A foreign company can discover the problem in a single email: its French VAT representative is ending the engagement, closing the practice or refusing to file the next return. The company may still have a French VAT number, open invoices, a credit to recover, an audit period, or a return due within days. A replacement is therefore not a simple change of accountant. It is a continuity exercise involving the company, the outgoing representative, the prospective representative and the French tax administration.

The first question is whether a representative is legally mandatory. A business established in the European Union generally does not have to appoint a French tax representative, although it may appoint a French mandatary to deal with the administration. A business established outside the European Union may have to appoint an accredited French representative when it is liable for French VAT or has French VAT filing obligations, subject to the mutual-assistance exceptions and specific statutory exceptions. The answer depends on the country, the transactions and the company’s place of establishment, not on the language used in the service contract.

This article explains what a foreign founder or finance director should do when the mandate is ending: identify the applicable status, freeze the filing calendar, obtain the complete tax file, appoint a successor, request written administrative confirmation and preserve evidence. It also explains why a private dispute with the outgoing representative does not suspend the foreign company’s tax obligations.

I. When must a foreign company replace its French VAT representative?

A. Which foreign businesses need a representative, and which do not?

The word “representative” covers two different legal situations. The first is the accredited fiscal representative required by French VAT rules for certain businesses established outside the European Union. The second is a French mandatary appointed voluntarily by a business that can deal with the French administration itself but wants a local professional to file documents or communicate with the Service des impôts des entreprises étrangères (SIEE), the French tax office for foreign businesses. Confusing the two creates a serious handover risk: a mandatary cannot be treated as an accredited fiscal representative merely because the parties call the contract a “representation agreement”.

As at 1 September 2026, the transitional provisions should be read carefully. Article L152-2 of the Code of Impositions on Goods and Services states that the representation obligation applies to a taxpayer not established in a European Union Member State or in a State referred to by Article 289 A of the French General Tax Code. The corresponding Article 289 A of the French General Tax Code provides, in the version shown by Légifrance for the transition period, that “Lorsqu’une personne non établie dans l’Union européenne est redevable de la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée ou doit accomplir des obligations déclaratives”, it must have an accredited taxable representative established in France, unless an exception applies. The French wording is important because the obligation can arise from filing duties even when the amount of VAT payable is limited.

The first practical test is the country of establishment. A company incorporated in Germany, Spain or another European Union Member State normally does not need a French fiscal representative solely because it has French VAT obligations. The official DGFiP guidance for non-resident businesses explains that an EU business may instead appoint a French mandatary, under a mandate sent to the competent service, to perform formalities on its behalf and under the company’s responsibility. The mandate should be written, precise and revocable. It should identify the returns, refund applications, payment instructions and communications covered by the engagement.

A business outside the European Union should then check whether its country is covered by a French instrument for mutual assistance in tax recovery and VAT cooperation. The exception is not a general “friendly country” test and should not be inferred from a tax treaty that covers income tax but not collection assistance or VAT cooperation. The same DGFiP page states that a company in a State with the relevant mutual-assistance arrangement may avoid mandatory fiscal representation, while retaining the option of appointing a French mandatary. If the country is not covered and the business is liable for French VAT or must file French VAT returns, an accredited French representative is normally required, subject to the statutory exceptions.

The transaction test matters as much as the country test. A foreign business may have French VAT exposure because of goods delivered in France, certain services, distance sales, imports or supplies to consumers. Conversely, a particular supply may be subject to reverse charge, meaning that the French customer or recipient pays the VAT instead of the foreign supplier. Article 283 of the French General Tax Code starts from the principle that VAT is paid by the person carrying out the taxable transaction, then lists situations in which the customer or recipient is liable. The reverse-charge analysis must be performed transaction by transaction; it does not automatically eliminate every registration or filing duty.

There are also specific exceptions for operations carried out under a suspensive customs or VAT regime and for certain energy supplies where the customer is liable. The exceptions should be documented in a transaction map rather than assumed from the company’s business model. A marketplace seller, a software business, a distributor importing goods, and a business providing installation services can have very different VAT obligations even when they all have customers in France.

The second practical test is the company’s place of establishment. A foreign company with a French fixed establishment can have obligations comparable to those of a French business, while a foreign company without a French establishment may be managed through the SIEE and, where required, a representative. The label “branch” or “subsidiary” does not settle the VAT question. The legal analysis must identify who makes the supply, where the relevant establishment is located, who receives the goods or services, and whether French VAT is payable or reverse charged.

Finally, a representative’s resignation does not transfer the foreign company’s tax debt to the successor. In Conseil d’État, 24 July 2009, no. 304672, concerning a German company, the court held that the foreign company “demeure l’unique redevable de la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée”. In plain English, the foreign company remained the legal VAT debtor even though it had appointed a French representative. The representative performs formalities and may have payment and liability exposure under the applicable rules, but the company cannot treat the end of the mandate as the end of its own French VAT obligations.

B. What the representative must hand over before the mandate ends

The handover should begin as soon as notice is received. Waiting for the contractual end date is unsafe because the next filing date may arrive while the administration still shows the outgoing professional as the accredited representative. The company should ask the outgoing representative to confirm, in writing, the proposed last day of work, the last return filed, the returns still outstanding, the tax periods covered by the engagement and every communication received from the SIEE or the Direction des impôts des non-résidents (DINR), the department supervising the SIEE.

The legal framework reinforces the need for a complete transfer. Article L152-3 of the Code of Impositions on Goods and Services provides that the taxpayer has one fiscal representative for the taxes covered by the code and the obligations that follow from them. That rule is a reason to coordinate the VAT file with related French tax matters rather than appointing several professionals with overlapping and undocumented mandates.

The incoming professional should receive a signed handover pack containing at least the following:

• the foreign company’s legal name, registration number, registered office, tax residence and authorised signatory details;
• the French VAT identification number, registration correspondence and any access information for the professional tax account;
• the representative’s accreditation correspondence, the written mandate, amendments, fee terms, liability clauses and the outgoing notice;
• every VAT return filed, including zero returns, amended returns, payment receipts, direct-debit records, refunds and outstanding credits;
• the transaction ledgers supporting output VAT, input VAT, reverse-charge entries, imports, intra-European Union movements, distance sales and exempt supplies;
• sales invoices, purchase invoices, credit notes, import documents, transport evidence and customer VAT-number checks;
• all messages, notices, audit letters, requests for information, proposed adjustments and payment arrangements;
• the filing calendar, the current reporting period, the tax regime shown in the account and a list of the next three deadlines; and
• the file needed to support any refund claim, including invoices issued in the correct legal entity’s name and evidence linking the costs to taxable business operations.

The outgoing professional should not keep the original tax file as leverage in a fee dispute. At the same time, the foreign company should not delete or alter the file when changing advisers. It should make a read-only copy, identify missing documents, record who holds each original and preserve the file in its original UTF-8 and PDF formats where relevant. A short signed index can later show what was delivered, on what date and by which method.

The representative’s statutory role is broad. Article L152-5 of the Code of Impositions on Goods and Services states: “Le représentant fiscal est tenu à l’ensemble des obligations s’imposant au redevable.” It adds that the representative carries out the resulting formalities in the name and on behalf of the taxpayer. This is why the outgoing file must include not only submitted forms but also uncompleted work, assumptions, reconciliations and unanswered questions.

Invoices deserve a separate review. Article 242 nonies A of Annex II to the French General Tax Code lists mandatory invoice information, including the complete name and address of the taxable person and client, the business identification information and the individual VAT identification number used for the supply. Article 289 of the French General Tax Code sets the main invoicing framework. A new representative who receives a folder of invoices issued under inconsistent names should flag the issue immediately rather than silently importing the data into the next return.

The handover also needs an “as-of” statement. It should say, for each tax period, whether the return is filed, accepted, paid, under review, amended, late, or awaiting a document. It should identify the person responsible for submitting a return that falls due before the administrative change is confirmed. If the outgoing representative is still accredited and has not been formally released, the company should ask whether that person will file the imminent return. If the outgoing professional refuses, the company should notify the SIEE/DINR promptly and request written instructions, while keeping evidence that it attempted to comply.

The SIEE is listed by the DGFiP at 10 rue du Centre, TSA 20011, 93465 Noisy-le-Grand Cedex. The administration’s online information changes over time, so the company should use its secure professional account or the current official contact channel to confirm where the replacement request must be sent. A private email to the outgoing representative is not proof that the SIEE has updated its records.

II. How to secure the replacement and challenge a filing gap

A. What are the replacement steps and the VAT return deadlines?

A replacement should be run as a dated sequence rather than as an informal introduction between two accountants. First, confirm that the foreign company still needs an accredited representative. Check the country of establishment, the mutual-assistance exception, the existence or absence of a French fixed establishment, the nature of the operations and any reverse-charge rule. If the company is established in the European Union or in a qualifying third country, the project may be a mandatary change rather than an accredited-representative change. That distinction should appear in the written request to the tax administration.

Second, select a French business able to accept the role and obtain its written consent. Article L152-4 of the Code of Impositions on Goods and Services describes the representative as an enterprise designated with the taxpayer’s agreement and authorised by the administration, established in mainland France or in a territory covered by Article 73 of the Constitution, and identified under the French VAT identification rules. The candidate should therefore confirm its French VAT status, its registered details and its willingness to take responsibility for the relevant periods. A quote or engagement letter alone is not the same as administrative accreditation.

Third, build one joint replacement file. It should contain the foreign company’s identification, French VAT number, country and legal status, the outgoing representative’s notice, the incoming representative’s written acceptance, the proposed effective date, the exact tax periods to be transferred, a copy of the existing mandate or accreditation, a list of pending returns and evidence of payment or credit balances. If the business has changed its legal name, address, bank account, marketplace account or supply model, include the supporting documents so the administration can distinguish a representative change from an unreported business change.

Fourth, send the request through the channel specified by the SIEE/DINR and ask for a written response confirming the effective date and the person shown in the administration’s records. The legislation requires administrative authorisation for the accredited role; it does not create a general automatic grace period between the outgoing person’s resignation and the successor’s appointment. The company should not assume that a signed private contract automatically allows the incoming professional to file as accredited representative before the administration has accepted or recorded the appointment.

Fifth, close access and authority carefully. The outgoing representative should confirm which returns and payments have been made, revoke obsolete portal or bank instructions when appropriate, and transfer the correspondence history. The incoming representative should test access to the professional account, confirm the filing method and check that the correct French VAT number is attached to the account. The company should keep an internal record of who can submit, who can pay, and who can receive administrative notices during the overlap period.

The timing of the VAT return depends on the company’s French regime. The DGFiP’s official VAT guidance for foreign businesses states that a foreign company under the monthly normal regime, known as “EM”, must transmit a return by the 19th of the following month. For example, a taxable operation in September is ordinarily reported by 19 October under that guidance. A “NEANT” return is still required when the EM company has had no taxable operations.

The same guidance describes the quarterly normal regime, “ET”, for a business whose annual VAT due is below the relevant threshold: the return is due by the 19th day of the month following the quarter, and a “NEANT” return is required where the guidance says so. Under the seasonal regime, “ES”, a return is filed only when a taxable operation occurs, by the 19th of the following month, with the period identified. The professional tax account remains decisive for the actual filing date and any regime-specific instruction. A replacement file should therefore start with a calendar built from the account, not from a generic online article.

Article 287 of the French General Tax Code supplies the statutory foundation: a VAT-identified taxpayer must submit a declaration within the period fixed by the administration, and a taxpayer under the normal regime submits monthly details of the operations and pays the VAT each month. The article’s current transitional version is linked here because the French VAT code is being recodified. A company should always check the version applicable to the tax period and not copy an old deadline into a handover schedule.

Consider a foreign online retailer whose representative sends a resignation on 10 September. The retailer should not wait until the end of September to start. It should identify sales to French consumers, returns, credit notes, import VAT, marketplace reports and the September filing status immediately. If it is under the EM regime, the October deadline will arrive quickly. If the representative change is not recorded by then, the company needs a written plan with the SIEE/DINR and documented responsibility for the filing. The plan may require the outgoing representative to complete a defined closing period, the incoming professional to prepare the return, or the company to provide missing information directly. The correct solution depends on the administration’s response and the accreditation status.

Replacement does not change the underlying VAT analysis. If the company has charged French VAT, that output tax must be reconciled and paid. If it claims input VAT, the invoices and business connection must support the deduction. Article 271 of the French General Tax Code sets the principle that VAT charged on the cost elements of a taxable transaction is deductible from the VAT applicable to that transaction, subject to the statutory conditions. An incoming representative cannot cure an unsupported deduction merely by entering it on a new return.

The company should also separate three dates: the contractual date on which the outgoing representative stops working, the date on which the administration records the new representative, and the due date of each return and payment. These dates may not coincide. A signed timeline with evidence of delivery is often more valuable than a general assurance that “the file has been transferred”.

B. What evidence and remedies are available when the transition fails?

If a filing is missed, the company should act in the order that limits the damage: identify the missing period, calculate the VAT and deductible input tax from primary records, file the correct return as soon as the administrative route is confirmed, pay or secure the amount due, and send a concise explanation with proof of the replacement request. The company should not create a false zero return to meet a date. A “NEANT” filing is appropriate only where the applicable regime and the facts support it.

Late payment can generate interest. Article 1727 of the French General Tax Code states that a tax debt not paid within the legal time gives rise to late-payment interest, and its current text sets the rate at 0.20% per month. It also provides that interest is calculated from the first day of the month following the month in which the tax should have been paid until the last day of the month of payment, subject to the detailed rules in the article. The calculation should be documented separately from any contractual claim against the outgoing representative.

A late or missing declaration can also trigger a statutory increase. Article 1728 of the French General Tax Code governs the failure or delay in filing a declaration and sets different consequences according to the circumstances, including whether a formal notice has been issued. The company should not assume that a late filing is cost-free because the representative caused the delay. It should preserve evidence of the representative’s mandate, instructions, refusal, notice date, administrative contacts and the company’s own attempts to regularise.

The law also makes clear that an administrative file can outlive a corporate event. In CAA Paris, 1 December 2025, no. 24PA01883, a Hong Kong company had been subject to a VAT audit, and the court examined the status of its representative. The court stated that the representative’s status resulted from “la seule accréditation qui lui a été donnée, avec son consentement, par l’administration fiscale”. It also held that the company’s removal from the commercial register did not, on the facts of that case, remove the representative’s status. The practical lesson is limited but important: a company must obtain and document the administration’s position instead of treating a private notice, a corporate dissolution or a change in the commercial register as an automatic update of the VAT record.

The same decision explains that the administration can conduct audit and adjustment procedures with the representative even though the foreign company remains the legal VAT debtor. A notice received by the old representative must therefore be forwarded immediately to the company and the successor. The company should record the date of receipt, the response deadline, the tax periods concerned and the person authorised to answer. Ignoring the old representative’s mailbox can cause a procedural deadline to expire even when the commercial relationship has ended.

Article L.57 of the French Book of Tax Procedures provides: “L’administration adresse au contribuable une proposition de rectification qui doit être motivée de manière à lui permettre de formuler ses observations ou de faire connaître son acceptation.” The foreign company should use that procedural right when a proposed adjustment is wrong, incomplete or directed at the wrong period. The response should identify the disputed transactions, explain the evidence, request corrections and preserve proof of delivery. A dispute about the outgoing representative’s fees does not replace the response to a tax adjustment.

The 2009 Conseil d’État decision no. 304672 is also useful for separating tax procedure from the private contract. It held that an administration could conduct the adjustment procedure with the representative and described a dispute about the representative’s conduct as “un tel litige ne relevant que des rapports contractuels de droit privé”. That does not mean every contract claim succeeds, nor does it eliminate the representative’s public-law exposure. It means that the company may have two parallel tracks: one with the tax administration to protect the tax position, and another against the outgoing professional for breach, negligence, reimbursement or loss.

For an EU company using a mandatary, Conseil d’État, 30 July 2010, no. 308854 offers a further documentary warning. In a historical case involving the change from mandatory representation to a voluntary mandate, the court wrote: “Ce mandat demeure valable en l’absence de révocation, de modification de ses termes ou de renonciation du mandataire.” The decision concerned an earlier legal framework and should not be read as a universal rule that every current mandate survives every resignation. Its practical value is that the company should prove whether the mandate was revoked, modified or renounced, and on what date.

That case also dealt with a VAT refund and invoices issued in a different name and address. The court refused the refund where the claimant had not proved that the discrepancy was a supplier error and that the purchases served the relevant French operations. This is directly relevant to a handover: the successor should test the legal entity name, address, VAT number, transaction period and business purpose for every material invoice supporting an input VAT claim. A missing or inconsistent invoice should be corrected with the supplier or explained with evidence before the refund is requested.

If the administration refuses to recognise the successor or does not respond to a properly documented request, the company should ask a French lawyer to review the exact decision, the accreditation file and the available administrative remedy. A lawyer can distinguish a simple request for correction, a tax claim, a challenge to collection, a procedural response to a proposed adjustment and a private claim against the outgoing professional. The remedy depends on the act received, the tax period, the amount and whether the dispute concerns the tax assessment, recovery or the representative’s contract.

The evidence file should contain the signed engagement and notice, the administration’s acknowledgements, secure-message reference numbers, delivery confirmations, returns, payment records, accounting exports, invoice samples, the tax calendar and an explanation of every late step. Keep the evidence in chronological order. Add a short privilege note where legal advice is involved, but do not label ordinary accounting records as privileged merely to hide them from a tax audit.

A good emergency protocol has four owners. The foreign company’s director or finance officer owns the decision and funding. The outgoing representative owns a clearly defined closing handover. The incoming professional owns the replacement application and technical review once authorised. One person monitors the SIEE/DINR correspondence and the calendar. A daily check is sensible until the administration confirms the new status and the next return has been accepted. The protocol should end only when the account, filing authority, payment route and correspondence address have all been tested.

For founders comparing the first French VAT registration with a later change of representative, the broader registration process is explained in our guide to VAT registration in France for a foreign company. For the separate question of historic unpaid VAT and potential representative liability, see our analysis of unpaid VAT and penalties. The existing French company and business law expertise page provides the wider corporate context. None of those pages replaces the period-specific review required when a representative resigns.

Conclusion

A French VAT representative’s resignation is a compliance incident with a legal timeline. The foreign company should first determine whether it needs an accredited representative at all, using its country, mutual-assistance status, establishment and transactions. It should then obtain the outgoing file, select a French business that can accept the role, request administrative confirmation and separate the contractual end date from the date recorded by the SIEE/DINR.

The company remains responsible for knowing its French VAT position, even when a representative is required to perform the declarations and payments. Monthly, quarterly or seasonal filing dates continue to run. A missed return can expose the business to interest, increases, an audit and a loss of evidence for input VAT or refunds. The safest response is prompt regularisation supported by a dated record, not an assumption that the tax office will grant an automatic transition period.

Finally, protect both tracks at once. Answer the administration’s notices within the procedural deadline, and separately preserve the contract and handover evidence needed for a claim against the outgoing representative. When the company has foreign directors, an online sales model, a VAT credit, imports or an open audit, a French lawyer should review the replacement file before the next return is due.

Need a quick opinion on your case

We offer a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer from the firm to review your French VAT representative replacement and filing continuity.

Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 for a focused discussion of your file and the next deadline.

Contact the firm through the online form and send the resignation notice, the VAT calendar and the latest correspondence from the French tax administration.