use of imported goods does not undo the scheme for operations already declared, but the resulting deduction adjustments or a self-supply under article 257 of the CGI require the non-established person to register for TVA in France and, where applicable, to appoint a fiscal representative.

The agent must be established and TVA-identified in France for at least one year, have filed its own TVA returns for at least one year, be identified as a mandataire by its service des impôts des entreprises, and meet the tax-good-standing and commercial-sanctions conditions. The goods must be entrusted to it under an exhaustive list of contracts — vente en consignation, ouvraison, montage, façon, location, entreposage, or transit to a territory other than France. The mandate must be written, in French, signed before the operations it covers, and state its period, the entrustment terms and the categories of operations envisaged. The mandataire files one electronic TVA return covering all principals' operations for the period, separate from its own return, under a single specific identification number; until 31 December 2026 an eligible person may still act without that specific number. It keeps a register per principal until 31 December of the third year after the operations, producible electronically within twenty days, and is jointly liable for tax on the mandated goods where exemption or payment-relief conditions fail.

Legal basis: article 289 A bis of the CGI and article 95 ter of annex III to the CGI, with articles 271, II, 283, 1, 286 ter A, 287, 291, 293 A and 277 A of the CGI.