{"id":2117996,"date":"2026-09-08T15:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T13:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/09\/08\/foreign-company-france-fiscal-representative-appoint-liability-change\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T15:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T13:01:34","slug":"foreign-company-france-fiscal-representative-appoint-liability-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/08\/foreign-company-france-fiscal-representative-appoint-liability-change\/","title":{"rendered":"French Tax Office Demands a Fiscal Representative for Your Foreign Company: Appointment, Liability and How to Change One"},"content":{"rendered":"

You run a company based in the United States, the United Kingdom or anywhere else outside the European Union, and you sell goods or services to customers in France. Then a letter arrives from the French tax administration, the Service des imp\u00f4ts des entreprises<\/em> (SIE, the local corporate tax office): before you file anything or charge any French value added tax (VAT, taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e<\/em> or TVA), you must have an accredited tax representative established in France. Your French customer refuses to pay your invoice until your VAT position is regularised, your parcels sit in customs, and the representative you contacted asks for fees plus a financial guarantee. This article explains, step by step, when France forces a foreign company to appoint a repr\u00e9sentant fiscal<\/em> (fiscal representative, called repr\u00e9sentant assujetti<\/em> or taxable representative in the statute), what that representative does and guarantees, and how to change or end the mandate safely. It is written for a business reader, every French acronym is explained, and every decisive legal statement is tied to the exact official text or court decision it comes from.<\/p>\n

I. Does your foreign company really need a fiscal representative for French VAT?<\/h2>\n

A. Who must appoint an accredited representative in France, and who is exempt?<\/h3>\n

The starting point is Article 289 A of the CGI<\/a>, that is the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts<\/em>, the French Tax Code. Its first paragraph states the rule in plain terms: “elle est tenue de faire accr\u00e9diter aupr\u00e8s du service des imp\u00f4ts un repr\u00e9sentant assujetti \u00e9tabli en France qui s’engage \u00e0 remplir les formalit\u00e9s incombant \u00e0 cette personne et, en cas d’op\u00e9rations imposables, \u00e0 acquitter la taxe \u00e0 sa place.” In English: where a person not established in the European Union owes French VAT or must complete French VAT formalities, it must have a taxable representative established in France accredited with the tax office, who undertakes to complete that person’s formalities and, for taxable transactions, to pay the tax in its place. The mechanism is therefore not a mere mailbox. The representative files in your place and pays in your place, and the tax office accredits it only after checking that it meets statutory conditions.<\/p>\n

The same provision, Article 289 A, I of the CGI<\/a>, attaches an immediate sanction to the absence of a representative: “A d\u00e9faut, la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e et, le cas \u00e9ch\u00e9ant, les p\u00e9nalit\u00e9s qui s’y rapportent, sont dues par le destinataire de l’op\u00e9ration imposable.” If no representative is accredited, the VAT and any related penalties are owed by the recipient of the taxable transaction. In practice this means your French customer, your French warehouse platform or the consignee named on the import documents can be called on to pay. That is why French customers often freeze payment of a foreign supplier’s invoice until the representative question is settled: they know the liability can fall on them.<\/p>\n

Two exemptions exist, and both are narrow. First, companies established in a non-EU State with which France has a mutual assistance instrument similar to the EU recovery and administrative cooperation instruments are exempt; the list of those States is fixed by ministerial order (arr\u00eat\u00e9<\/em>), so never assume your country qualifies without checking the current list. Second, non-EU persons carrying out only transactions placed under the VAT warehousing suspension regime of Article 277 A, or supplies of gas, electricity, heat or cold for which the French purchaser pays the tax under the reverse charge, are exempt. If your business is ordinary sales of goods stocked in France, distance sales, or services supplied in France, neither exemption helps you.<\/p>\n

A common misunderstanding must be cleared up at this stage. A company established in another EU Member State does not fall under Article 289 A at all: the obligation targets persons “non \u00e9tablie dans l’Union europ\u00e9enne”. An EU company registers and files directly. Likewise, creating a French subsidiary, a soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions simplifi\u00e9e<\/em> (SAS) or a soci\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e<\/em> (SARL) registered at the Registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s<\/em> (RCS, the trade and companies register) with its own Kbis<\/em> (the official company identity certificate issued by the greffe<\/em>, the commercial court clerk’s office), removes the problem at its root, because the French company is itself the taxable person. The fiscal representative is the solution for the foreign company that wants to trade in France without incorporating here. Choosing between a representative, a branch (succursale<\/em>) and a subsidiary is therefore a strategic decision, not a formality, and it should be taken before the first invoice, not after the first tax notice.<\/p>\n

Practical consequence: as soon as the SIE or French customs (douane<\/em>) tells you a representative is required, treat the deadline as urgent. Every taxable transaction completed without one exposes the recipient to the tax and penalties, which destroys commercial trust, and your own right to deduct input VAT and to obtain refunds stays blocked until your position is regularised.<\/p>\n

B. Your French VAT number, your returns and your invoices while you are represented<\/h3>\n

Appointing a representative does not replace registration; it channels it. Article 286 of the CGI<\/a> requires every person liable for VAT to file a declaration of existence: “Dans les quinze jours du commencement de ses op\u00e9rations, souscrire au bureau d\u00e9sign\u00e9 par un arr\u00eat\u00e9 une d\u00e9claration conforme au mod\u00e8le fourni par l’administration.” Within fifteen days of starting operations, you must subscribe the declaration provided by the administration. For a non-EU company, that declaration passes through the accredited representative, and it is at this stage that the administration issues the individual identification number. Article 286 ter of the CGI<\/a> provides that “Est identifi\u00e9 par un num\u00e9ro individuel” every taxable person carrying out transactions that give a right to deduct, every person liable for VAT on imports, and every purchaser liable under the reverse charge, among others. That individual number, starting with FR in France, is the famous intra-Community VAT number. Your customers will check it on the European Commission’s VIES system, the VAT Information Exchange System, before paying you without VAT or recovering the tax you charge. An incorrect or missing number is the single most frequent reason French customers suspend payment.<\/p>\n

Once identified, the rhythm of compliance is set by Article 287 of the CGI<\/a>: “Les redevables soumis au r\u00e9gime r\u00e9el normal d’imposition d\u00e9posent mensuellement la d\u00e9claration vis\u00e9e au 1 indiquant, d’une part, le montant total des op\u00e9rations r\u00e9alis\u00e9es, d’autre part, le d\u00e9tail des op\u00e9rations taxables. La taxe exigible est acquitt\u00e9e tous les mois.” Taxable persons under the normal actual regime file the CA3 return every month, showing total transactions and the detail of taxable transactions, and the tax due is paid every month. Where the annual tax due is below 4,000 euros, quarterly filing is allowed. Your representative prepares and files these returns and pays the tax on your behalf, using funds you must make available in advance. Agree in writing who funds the VAT account, by which date each month, and what happens if you are late: the representative, which is itself liable to the Treasury, will typically suspend filings until funded, and late-payment interest then runs against the amounts due.<\/p>\n

Invoicing discipline matters from day one. Article 289 of the CGI<\/a> provides that “Tout assujetti est tenu de s’assurer qu’une facture est \u00e9mise, par lui-m\u00eame, ou en son nom et pour son compte, par son client ou par un tiers” for supplies of goods and services to another taxable person. Every taxable person must ensure an invoice is issued. An invoice addressed to a French business customer must show your valid French VAT number, the customer’s valid VAT number where the reverse charge applies, and the correct tax treatment for each line. A foreign company that invoices French VAT without being properly identified, or that omits VAT where French VAT is due, exposes itself twice: its customer cannot recover the tax, and the administration can reassess the transaction. Ask your representative to validate your invoice template before the first issue, including the mandatory French mentions, and keep every purchase invoice, because the file of supporting documents must be retained under the conditions of Article L. 102 B of the Livre des proc\u00e9dures fiscales<\/em> (the tax procedure code).<\/p>\n

One more provision frequently decides whether you even need to charge French VAT on services: Article 283 of the CGI<\/a>. Where a supply of goods or services covered by Article 259 A is made by a taxable person not established in France, “la taxe est acquitt\u00e9e par l’acqu\u00e9reur, le destinataire ou le preneur qui agit en tant qu’assujetti et qui dispose d’un num\u00e9ro d’identification \u00e0 la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e en France.” The tax is paid by the purchaser, recipient or customer acting as a taxable person holding a French VAT identification number, and the amount is shown on the Article 287 return. This is the French reverse charge (autoliquidation<\/em>): your French business customer self-assesses the VAT, and you invoice without French VAT. The mechanism only works if the customer genuinely holds a French VAT number and acts as a taxable person. Selling to private consumers (particuliers<\/em>) is different: no reverse charge is available, French VAT must be charged and remitted, and a representative remains necessary for the non-EU supplier.<\/p>\n

Imports deserve special attention because goods physically entering France create a VAT debt at the border. Article 293 A of the CGI<\/a> states: “A l’importation, le fait g\u00e9n\u00e9rateur se produit et la taxe devient exigible au moment o\u00f9 le bien est consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme import\u00e9”, that is at the point defined by Article 291. On importation, the chargeable event occurs and the tax becomes due when the goods are treated as imported. The same article then designates who pays depending on the commercial chain: the person making the domestic supply, the distance seller, the electronic platform that facilitates the sale, or the consignee. If you ship stock from outside the EU to a French logistics platform, identify in advance who will be named as the real consignee (destinataire r\u00e9el<\/em>) on the customs declaration, because that designation drives who owes the import VAT. You will also need an EORI number, the Economic Operators Registration and Identification number used by customs, which is distinct from the VAT number and does not replace the fiscal representative.<\/p>\n

II. What the representative guarantees, what it costs you, and how to replace it<\/h2>\n

A. The representative pays your VAT in your place and posts a financial guarantee<\/h3>\n

The accreditation (accr\u00e9ditation<\/em>) is a genuine licence, and the statute filters candidates. Article 289 A, IV of the CGI<\/a> requires the applicant to satisfy three cumulative conditions: neither it nor, for a legal entity, any of its directors, must have committed serious or repeated tax offences or undergone certain commercial sanctions in the previous three years; it must have the administrative organisation and the human and material resources to perform the mission; and it must show financial solvency linked to its representative obligations or hold a financial guarantee “\u00e0 hauteur d’un quart des sommes n\u00e9es de ces obligations”, up to one quarter of the sums arising from those obligations, through a guarantee commitment from a mutual guarantee company, a collective guarantee body, an insurance company, a bank or an authorised financial institution. Where the sums cannot be determined for a represented person, a flat-rate guarantee fixed by ministerial order applies. In plain English: the tax office only accredits professionals that are clean, staffed and backed by money, because the representative answers for your tax.<\/p>\n

That financial backing explains the representative’s commercial terms. Expect an engagement letter covering a fixed annual or monthly fee, per-return billing, a float or advance funding mechanism for the VAT payable, and sometimes a counter-guarantee or deposit from you, since the representative’s own guarantee to the Treasury is engaged by your transactions. Read the termination clause before signing: notice period, handover of the VAT account history, transfer of powers for pending refund claims, and responsibility for returns covering the transition months. The administration can also act on its own initiative under Article 289 A, IV of the CGI<\/a>: “Le service des imp\u00f4ts retire l’accr\u00e9ditation du repr\u00e9sentant lorsque celui-ci cesse de remplir les conditions mentionn\u00e9es au A du pr\u00e9sent IV ou lorsqu’il ne respecte pas les obligations d\u00e9claratives et de paiement des taxes qui lui incombent pour le compte des personnes qu’il repr\u00e9sente ou pour son propre compte.” The tax office withdraws the accreditation where the representative stops meeting the conditions or fails in its filing and payment duties, whether for its clients or for itself. If your representative loses its accreditation, you must have another accredited representative ready, because without one the liability immediately falls back on the recipients of your transactions, and your commercial chain seizes up.<\/p>\n

Changing representatives is therefore a planned operation, not an email. First, secure the successor and confirm its accreditation is valid. Second, align the cut-off: agree which representative files the return for the month of the switch and who holds the funds. Third, transfer the documentary record: registration references, filed returns, refund claims in progress, correspondence with the SIE, and the list of customers and consignees used on declarations. Fourth, notify the SIE of the change so that payments, refunds and notices go to the right address; refunds sent to a former representative are a classic source of litigation between foreign companies and their advisers. Fifth, revoke the old powers of attorney and mandates expressly and in writing, and collect a written acknowledgement. Finally, reconcile: obtain a closing statement of VAT paid, refunds received and fees, and keep it with your accounts. The Bulletin officiel des finances publiques<\/em> (BOFiP, the published doctrine of the tax administration) and the guidance portals of the administration, including the business section of the tax authority website at impots.gouv.fr<\/a> and the official business formalities portal at entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr<\/a>, describe the practical steps for registration and filing, while company registration itself runs through the single online desk, the guichet unique<\/em> operated by the Institut national de la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 industrielle<\/em> (INPI, the national industrial property office), presented at inpi.fr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two mistakes cause most of the damage. The first is appointing a representative on a handshake and discovering, during a tax audit (contr\u00f4le fiscal<\/em>) or a social security collection dispute with URSSAF (the Unions de recouvrement des cotisations de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 sociale et d’allocations familiales<\/em>, the bodies collecting social contributions, which is a separate matter from VAT but often checked in parallel when a foreign company hires in France), that no written mandate exists and that filings were never funded. The second is leaving a dormant representative in place: a company that stops trading in France but never terminates the mandate can find returns still expected, late-filing penalties accumulating, and the former representative claiming fees. Ending the mission requires the same formality as starting it: written termination, notice to the tax office, and a final return covering the last transactions.<\/p>\n

B. Never let representation be presumed: lessons from the FedEx, Axxez and Amazon litigation<\/h3>\n

The most instructive recent case on representation and import VAT opposed the customs administration to Federal Express, the carrier that had declared goods in France for Axxez Group, a company governed by American law shipping Apple-branded products from the United States to logistics platforms, some of them in France. The goods had been declared on the transport documents as negligible-value consignments and had benefited from an import VAT exemption. After an investigation covering 1,432 export operations between 17 December 2013 and 30 May 2017, customs notified the carrier of false-declaration infringements and issued a collection notice (avis de mise en recouvrement<\/em>) for the evaded VAT and duties. Before the Paris Court of Appeal, the administration argued that the American operator, not being established in the EU and the United States not being on the exemption list, had to use an accredited taxable representative in France, and that the carrier, having necessarily acted in its own name, was jointly liable for the tax debt. The carrier replied that it had never been designated as the fiscal representative of the American company and was not the consignee of the imports, so that under Article 289 A the joint debtor was the consignee shown on the import documents, namely the platform operator. The Paris Court of Appeal, P\u00f4le 5, Chamber 10, on 17 June 2024, case number 22\/01383, sided with the administration: since the American exporter could not be the declarant, the carrier established in the EU necessarily acted as indirect representative and owed the tax jointly. The full text of that appellate decision is published on the official case-law portal at courdecassation.fr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cour de cassation, the supreme court for civil and commercial matters, quashed that reasoning on 11 February 2026, Commercial, Financial and Economic Chamber, appeal number 24-18.748, decision number 70 F-B, published at courdecassation.fr<\/a>. The Court first restated the import rule: “\u00e0 l’importation, le fait g\u00e9n\u00e9rateur se produit et la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e devient exigible au moment o\u00f9 le bien est consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme import\u00e9 et la taxe doit \u00eatre acquitt\u00e9e par la personne d\u00e9sign\u00e9e comme destinataire r\u00e9el des biens sur la d\u00e9claration d’importation. Toutefois, cette taxe est solidairement due par le d\u00e9clarant en douane qui agit dans le cadre d’un mandat de repr\u00e9sentation indirecte, tel que d\u00e9fini par l’article 5 du code des douanes communautaire.” On importation, the tax becomes due when the goods are treated as imported and must be paid by the person named as the real consignee on the import declaration, although it is jointly owed by the customs declarant acting under an indirect representation mandate. The decisive point followed: “la repr\u00e9sentation doit \u00eatre expresse et ne se pr\u00e9sume pas”, representation must be express and is never presumed, a principle the Court anchored in two judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Sony Supply Chain Solutions of 7 April 2011 (C-153\/10) and Pfeifer and Langen of 16 July 2020 (C-97\/19). Because the court of appeal “s’est fond\u00e9e sur de simples pr\u00e9somptions, cependant que la repr\u00e9sentation doit \u00eatre expresse, a viol\u00e9 les textes susvis\u00e9s”, having relied on mere presumptions where representation must be express, it violated the cited provisions. The case was sent back for retrial.<\/p>\n

For a foreign company, the practical teaching is direct and worth more than any theoretical discussion. First, representation is never inferred from commercial logic: the fact that your carrier, your warehouse or your platform necessarily handled the goods does not make it your fiscal representative, and the fact that it handled them does not automatically make it jointly liable either. Everything turns on the written mandate and on what the declarations actually say. Second, check who is named as the real consignee on every import declaration filed in your name. If your platform is named, the administration will look to it for the tax; if your carrier is named without an express mandate, expect litigation of the kind described above. Third, keep the two representations strictly separate: the customs representation given to your broker or carrier for clearance, and the fiscal representation given to your accredited representative for VAT. One document cannot do both jobs unless it expressly says so, and the Cour de cassation has just reminded everyone that presumptions do not count.<\/p>\n

Apply the same discipline inside your company. Give your fiscal representative a written mandate that states its scope, its duration, its power to receive notices and refunds, and its funding. Give your customs broker a separate written mandate for clearance operations. Make sure the names, EORI numbers and VAT numbers used on transport letters, invoices and customs declarations are consistent with those mandates. When the administration argues that someone in the chain “necessarily” represented you, the answer that wins, as the February 2026 decision shows, is the paper: produce the express mandate, or show that none existed and that the declaration named someone else as the real consignee.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

A foreign company from outside the EU that sells into France should treat the fiscal representative as the keystone of its French VAT position, not as an administrative extra. Check whether Article 289 A catches your transactions, and do not rely on an exemption without reading the current ministerial list. Have the accredited representative file your declaration of existence within fifteen days, obtain your individual VAT number, validate your invoice template, and set the monthly or quarterly CA3 rhythm with advance funding. Choose the representative for its accreditation, its staff and its financial guarantee, and record the mandate, the cut-off rules and the termination terms in writing. Keep the customs mandate separate, verify the real consignee shown on every import declaration, and remember that no court will presume a representation that your documents do not show. Handled this way, the representative protects your customers from joint liability, unblocks your invoices and your refunds, and lets you trade in France with the same documentary calm as a domestic company. The BODACC, the Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales<\/em> where French company events are published, will never mention your foreign company, and your file at the greffe<\/em> will stay empty, but your VAT account at the SIE will be in order, and in a dispute that is the only record that counts.<\/p>\n

Need a quick opinion on your case?<\/h2>\n

Our firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm, to review your representative mandate, your VAT number and your deadlines, and to secure your invoices and imports in France.<\/p>\n

Call +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> or reach us through our contact page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your non-EU company has been told to appoint an accredited fiscal representative before it can charge French VAT. 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