A newly registered French company can have a valid registration, a SIREN and a SIRET, yet still see its French VAT number returned as “not valid” in VIES. VIES is the European Commission’s VAT Information Exchange System. Its result is important for an intra-European transaction, but it is not the same document as a French company registration certificate, an extract from the Kbis register, or a tax ruling. The gap can reflect a pending VAT identification, a number that has not been activated for intra-EU transactions, incomplete data transmission, or a timing difference between French and European databases. It does not, by itself, prove that the company was improperly incorporated.

This guide is for a foreign founder, foreign parent company or overseas finance team operating through a French company or French establishment. It explains how to separate registration from VAT identification, what to do before the first cross-border invoice, which evidence to preserve, and how to ask the French business tax department (the service des impôts des entreprises, or SIE) for a practical answer. The governing question is not simply whether VIES displays “valid”; it is whether the transaction is correctly classified, documented and reported at the relevant time. The official starting points are the INPI Guichet unique information on SIREN and SIRET, the French public-service guidance on intra-EU VAT numbers, and the DGFiP instructions for requesting a VAT number.

I. What Does a French VAT Number That Is Not Valid in VIES Mean After Registration?

A. Registration, SIREN/SIRET and VAT identification are separate steps

Foreign founders often treat the following sequence as one administrative event: the INPI Guichet unique accepts the incorporation filing, the commercial registry processes it, the company receives its Kbis, the tax office opens its file, and VIES recognises the VAT number. In practice, these are connected but distinct systems and decisions.

The Guichet unique is the online one-stop shop for business formalities, operated through the system associated with the Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI). Its filing creates or updates the company record and transmits information to the relevant authorities. The SIREN is the nine-digit identifier of the legal entity. The SIRET is the fourteen-digit identifier of a particular establishment: it combines the SIREN with a five-digit establishment number. A foreign company carrying on activities in France can retain its foreign identifier while receiving a French SIREN for its French activity. The official identity page describes the SIREN as the unique identifier of the enterprise and the SIRET as the identifier of each establishment.

The Kbis is an extract showing information recorded in the Trade and Companies Register; the greffe is the registry office attached to the competent commercial court. A Kbis can therefore demonstrate that a company exists and identify its legal representative, registered office and activity. It is not, by itself, proof that the company’s VAT number is active for intra-EU supplies. For some companies and procedures, the newer registration certificate from the National Register of Enterprises is also useful. Neither document should be substituted for a VIES result when a customer, bank or auditor requires EU VAT validation.

VAT status begins with the concept of an assujetti, meaning a person or entity carrying on an independent economic activity. Article 256 A of the French General Tax Code (CGI) states, in the official text, that “Sont assujetties à la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée les personnes qui effectuent de manière indépendante”. In English, the practical consequence is that legal form is not decisive: a SAS, SARL, branch or subsidiary can be within the VAT system depending on its activities and transactions. Incorporation does not automatically answer every question about the applicable VAT regime.

VAT identification is a further administrative layer. The French number normally uses the format FR, followed by a two-digit control key and the company’s nine-digit SIREN. Service-Public gives the central definition: “Le numéro de TVA intracommunautaire est un numéro d’identification individuel.” Its guidance on the French VAT identification number also distinguishes automatic transmission for a VAT-liable business from an online request made through the professional tax account where the company is not automatically assigned a number. The word “individual” matters: the VAT number identifies the taxable person; it does not identify each invoice, establishment or bank account.

Article 286 ter of the CGI supplies the legal basis for identification. It begins: “Est identifié par un numéro individuel :” and then covers taxable persons carrying out operations giving a right to deduct VAT, among other cases. Article 286 ter A of the CGI contains a limited exception for occasional supplies or services; its operative words are “ne sont pas tenus de s’identifier par un numéro individuel”. A recurring business model, a permanent French establishment, regular intra-EU sales or regular cross-border services should not be treated as an occasional transaction without a documented analysis.

That distinction explains a frequent post-registration sequence:

• the company is accepted through the Guichet unique and receives a SIREN or SIRET;
• the commercial registry or other competent body finalises the registration and issues a Kbis or registration evidence;
• the SIE determines or confirms the company’s VAT obligations and identification;
• the number is entered in French tax systems and then made available for the relevant intra-EU checks;
• VIES returns a result that may lag behind the French record or may reveal that intra-EU activity has not been activated.

The SIE is the French business tax department responsible for the company’s tax file. The DGFiP, or Direction générale des Finances publiques, is the French public-finance administration. The DGFiP states that “l’attribution d’un numéro de TVA intracommunautaire … relève de la compétence de votre service des impôts des entreprises (SIE)” and that the allocation is free. It also explains that, once a SIRET is available and the professional tax account and secure mailbox are active, the request can be made online. The route is the secure mailbox: “Messagerie” then “Écrire”, followed by the business-tax and VAT options. A founder abroad should give a mandate to the accountant or lawyer who is authorised to communicate with the SIE, while retaining access to the company’s own professional account.

VIES is not a live incorporation register. The European Commission’s guidance lists several reasons for a “not valid” result: the number may not exist, it may not be activated for intra-EU operations, the registration may be incomplete, or the French and European databases may not yet have synchronised. The relevant question is therefore whether the result is a temporary availability problem, an activation problem, a wrong number, or a substantive objection by the tax administration.

A disciplined diagnosis starts with six checks. First, copy the number exactly as displayed in the professional tax account and remove spaces only when entering it into VIES. Second, confirm that the SIREN in the VAT number belongs to the new entity and not to a parent, branch or former establishment. Third, ask whether the company is registered for the relevant domestic VAT regime and for intra-EU operations. Fourth, check the date and time of every VIES search. Fifth, determine whether the counterparty is testing the company’s number or its own number. Sixth, read any message from the SIE: a request for documents, a registration hold or a formal invalidation has a different remedy from database delay.

B. Which business can invoice while the number is pending or inactive?

The short answer is that a VIES problem does not create a universal ban on issuing every commercial invoice. It does mean that the company must classify each transaction before choosing the VAT wording. A company can be registered and able to contract, deliver or invoice while the VAT treatment of a particular operation remains to be fixed. The delay does not erase VAT liability if French VAT is due, and it does not authorise the company to invent a number or to describe a domestic transaction as an exempt intra-EU supply merely because a customer is established in another Member State.

Start with the invoice itself. Article 289 of the CGI says: “Tout assujetti est tenu de s’assurer qu’une facture est émise”. The invoice should identify the actual contracting entity, its registered name, registered office, SIREN and, where relevant, SIRET. It should show the date, a sequential number, the supply, price, currency, payment terms and the applicable VAT treatment. If the seller’s VAT number is not yet assigned, do not copy the number of the founder, parent company, accountant or a different branch. A truthful statement that the French VAT identification request is pending can be used as commercial information, but it does not replace a mandatory tax indication where one is required.

The detailed invoice rules are in Article 242 nonies A of Annex II to the CGI. The official text opens with “Les mentions obligatoires qui doivent figurer sur les factures” and refers to the individual identification number under Article 286 ter. It also requires the VAT identification numbers of seller and buyer for the relevant intra-EU goods supplies. A simplified invoice rule exists for invoices up to €150 excluding tax, but that limited rule should not be used to disguise a cross-border transaction or to avoid keeping the underlying evidence.

If the French company genuinely benefits from the domestic small-business exemption, the legal wording is specific. Article 293 E of the CGI states that a franchised taxable person cannot deduct VAT and that the invoice must carry “TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI”. That wording is not a general solution for a company whose VAT number is simply delayed. The company must first know that the franchise regime applies to the transaction and that no other rule requires French VAT identification or reporting.

Next classify the supply. For a service, ask where the customer is established, whether the customer is acting as a business, whether a special place-of-supply rule applies, and whether the service is actually supplied by the French company. Article 259 of the CGI sets out the general place-of-supply framework and begins: “Le lieu des prestations de services est situé en France :”. For ordinary business-to-business services, the customer’s business establishment is usually central to the analysis, but property, events, passenger transport, restaurant services and other categories can follow special rules. A foreign customer’s address alone is not enough.

For an ordinary business-to-business service supplied by a French company to a taxable customer in another EU Member State, French VAT may not be charged under the place-of-supply rule, with the customer accounting for tax under its local reverse-charge rules. This conclusion depends on the customer’s taxable status and evidence, not merely on a VIES screen. Conversely, a service supplied to a French customer by a company not established in France can trigger reverse charge in France. Article 283 of the CGI contains the operative rule that “la taxe doit être acquittée par le preneur” in the specified situation. The contract, customer certificate, VAT number, place of supply and invoice wording must tell the same story.

For goods shipped from France to a business customer in another EU Member State, the exemption is more demanding. Article 262 ter of the CGI provides that certain “Sont exonérés de la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée” intra-EU supplies are exempt, but the conditions include transport, customer status, identification and reporting. The rule is not a reward for having a foreign customer. If the French seller’s number is not yet visible in VIES, pause the intended exemption wording until the SIE or adviser confirms the position and the evidence file is complete. If the customer’s number is shown as non-valid, Service-Public says the customer should provide an attestation of liability issued by its tax administration; without it, the French VAT regime may apply. That guidance should be preserved with the file, not reduced to an informal email.

There is a practical difference between a number “not valid” in VIES and a tax office refusing the French company’s identification. In the first situation, the number may exist in France but be unavailable for intra-EU checks. In the second, the company may have an unresolved registration, activity or compliance issue. In neither situation should the founder use a group VAT number. A group number can belong to a different taxable person and may create an incorrect invoice, a rejected VAT return, a customer audit problem and a dispute over who was entitled to deduct the tax.

Before issuing the first invoice, create an internal decision note containing the transaction date, supply description, delivery or performance location, customer status, customer VAT evidence, the French company’s SIREN/SIRET, every VIES response and the proposed invoice wording. Have the person responsible for the VAT return approve the note. If the buyer’s procurement team needs a valid VIES result before onboarding, send the SIE request and the evidence of the pending application rather than promising a date that no public database can guarantee.

II. How Should a Foreign Founder Correct the Number and Protect Each Intra-EU Invoice?

A. The SIE/VIES regularisation file and the evidence to preserve

The fastest route is usually a precise written request to the SIE, not repeated anonymous VIES searches. Use the company’s professional tax account and secure mailbox. The DGFiP explains that a company with a SIRET can request a VAT number online through its professional account. Its published path is the VAT and related-tax request under the secure “Messagerie” service. A foreign founder should ask the SIE to confirm four separate points: whether a French VAT number has been assigned; whether it is active for intra-EU transactions; the effective date of identification; and whether any document or tax-regime choice is holding the file.

The request should be short enough to process and complete enough to avoid a second round of questions. Attach or identify:

• the company’s legal name, SIREN, SIRET and registered office;
• the Kbis or registration certificate and, for a foreign company, the foreign registry extract and the French establishment evidence;
• the identity and authority of the director, tax representative, accountant or other authorised correspondent;
• the activity description, principal place of business and expected French and intra-EU flows;
• the first signed order, contract, quotation or purchase order, with confidential commercial terms redacted only where possible;
• the customer’s legal name, Member State, VAT number and evidence that the customer acts as a taxable person;
• screenshots or saved PDF results from VIES showing the date, time, queried number and exact response;
• the proposed first invoice and a clear question about whether French VAT, reverse charge or another treatment should be shown; and
• any earlier SIE message, form, tax election or request for completion.

This is not a universal statutory list of documents. It is an evidence bundle designed to answer the questions that normally cause delay: who is taxable, what activity is carried on, where it occurs, when it starts, which transactions are expected, and which entity will declare the tax. Do not send an unredacted passport, bank statement or group document unless the authority or authorised adviser has a lawful reason to request it. Keep a transmission receipt and a dated copy of everything sent.

Ask the SIE to state whether the issue is merely database synchronisation. The European VIES guidance explains that national systems are not updated instantly and that a number can return “not valid” because it has not been activated for intra-EU operations or because registration is incomplete. The guidance also says: “Il est conseillé de conserver une trace de votre validation, en cas de contrôle fiscal.” Save the validation history even when the result is positive. A customer, auditor or tax inspector may need to understand what was checked at the date of the transaction, not what the database says months later.

If the VIES number becomes valid, run a second check and preserve the result. Confirm that the legal name and address returned by the system, if shown, correspond to the contracting entity. Record the transaction date separately from the validation date. A later positive result may help prove that the number was eventually active, but it does not automatically prove the position on the date of an earlier supply.

If the SIE says that the number was invalidated or asks the company to regularise information, the process is more formal. Service-Public explains that an administration can ask for regularisation and that the business has a response period; it also describes restoration after regularisation or observations. The founder should respond point by point, attach the corrected evidence and ask for written confirmation of the effective date. A generic “please activate VIES” message is weaker than a response that identifies the wrong address, missing activity code, absent proof of taxable activity or incomplete registration.

VAT reporting must be planned while the request is pending. Article 287 of the CGI says that an identified taxable person must submit VAT returns to the competent tax service. It begins: “Tout redevable de la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée identifié … est tenu de remettre au service des impôts”. The filing frequency depends on the company’s tax regime; an overseas director should not assume that a new company has no return because it has made no sales. The accountant should reconcile issued invoices, received costs, intra-EU statements and any nil-return obligation.

For cross-border reporting, Article 289 B of the CGI requires an identified taxable person to file a customer statement and refers to “un état récapitulatif des clients”. The statement is not a substitute for a VAT return and the VAT return is not a substitute for the statement. Their data should match the invoice register, the customer’s VAT number, the dispatch or service evidence and the VIES history. If the transaction is corrected, keep the original invoice, the credit note, the reason for correction and the communication with the buyer.

Timing also matters. Article 269 of the CGI identifies the taxable event and states: “Le fait générateur de la taxe se produit”. The exact tax consequence depends on the type of supply and the applicable regime, but the company should record when goods were delivered or dispatched, when a service was performed, and when an advance was received where relevant. A founder who waits for VIES before creating any accounting record may lose evidence about the actual date of the operation.

If an invoice was issued with an incorrect VAT treatment, do not silently overwrite it. Article 272 of the CGI makes correction or refund conditional in specified cases on proof that the original invoice was corrected first; the text states that “L’imputation ou la restitution est subordonnée à la justification” of the prior correction. Contact the customer, issue the appropriate corrective document, update the VAT return or statement if required, and preserve the audit trail. The correction should be consistent across the accounting system, customer ledger, VAT return and intra-EU statement.

B. Domestic VAT, reverse charge and intra-EU reporting: the practical workflow

A foreign management team can reduce mistakes by routing every proposed invoice through the same four-question workflow. First, identify the supplier: is the French company the actual seller or service provider, or is a foreign parent contracting directly? Second, identify the customer: business or consumer, French or foreign, and which establishment receives the supply? Third, classify the operation: goods, ordinary service, property-related service, event, transport, digital service or another special category. Fourth, verify the evidence and choose the reporting line. The following table is a working map, not a substitute for transaction-specific advice.

Situation	Immediate question	File to preserve while VIES is pending	Typical risk
French company sells to a French customer	Is French VAT due, or does an exemption or franchise apply?	Contract, customer details, VAT analysis, invoice and accounting entry	Treating a VIES delay as a reason to omit French VAT
French company supplies an ordinary service to an EU business	Where is the customer established and is its taxable status evidenced?	Customer VAT proof, contract, deliverables, VIES searches and invoice	Using reverse charge without proving the customer or the place of supply
French company ships goods to an EU business	Are transport, customer identification and reporting conditions satisfied?	Order, transport proof, delivery evidence, customer number and VIES history	Applying an intra-EU exemption before the evidence is complete
Foreign parent supplies directly to a French customer	Is the parent established in France and who accounts for the tax?	Contracting entity, establishment analysis, customer status and reverse-charge review	Using the French subsidiary’s VAT number for a parent-company supply

For a domestic French sale, a pending VIES status usually has no bearing on whether French VAT is due. The company must apply the French rule for the supply and show the correct tax or exemption wording. The absence of a VIES result is not a domestic VAT exemption. The sales invoice, payment, customer location and tax return should be aligned.

For a business-to-business service to an EU customer, the company should obtain evidence of the customer’s business status and check the customer’s VAT number. It should also document why the ordinary place-of-supply rule applies and why no special rule displaces it. If the French seller’s own number is pending, the SIE should be asked whether the company can use the intended treatment from the effective date of identification and how the first return and customer statement should be completed. The answer should be retained in writing.

For EU goods, the evidence trail must be stronger because the exemption depends on the goods leaving France and reaching another Member State, as well as on customer identification and reporting. Article 262 ter is the starting legal text, while Article 289 B governs the customer statement. Keep the transport order, carrier confirmation, delivery or receipt evidence, warehouse records and correspondence about any discrepancy. If the buyer gives a VAT number that VIES rejects, ask for an official tax certificate or use the French VAT treatment recommended by the administration rather than relying on a screenshot from a private database.

Where the transaction involves an overseas company without a permanent establishment in France, the analysis can reverse. The DGFiP guidance for foreign companies explains that a non-established foreign company may need French VAT registration when it carries out operations requiring a French VAT return. It also describes cases where the French customer accounts for VAT under reverse charge and refers to a tax representative for companies from outside the relevant cooperation area. A foreign parent should not assume that incorporation of a French subsidiary transfers the parent’s VAT history to the subsidiary, or that a French subsidiary’s VIES number covers invoices issued by the parent.

Input VAT is another part of the workflow. A company can incur French costs before its first revenue: incorporation fees, software, professional advice, premises, equipment or travel. Article 271 of the CGI states that “La taxe sur la valeur ajoutée qui a grevé les éléments du prix” of a taxable operation is deductible under the legal conditions. Deduction still requires valid invoices, an eligible business purpose, the correct tax regime and proper reporting. Keep pre-registration invoices in a separate file and ask the accountant how they should be claimed once the French VAT account is active. Do not use the pending status as a reason to discard recoverable evidence or to claim tax without a compliant invoice.

The legal calendar should contain more than the date shown on the Kbis. Add the date of the Guichet unique filing, date of SIREN/SIRET allocation, Kbis or registration certificate date, professional-account activation date, VAT request date, SIE messages, first invoice, first delivery or service, first VIES check, first positive VIES check, VAT return deadline and customer-statement deadline. If the company has a tax representative, add the representative’s confirmation date and document exchange. This single timeline often reveals that the first customer asked for validation before the VAT request was submitted, or that the company used a number for an establishment that had not yet been registered.

There is a useful distinction between solving a database problem and managing a customer relationship. The finance team should tell the customer what is known: the French company is registered, the VAT identification request is pending or being synchronised, VIES was checked on a specified date, the SIE has been contacted, and the proposed invoice treatment has been reviewed. Avoid stating that the number is “valid” because the French SIREN is valid. Avoid promising that VIES will change within a fixed number of hours. A precise status update protects the commercial relationship without making an unsupported legal representation.

Finally, schedule a second-line review when one of these red flags appears: a customer refuses the invoice because VIES is negative; the transaction is high value; goods have already left France; a credit note is needed; the French company’s address differs between records; the customer’s VAT number is non-valid; the group has several entities or branches; the service relates to French real estate or an event; or the SIE asks for evidence of economic activity. In those cases, the right objective is a written transaction memo and a regularisation plan, not a third-party VAT-number lookup.

Conclusion

A French VAT number that is not valid in VIES after incorporation is a warning to separate four questions: whether the company exists, whether it is liable for VAT, whether it has been individually identified, and whether the European database has activated or synchronised the number for intra-EU transactions. The foreign founder should verify the SIREN and SIRET, use the professional tax account, contact the SIE with a complete evidence bundle, classify every invoice, preserve dated VIES checks and reconcile the VAT return with any customer statement.

The first transaction should not be forced into a convenient label. French domestic VAT, an intra-EU service, an intra-EU goods supply and a foreign-parent transaction can produce different outcomes. A Kbis does not replace a VAT analysis; a VIES screenshot does not replace transport or customer evidence; and a later positive result does not automatically cure an earlier invoice. A written answer from the SIE, supported by the contract and accounting file, gives the overseas board and the French finance team a defensible basis for the next step. For broader formation and ongoing compliance, see our French company formation and compliance support and the related guide on VAT registration in France for a foreign company.

Official sources consulted: DGFiP VAT-number request guidance; Service-Public VAT identification and VIES guidance; Your Europe VIES validation guidance; INPI Guichet unique identity guidance; and the Légifrance provisions linked inline above.