Foreign founders often discover French VAT on hotel bills, trade fairs, professional advice, transport, equipment and local events only after the expense has been paid. The immediate question is practical: can the company recover that tax without creating a French subsidiary? In many cases, yes. The absence of a French subsidiary is not, by itself, a bar to a refund. The decisive questions are whether the claimant is established in France, whether it has made French transactions that trigger a VAT filing obligation, whether the French VAT was lawfully charged, and whether the expense supports activities that qualify for deduction.

The procedure is not the same for a company established in the European Union and one established outside it. The filing portal, tax representative requirement, evidence, minimum claim and deadline all change. A foreign company should therefore classify its position before submitting invoices. It should also separate a genuine French VAT refund from a supplier’s billing error: tax charged when no French VAT was due is normally recovered from the supplier, not through a refund claim. This guide sets out the decision tree, the evidence file and the principal remedies, with the statutory rules and case law that a finance team can verify before filing.

I. Can a foreign company claim French VAT without a French subsidiary?

A. What the French VAT refund test actually asks

The first misconception is that incorporation determines the refund. A French subsidiary is a separate French legal person, with its own management, accounts and tax obligations. A foreign company can incur French business expenses without creating that entity. It may attend a trade fair, send employees to meet customers, rent equipment for a project, instruct French advisers or buy goods in France while remaining established abroad.

The refund analysis instead follows the VAT system. VAT, or value added tax, is called TVA in French. The starting point is Article 271 of the French General Tax Code, or CGI (Code général des impôts). It states, in the relevant deduction rule, that “La taxe sur la valeur ajoutée qui a grevé les éléments du prix d’une opération imposable est déductible.” In plain English, VAT charged on the components of a taxable transaction can be deductible when the statutory conditions are met. The current text is available in the official Article 271 CGI.

For a foreign claimant, the refund provisions in Annex II to the CGI provide the more specific route. Article 242-0 N describes the possibility for a person established outside France to obtain a refund of French VAT on deliveries, services, acquisitions or imports used for qualifying operations. The legal starting point is the official Article 242-0 N of Annex II CGI. The rule does not ask whether the claimant has chosen the French SAS or SARL form. It asks how the claimant is established, what it does, and how the cost is connected with an activity that gives a right of deduction.

Three preliminary questions should be answered in writing.

1. Is the claimant established in France? A permanent establishment, a registered seat, or a fixed establishment can change the applicable VAT route. A French subsidiary is one possible form of presence, but it is not the only relevant fact. A branch, a fixed place from which business is carried on, or a French activity that requires local VAT reporting may have consequences even when there is no subsidiary.
2. Has the company carried out a French transaction that should have been declared through a French VAT return? A company that makes taxable supplies in France may need to account for VAT rather than use the non-established refund procedure. The answer depends on the transaction, the place-of-supply rule, reverse charge treatment and any registration obligation; the invoice alone cannot decide it.
3. Was the French VAT lawfully charged on a cost used for a qualifying business activity? A valid invoice, a business purpose and a deductible output activity are all needed. If a supplier charged French VAT by mistake, the refund procedure is not a substitute for correcting that invoice.

The French tax administration summarises the same logic on its official VAT refunds page for international businesses. It explains that a business with no French transactions liable to VAT may request a refund of French VAT paid on business expenses, subject to the applicable conditions. The English page is useful for a foreign finance department, while the French TVA refund page is useful when the claimant or its adviser must work with French terminology.

No French registration number is conclusive on its own. SIREN means the nine-digit identifier of a French entity; SIRET is the fourteen-digit identifier of an establishment; INPI is the French National Institute of Industrial Property; and RNE is the National Business Register. A Kbis is an official extract from the French commercial register. Those concepts matter when a foreign company has made a French formal filing, but a SIRET, an INPI filing or a Kbis should not be treated as a complete VAT opinion. They may show an administrative or establishment connection, while the refund decision still turns on the actual business activity and the relevant VAT rules.

This distinction is especially important for foreign companies that register an activity in France without opening a subsidiary. The INPI guidance on competent authorities identifies the French tax administration, DGFiP (Direction générale des Finances publiques), as the validator for certain foreign businesses without an establishment and without employees in France. The filing channel can therefore coexist with a refund question, but the filing record does not eliminate the need to analyse where the company is actually established and what transactions it has made.

The cost must also be connected with a professional activity. Article 206 of Annex II to the CGI expresses the deduction-coefficient approach: the right to deduct depends on the transaction being within the scope of VAT, the tax having been borne and the expense being admitted to deduction. Its current text is available through Article 206 of Annex II CGI. Where an expense supports both taxable and exempt activities, the company may need to claim only the appropriate proportion. A general overhead is not automatically fully refundable merely because it appears in the accounts.

The Conseil d’État, France’s highest administrative court, made this point in a VAT credit dispute. In its judgment of 7 October 2020, No. 426661, it treated certain overheads as expenses that “font partie des frais généraux liés à l’ensemble de l’activité économique”, meaning that they related to the economic activity as a whole, while the deductible proportion still had to be determined. The official decision is available at CE, 7 October 2020, No. 426661. For a foreign claimant, that reasoning supports a disciplined allocation schedule rather than a blanket claim for every invoice.

The expense must also carry VAT that is genuinely due. In a case concerning a Canadian company, the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal found that French VAT had been wrongly charged on services whose place of supply was Canada. The court applied Article 242-0 P and noted that a refund application cannot cover “les montants de taxe sur la valeur ajoutée facturés par erreur”. It held that the company should first approach its supplier for correction. See CAA Paris, 13 December 2024, No. 23PA02947. This is a practical dividing line: a lawful French VAT charge belongs in a refund file; an unlawful charge belongs first in a credit note and corrected invoice request.

The underlying activity also matters. In a 7 December 2016 decision concerning Marriott Rewards LLC, the Conseil d’État examined whether payments connected with a loyalty programme were used for operations that opened a right to deduction. The official ruling, CE, 7 December 2016, No. 396460, shows why a claimant should describe the commercial service behind each cost instead of simply attaching an expense ledger. The question is not whether the company is foreign; it is whether the cost supports qualifying operations.

There is a similar warning for termination payments and other amounts that look like services in an accounting system but are not consideration for an identifiable taxable supply. In CE, 21 November 2011, No. 316485, the court held that an indemnity “ne constituait pas la contrepartie directe et la rémunération d’une prestation individualisable”. A foreign company should therefore explain the legal and commercial nature of unusual invoices, settlements or indemnities before including their VAT.

B. How do EU and non-EU routes differ before filing?

The second question is the claimant’s country of establishment. The European Union route is designed for a taxable person established in one Member State that seeks a refund in another Member State without being established there. Article 242-0 M of Annex II to the CGI describes the non-established EU person by reference to the absence of a seat, permanent establishment or residence in France. The official provision is Article 242-0 M CGI Annex II.

For an EU-established company, the request is normally submitted electronically through the tax authority’s portal in the company’s home Member State. The home authority transmits the claim to France. Article 242-0 R provides the electronic filing and deadline rules; it can be checked at Article 242-0 R CGI Annex II. The ordinary deadline is 30 September of the year following the period to which the claim relates. Missing the deadline is not a minor formatting defect: the claim can become inadmissible even when the underlying expense would otherwise qualify.

The EU route is also structured around a link between the claimant’s home-state operations and the right to deduct. Article 242-0 Q states that “Pour bénéficier d’un remboursement, un assujetti non établi en France doit effectuer des opérations ouvrant droit à déduction dans l’Etat membre de l’Union européenne dans lequel il est établi.” In English, the company must conduct operations in its home Member State that give a right to deduction. See Article 242-0 Q CGI Annex II.

This does not mean that every cost must be linked to one invoice issued to a customer in the home state. It does mean that the claimant should be able to show its taxable business model, its VAT status at home and the reason why the French expense serves that model. A company with a mixed activity may need to state the deductible proportion. A company whose activity is exempt, outside the scope or not evidenced may face a substantive refusal.

Article 242-0 O adds the French-side condition for EU claimants: in principle, they must not have made deliveries of goods or supplies of services in France that fall outside the stated exceptions. The official text is Article 242-0 O CGI Annex II. The exceptions and reverse-charge rules require transaction-specific review. A foreign company should not decide that it is “non-established” solely because it has no office or subsidiary; a French sale, installation, event service or local stock arrangement may alter the analysis.

The non-EU route is separate. Article 242-0 Z quater addresses a person established outside the European Union who has no seat, permanent establishment or residence in France and has not carried out the French supplies that would take it into a VAT return route, subject to the statutory exceptions. The provision is available at Article 242-0 Z quater CGI Annex II. The rule also refers to reciprocity: the country of establishment must grant comparable refund treatment to French businesses, subject to the conditions of the relevant framework.

Reciprocity is not an issue to guess from an old internet list. In CE, 13 July 2006, No. 259940, the Conseil d’État examined the reciprocity safeguard and the qualifying-use requirement in a claim involving a US company. That historical decision does not establish the current eligibility of every US or other non-EU company. It does show why the claimant must check the current French administrative position and the law of its own country before treating a non-EU claim as routine.

For a non-EU claimant, Article 242-0 Z octies requires accreditation of a French taxable representative. A tax representative is a person or firm established in France that formally undertakes the reporting and documentary interface with the French tax administration for this procedure. The official text is Article 242-0 Z octies CGI Annex II. The administration can require security from that representative. The mandate should specify who gathers invoices, answers information requests, receives correspondence, checks the bank details and preserves the original records.

Article 242-0 Z septies sets out the electronic filing, summary table and evidence rules for the non-EU route. It is available at Article 242-0 Z septies CGI Annex II. The deadline is generally the end of the sixth month following the calendar year concerned, which means 30 June of the following year. That differs from the EU deadline of 30 September. The claim is made electronically through the accredited representative, and the claimant must be ready to provide originals or supporting records within the required period.

Article 242-0 Z sexies sets the minimum amounts for a non-EU request: €400 for a period of at least three months but less than a year, and €50 for a full calendar year or the final part of the year. The same thresholds are reflected in the official Article 242-0 Z sexies CGI Annex II. For EU claims, Articles 242-0 T and 242-0 U contain the corresponding period and threshold rules: a period cannot normally be shorter than three months, the quarterly threshold is €400 and the annual threshold is €50. See Article 242-0 T and Article 242-0 U.

The thresholds concern the VAT claimed, not the gross value of the invoices. A company with €2,000 of French expenses at a 20% VAT rate has a potential VAT claim of €400 before any deduction restriction. It reaches the quarterly threshold exactly, assuming the expenses are admissible and the claim covers at least three months. A company with €1,500 of expenses at 20% has €300 of VAT, so it would normally need to wait for the annual claim unless other eligible invoices bring the quarterly claim to €400. A €50 annual minimum is not a guarantee of payment: it is only one procedural threshold, and the expense must still pass the substantive tests.

II. How should a foreign company file, prove, recover or challenge the refund?

A. Which documents, thresholds and deadlines control the claim?

A good claim is built as an evidence file before the online form is opened. The finance team should make a spreadsheet with one line per invoice and at least these fields: supplier name and address, supplier French VAT number, invoice number, invoice date, net amount, VAT rate, VAT amount, currency, expense category, country, business project, employee or attendee, payment reference and deductible percentage. The French administration specifically expects invoices to identify the supplier, the customer, the date, the precise goods or services, the net price and the VAT rate. The official administrative explanation is set out by Service-Public.fr’s VAT refund guidance.

The invoice must be an invoice, not just a card receipt or a booking screen. A receipt can help prove payment, but it may not identify the taxable customer or contain the VAT information required for deduction. For hotels, the company should identify the business event, attendees and business purpose, while separating private accommodation, meals for non-business guests and other non-deductible elements. For an event or trade fair, retain the exhibitor agreement, registration, badge or programme and a short note explaining the expected taxable business activity. For professional advisers, retain the engagement letter and the deliverable or matter reference.

The following split is practical for a foreign finance team.

Question	EU-established company	Non-EU-established company
Where is the claim filed?	Through the electronic portal of the Member State of establishment.	Electronically in France through an accredited French taxable representative.
Ordinary deadline	30 September of the following year.	End of the sixth month following the calendar year, normally 30 June.
Minimum VAT claim	€400 for a qualifying period of at least three months; €50 for an annual or year-end claim.	€400 for a qualifying period of at least three months; €50 for an annual or year-end claim.
Core eligibility evidence	Home-state VAT status, qualifying operations and absence of a conflicting French filing obligation.	Non-French establishment, qualifying use, reciprocity and the representative’s mandate.
Invoice copies	Copies generally required above €1,000 taxable amount, or above €250 for fuel, subject to the electronic rules.	The same key thresholds apply under the non-EU provisions and the representative must retain the supporting records.

For a non-EU claim, the representative should also prepare proof that the company is taxable in its home country and documentation relevant to reciprocity. A certificate of tax registration, a VAT certificate or an equivalent official document may be useful, but its content should be clear. If it is in a foreign language, provide an accurate French explanation or translation where the administration needs to understand the legal effect. The Conseil d’État stressed this point in CE, 1 April 2022, No. 450613: foreign-law documents had to be “assorties soit de sa traduction en langue française, soit d’une explicitation de sa teneur en français”. The decision concerned a refund claim in which the applicant had not adequately established the relevant taxable operations.

The filing should identify the claimant’s complete bank details. RIB means relevé d’identité bancaire, a French bank-account identification document; IBAN means International Bank Account Number; BIC means Bank Identifier Code. A foreign account may be usable, but the form and payment route should be checked carefully. A mismatch between the claimant, the bank account and the representative can create an avoidable payment or verification problem. The person submitting the claim should save the submission receipt, the application number and the exact invoice package.

A useful internal review has four passes.

1. Place-of-supply review. Ask why French VAT was charged. Was the service physically connected with French land, an event, admission, catering, transport, accommodation or another French rule? Was the charge subject to reverse charge or located outside France? If the answer is uncertain, ask the supplier to explain the VAT treatment before filing.
2. Deduction review. Mark each invoice as fully deductible, partly deductible or excluded. Apply the deduction coefficient required by Article 206 where the cost supports mixed activities. Keep the calculation rather than rounding the claim to the nearest convenient amount.
3. Eligibility review. Check the French establishment and transaction tests, the claimant’s home-state tax status, the EU or non-EU route, reciprocity where relevant and the correct deadline.
4. Evidence review. Match every claimed VAT amount to a readable invoice, payment record, business purpose and ledger entry. Mark the files that cross the €1,000 taxable-base or €250 fuel thresholds and attach the required copies.

The administration can ask for further information. For EU claims, Article 242-0 W provides the complementary-information mechanism and a response period; the official provision is Article 242-0 W CGI Annex II. The company should route every request to one person who can answer within one month, assemble documents and preserve the correspondence. The decision timetable normally starts with a four-month period where no additional-document process is opened under Article 242-0 V. When information is requested, Article 242-0 X allows the review period to extend, including up to six months after one request and up to eight months where further requests are made. See Article 242-0 X CGI Annex II.

The payment stage has its own rule. Article 242-0 Y provides for payment within ten business days after the relevant decision or deadline mechanism, subject to the conditions of the provision. It is available at Article 242-0 Y CGI Annex II. For an EU-established company, Article L208 B of the French Tax Procedure Code can also matter where the statutory conditions for late interest are met; the current provision should be checked at Article L208 B LPF. A claimant should not treat interest as automatic: the timing, cause of delay and statutory conditions need to be documented.

Consider a British company that is established in the United Kingdom, has no French permanent establishment, attends a Paris trade fair and pays €6,000 including 20% French VAT. The VAT element is €1,000. If the company has no French VAT-liable transaction requiring a French return and its activity is taxable in the required sense, it may have the foundations of a non-EU claim. It would need to use the French representative route, test reciprocity, submit by 30 June of the following year and attach the invoices and business-purpose evidence. If the invoice is for a hotel room used by an employee attending the fair, the file should still explain why the expense supports the company’s taxable activity; the hotel label alone is not enough.

Now consider an Irish company with €3,500 of French business expenses at 20% VAT during April, May and June. The VAT is €700. If the company qualifies under the EU route, the claim exceeds the €400 quarterly threshold. It files through the Irish electronic portal, preserves the invoice copies required by the French rules and confirms that its home-state activities open a right to deduction. If the same company has only €240 of eligible VAT for that quarter, it should generally include the invoices in its annual claim rather than file a quarterly application below the minimum.

The amount can be reduced after the first review. A €1,000 invoice may contain €800 of qualifying business use and €200 of private or excluded use. If the deductible portion is 80%, the claim is based on €160 of VAT at a 20% rate on the relevant base, not on the total VAT shown on the invoice. A written allocation method is more persuasive than an unsupported percentage applied at the end of the year.

B. What should a foreign company do after a refusal or a wrong invoice?

A refusal should be classified before it is challenged. The administration may say that the claimant was established in France, that it made a French transaction requiring a VAT return, that the expense was not used for qualifying operations, that the VAT was wrongly charged, that the invoice was incomplete, that the deadline was missed, that a response was late, or that the minimum threshold was not met. Each reason calls for a different correction. Sending the same invoice bundle again without answering the stated ground rarely improves the position.

The most urgent issue is a missing document. In CE, 13 July 2006, No. 258564, the Conseil d’État held that documents required for the claim had not been supplied before the administrative decision. The claim was “entachée d’irrecevabilité”, meaning affected by inadmissibility, and the missing material could not simply be introduced for the first time at the judicial stage. The lesson is operational: answer the administration’s request within the period, create a document index and make sure the response actually reaches the official channel.

The second issue is the legal nature of the charge. The Paris court’s decision in CAA Paris, 13 December 2024, No. 23PA02947 is particularly useful for foreign companies. The Canadian claimant sought a refund of VAT that should not have been charged in France. The court directed the claimant first to the supplier for restitution. If the supplier’s invoice is wrong, ask for a credit note, a corrected invoice and repayment of the VAT. Preserve the original invoice, the supplier’s written explanation and the corrected document. Do not present an obviously wrong VAT charge as if it were a normal deductible French expense.

The third issue is the connection with taxable operations. The refund is not a reward for having spent money in France. In CE, 7 December 2016, No. 396460, the court analysed whether the expenditure was used for transactions opening a right to deduction. A response to a refusal should therefore describe the commercial chain: who the company serves, what its taxable supply is, why the French cost was necessary, and where the resulting revenue or activity is taxed. A ledger category such as “travel” is not a substitute for that explanation.

The fourth issue is allocation. General overheads can support the whole business, but the deductible percentage may be limited where the business carries out exempt or non-deductible activities. The principle in CE, 7 October 2020, No. 426661 supports a reasoned allocation key. The company should show the turnover or activity ratio used, the period covered, the source data and the reason the same method is appropriate for the particular expense. A fresh calculation can sometimes resolve a partial refusal more effectively than a general objection.

Unusual payments deserve special care. An exit payment, settlement or contractual indemnity may not be consideration for a taxable service. The reasoning in CE, 21 November 2011, No. 316485 warns against treating every payment connected with a contract as a VAT-bearing service. The company should identify the supplier’s actual service, the place of supply and the taxable treatment. If there is no direct link with an identifiable service, the VAT may be challenged with the supplier rather than claimed from France.

Evidence from the claimant’s home country must be intelligible to the French administration. In CE, 1 April 2022, No. 450613, the court required translation or a French explanation of the foreign-law material. A response should therefore include the home-country VAT registration or tax-status document, a concise explanation of the claimant’s taxable operations, the relevant legal basis and, where necessary, a translation. A French summary signed by the finance officer or adviser can help, but it should accurately identify the source document and should not paraphrase away a limitation or exemption.

The administration can also inspect the whole credit rather than only the invoices highlighted by the claimant. In CE, 22 July 2025, No. 489158, the Conseil d’État recognised the power to “contrôler toutes les opérations qui ont concouru à la formation de ce crédit”. That means the company should audit the complete period before challenging a refusal. An appeal that fixes three invoices but leaves five unsupported transactions may expose the same weaknesses again.

The case law also contains a useful positive example. In CAA Paris, 13 June 2025, No. 24PA00797, concerning Eaton Industries LP, the court accepted a large refund after examining the claimant’s invoices and the nature of its qualifying operations. The judgment records that the company “est fondée à demander le remboursement du crédit de taxe correspondant”. The practical message is not that every large claim succeeds; it is that volume alone is not disqualifying when the classification, invoice package and business explanation are coherent. A large claim should be prepared with the same care as a small claim, with a reconciliation from the general ledger to the application.

If the dispute concerns reciprocity for a non-EU company, obtain current evidence rather than relying on a case involving a different year, country or tax system. The reasoning in CE, 13 July 2006, No. 259940 shows the importance of the reciprocity safeguard, but it should not be read as a current country-by-country clearance. The representative should check the applicable French administrative guidance, the relevant bilateral or domestic rule and any current request for evidence.

The challenge route depends on the nature and date of the decision. A claimant may need to respond to an information request, ask the supplier for a corrected invoice, make a formal administrative claim, or bring proceedings within the applicable time limit. Article L190 of the French Tax Procedure Code, or LPF (Livre des procédures fiscales), defines the scope of claims concerning tax errors and rights arising from the law; the official text is available at Article L190 LPF. The company should not assume that a generic complaint or an email to a local tax office preserves every remedy. It should identify the decision, the legal basis, the amount, the invoices, the deadline and the competent channel.

The internal file should finish with a one-page decision memo. It should state: the claimant’s country and establishment status; whether it made French taxable transactions; the EU or non-EU procedure; the total French VAT and deductible VAT; the claim period and deadline; the representative, if required; the invoice exceptions; the supplier corrections requested; and the response or appeal date. This memo makes the position understandable to a director who did not attend the original meeting and provides a clean handover if the administration asks questions months later.

Conclusion

A foreign company can often recover French VAT on business expenses without forming a French subsidiary. The result depends on the real facts, not on the label “foreign company”. First determine whether the company has a French establishment or French transactions that require a VAT return. Next confirm that the VAT was correctly charged and that each cost supports qualifying operations. Then use the correct procedure: an EU-established company generally files through its home-state electronic portal by 30 September of the following year, while a non-EU company generally files in France through an accredited taxable representative by 30 June of the following year. Check the €400 quarterly and €50 annual thresholds, retain the invoices and business-purpose evidence, and answer information requests on time.

The clearest red flag is an invoice on which French VAT should never have appeared. That is normally a supplier-correction issue, not a refund claim. The clearest reason to strengthen a genuine claim is a complete reconciliation: invoice, payment, place-of-supply analysis, business purpose, qualifying output activity, deduction percentage and deadline. The official impots.gouv.fr guidance, the Service-Public.fr explanation, the INPI information on the one-stop business portal and the linked provisions of the CGI Annex II should be read alongside the company’s actual invoices and tax status. For broader French company-formation context, see the firm’s French company formation pillar; the present guide addresses the narrower VAT-refund question.

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