Your forwarder has just written from Le Havre, Rotterdam or Roissy: the container is held, and before release somebody must pay 20 percent French VAT at the border or prove that your foreign company can self-assess it in France. You have no French company, no French office and no French VAT number yet, and the goods are supposed to be sold in France or moved on to Germany, Spain or Italy. Paying the VAT in cash to get the goods out feels safe, but it is often the most expensive option: the money sleeps with the administration for months, the deduction is delayed, and a foreign company without a proper French registration sometimes never recovers it. The alternative is the French import VAT reverse charge (autoliquidation \u00e0 l’importation): since 1 January 2022 the VAT on imports is no longer collected by customs at the border but declared and deducted on the same French VAT return, which makes the operation cash-neutral when the paperwork is right.<\/p>\n
This guide is written for the director or founder who lives abroad and imports goods through France without a French establishment: an American brand storing inventory with a French logistics provider, a British group moving stock from Dover to a Lille warehouse after Brexit, a Swiss or Turkish manufacturer delivering a machine to a French customer. It explains when France taxes your import, which two numbers you need (EORI, the Economic Operators Registration and Identification number used by EU customs, and the French VAT identification number issued by the DGFIP, the Direction g\u00e9n\u00e9rale des finances publiques, the French tax administration), who must appoint a tax representative (repr\u00e9sentant fiscal) and who can use a simple agent (mandataire), how to report the operation on the CA3 (the standard French VAT return), how to recover the VAT, and how to contest a reassessment or a refused refund from abroad. Every French acronym is explained. The general company-formation path is covered in the firm’s guide to setting up a French company as a foreign founder<\/a>, and the standard registration route without a customs emergency is explained in the firm’s guide to getting a French VAT number from abroad<\/a>. This article answers a narrower and more urgent question: your goods are at the border now, and you want them released without funding 20 percent VAT in cash.<\/p>\n The starting point is simple. Article 256 of the CGI (code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts, the French tax code) provides: “Sont soumises \u00e0 la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e les livraisons de biens et les prestations de services effectu\u00e9es \u00e0 titre on\u00e9reux par un assujetti agissant en tant que tel.” The full text is on article 256 of the CGI<\/a>. Importations into France are taxable operations in the same way as domestic supplies, which is why your forwarder talks about 20 percent, the standard French VAT rate, as soon as non-EU goods are declared for free circulation in France. The country where the goods are released for free circulation collects the legal framework, and if that country is France, French VAT rules decide who owes the tax, who reports it and who can deduct it.<\/p>\n The second point surprises most foreign operators: since 1 January 2022, the VAT on imports into France is managed by the tax administration (DGFIP), not by customs at the counter, and every importer self-assesses it on its French VAT return instead of paying it at the border. The impots.gouv.fr page on VAT registration lists import reverse charge (autoliquidation de la TVA sur les importations) among the operations that require registration, noting that registration has been compulsory for these operations since 1 January 2022. The page is the official VAT registration page for foreign businesses<\/a>. In practice this means the customs declaration still identifies the goods, the value and the importer, but no VAT is handed over at Le Havre or Roissy: the amount is entered on the CA3 return as collected VAT and, where the conditions for deduction are met, deducted on the same return. For a taxable business the operation is cash-neutral. For a business that has no French VAT number and no authorisation, the operation is blocked, because the customs system needs a valid French VAT number to let the goods through under reverse charge.<\/p>\n That is the trap your forwarder is warning you about. Forwarders routinely offer to pay the import VAT on your behalf and recharge it with a fee, or to clear the goods in another Member State and truck them to France. Both fixes cost money and create new VAT obligations elsewhere: clearing in the Netherlands or Belgium makes you liable there, and trucking goods into France afterwards is an intra-community acquisition or transfer that France will tax anyway. The clean route is to hold a French VAT number and self-assess the import in France from day one, which is exactly what the rest of this article builds.<\/p>\n Two numbers matter and they are not the same. The EORI number identifies you vis-\u00e0-vis EU customs and is needed to lodge any customs declaration; the French VAT identification number (a FR prefix, a two-digit key and your nine-digit SIREN, the syst\u00e8me d’identification du r\u00e9pertoire des entreprises, the national enterprise identifier) identifies you vis-\u00e0-vis the French tax administration and is needed to file the CA3 and to deduct. A company can hold an EORI in one Member State and still need a French VAT number for French imports. The impots.gouv.fr page draws the same line between a registration for purely customs purposes and a registration that requires VAT returns: for the first category it explains that those operations alone do not require filing VAT returns on form CA3, while imports with reverse charge fall in the second category, where filing the CA3 is compulsory. The reference page is the official VAT registration page for foreign businesses<\/a>. If your only French activity is importing goods that are immediately re-exported or moved to another Member State, you still need the French number; only the content of the returns changes.<\/p>\n One relief valve exists before going further. Article 277 A of the CGI lists operations carried out under suspension of VAT payment, opening with the words: “Sont effectu\u00e9es en suspension du paiement de la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e les op\u00e9rations ci-apr\u00e8s :” The text is on article 277 A of the CGI<\/a>. Goods placed under customs warehousing, temporary storage, inward processing or similar suspensive regimes do not trigger import VAT while they stay under the regime. If your logistics provider offers bonded warehousing near the port, storing the goods under a suspensive regime buys you the weeks needed to complete the VAT registration without paying 20 percent upfront. It does not replace the registration: the day the goods leave the warehouse for the French market or for delivery to a customer, the import VAT becomes due and must be self-assessed. Use the warehouse as a waiting room, not as a plan.<\/p>\n A final boundary to keep in mind is the small-business exemption. Article 293 B of the CGI grants established businesses a franchise (exemption) from VAT below annual turnover ceilings, but that mechanism is designed for businesses established in France and does not neutralise import VAT due at the border by a foreign operator. The text is on article 293 B of the CGI<\/a>. A foreign brand cannot clear a container through France VAT-free by arguing that its French turnover is small: the import is taxable, the reverse charge requires identification, and the only way out is registration plus proper returns, or a suspensive customs regime while the registration is pending.<\/p>\n The French administration says it plainly. On the question whether a foreign business must register, the official page answers that where a business has no permanent establishment in France but carries out at least one of the listed operations requiring customs registration or VAT returns, French VAT registration is necessary. That is the official VAT registration page for foreign businesses<\/a>. Importing goods released for free circulation in France is one of those operations, and the same page adds that for import reverse charge, registration has been compulsory since 1 January 2022. There is no de minimis parcel exception for a commercial container: if the goods clear customs in France under your name, you register.<\/p>\n The competent office is not the local tax office near the warehouse. For a foreign business without a French permanent establishment, the file goes to the DINR (Direction des Imp\u00f4ts des Non-R\u00e9sidents, the non-residents tax directorate) and specifically its SIEE (Service des Imp\u00f4ts des Entreprises \u00c9trang\u00e8res, the foreign-business tax office), located at 10 rue du Centre, TSA 20011, 93465 Noisy-le-Grand Cedex. The official page designates the SIEE of the DINR as the competent office. The address and phone number are on the official VAT registration page for foreign businesses<\/a>. Since the modernisation of formalities, the application itself is lodged online through the single business formalities portal, formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr, which replaced the old direct paper filing; the SIEE remains the office that checks the file and issues the number. Expect the office to ask for proof that the business exists abroad, proof of the identity and powers of the person signing, a description of the French operations including the import activity, and a French correspondence address that is actually read. A vague “sales in Europe” description is the most common cause of delay: describe the goods, the ports of entry, the warehouse, the customers and the expected monthly import values.<\/p>\n The decisive fork in the file is whether you must appoint a repr\u00e9sentant fiscal (tax representative, a taxable person established in France who answers for your VAT) or whether a simple mandataire (agent who files for you without guaranteeing the tax) is enough. Article 289 A of the CGI states the non-EU rule: “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.” The text is on article 289 A of the CGI<\/a>. The customs administration summarises the rule by explaining that companies established outside the EU which carry out in France operations liable for VAT or subject to reporting duties must appoint a tax representative there. That summary is on the customs page on VAT identification and tax representation<\/a>. In plain terms, an American, British, Swiss, Turkish, Chinese or Emirati company importing through France must sign with a French-established representative who is accredited with the tax office; without that signature, the registration does not move.<\/p>\n There are two narrow exceptions, and both are strictly limited. First, companies established in EU Member States never need a tax representative; they register directly and may simply hire an agent to file returns. Second, companies established in a listed set of non-EU countries with which France has a mutual assistance instrument comparable to the EU directives are also dispensed: the list includes the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, Australia, Mexico, South Korea, Turkey, Tunisia, Ukraine, South Africa and others, and it is fixed by ministerial order. The customs page explains that the obligation does not apply to companies established in a State with such an instrument, and the impots.gouv.fr page reproduces the country list. The reference is the customs page on VAT identification and tax representation<\/a>. A British or Norwegian importer therefore registers without a representative but still needs the French VAT number for import reverse charge; an American, Chinese, Indian or Emirati importer needs the representative. Check the list on the day you file, because it is updated by order and the SIEE applies the version in force.<\/p>\n The consequence of skipping the representative is not a polite reminder. Article 289 A ends the paragraph with the sanction: “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.” The text is on article 289 A of the CGI<\/a>. If nobody validly represents the foreign importer, the French customer or recipient can be called on to pay the VAT and the penalties. No serious French distributor signs a supply contract with a foreign principal that leaves this point open, which is why the representative agreement is usually requested by the customer’s accountants before the first order, not only by the tax office.<\/p>\n Two practical warnings close this section. First, French domestic law imposes a fast identification duty once operations start: article 286 of the CGI requires every taxable person to file, “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.” The text is on article 286 of the CGI<\/a>. For a foreign importer this fifteen-day declaration is absorbed by the SIEE registration file, but the message is the same: do not clear three containers and “see later” for the paperwork. Second, the number that the SIEE issues is an individual identification within the meaning of article 286 ter of the CGI, which opens: “Est identifi\u00e9 par un num\u00e9ro individuel :” and lists first “Tout assujetti qui effectue des livraisons de biens ou des prestations de services lui ouvrant droit \u00e0 d\u00e9duction ;”. The text is on article 286 ter of the CGI<\/a>. Keep the SIEE certificate, the EORI printout and the representative accreditation together: your forwarder, your warehouse and your first French customer will each ask for one of them, and the fastest container releases are the ones where the three documents arrive in a single email.<\/p>\n Once the SIEE number arrives, the monthly routine starts. Article 287 of the CGI defines who files: “Tout redevable de la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e identifi\u00e9 conform\u00e9ment aux dispositions combin\u00e9es des articles 286 ter et 286 ter A est tenu de remettre au service des imp\u00f4ts dont il d\u00e9pend et dans le d\u00e9lai fix\u00e9 par arr\u00eat\u00e9 une d\u00e9claration conforme au mod\u00e8le prescrit par l’administration.” The text is on article 287 of the CGI<\/a>. For importers this declaration is the CA3, filed monthly under the normal real regime, or quarterly where the annual VAT due stays below 4,000 euros. The same article continues: “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.” That sentence is on article 287 of the CGI<\/a>. Each import cleared during the month appears on the return: the taxable base drawn from the customs declaration is entered as collected VAT, and the same amount is entered as deductible VAT where the goods are used for taxed operations. Where output VAT on French sales exceeds the deductible import VAT, the balance is paid; where the reverse is true, a VAT credit (cr\u00e9dit de TVA) builds up and can be carried forward or refunded.<\/p>\n The deduction itself rests on one short sentence that importers should know by heart. Article 271 of the CGI provides: “La taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e qui a grev\u00e9 les \u00e9l\u00e9ments du prix d’une op\u00e9ration imposable est d\u00e9ductible de la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e applicable \u00e0 cette op\u00e9ration.” The text is on article 271 of the CGI<\/a>. Import VAT is deductible under the same conditions as domestic VAT: the importer must hold the documents proving the tax, the goods must be used for operations that open the right to deduct, and the deduction must be taken in the correct period. The Cour de cassation polices the timing strictly. In its judgment of 1 October 2025, no. 24-14.456, the commercial chamber held, on the combined articles 271 of the CGI and 208 and 242-0 A to 242-0 G of annex II, that the customer of a taxable person who opted for payment of VAT on debits “doit d\u00e9clarer la TVA d\u00e9ductible figurant sur les factures dans le mois de leur r\u00e9ception et au plus tard le 31 d\u00e9cembre de la deuxi\u00e8me ann\u00e9e suivante. A d\u00e9faut de d\u00e9claration dans ces d\u00e9lais, le cr\u00e9dit de TVA ne peut donner lieu ni \u00e0 imputation ni \u00e0 remboursement.” The decision is Cass. com., 1 October 2025, no. 24-14.456<\/a>. For an importer this means the customs slip and the CA3 cannot wait: declare the deductible import VAT in the return of the month, keep every customs assessment (avis de liquidation) with the month it belongs to, and never let undeclared import VAT drift past the 31 December of the second following year, because after that date it is lost for both set-off and refund.<\/p>\n Where the import VAT permanently exceeds the VAT collected on French sales, typically because the goods are stored in France and resold in another Member State or re-exported, the credit can be refunded. Article 271 of the CGI states the principle: “La taxe d\u00e9ductible dont l’imputation n’a pu \u00eatre op\u00e9r\u00e9e peut faire l’objet d’un remboursement dans les conditions, selon les modalit\u00e9s et dans les limites fix\u00e9es par d\u00e9cret en Conseil d’Etat (…)” The text is on article 271 of the CGI<\/a>. The Conseil d’\u00c9tat spelled out the mechanics in a case that reads like this article’s fact pattern: a Swiss company, acting through its French tax representative, claimed a VAT credit refund of 259,932 euros. In its decision of 31 May 2021, no. 441762, the court recalled that under article 242-0 A of annex II to the CGI, “Le remboursement de la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e d\u00e9ductible dont l’imputation n’a pu \u00eatre op\u00e9r\u00e9e doit faire l’objet d’une demande des assujettis. Le remboursement porte sur le cr\u00e9dit de taxe d\u00e9ductible constat\u00e9 au terme de chaque ann\u00e9e civile”, and that under article 242-0 C the claim must be made in the month following the period in which the credit is established. The decision is CE, 31 May 2021, no. 441762, Hitachi Zosen Inova AG<\/a>. The same judgment adds the safety net that foreign groups often miss: where the deadlines of articles 242-0 A and 242-0 C are gone, the credit is not automatically dead, because “ces dispositions n’ont ni pour objet, ni pour effet de faire obstacle \u00e0 ce que le redevable puisse ult\u00e9rieurement, si ce cr\u00e9dit demeure, proc\u00e9der \u00e0 son imputation sur une taxe due, ou, \u00e0 d\u00e9faut, en demander le remboursement au cours du mois de janvier de l’ann\u00e9e suivante ou au cours du mois suivant un trimestre civil lorsque chacune des d\u00e9clarations de ce trimestre fait appara\u00eetre un cr\u00e9dit de taxe d\u00e9ductible.” That sentence is in CE, 31 May 2021, no. 441762, Hitachi Zosen Inova AG<\/a>. The practical lesson is to calendar three dates for every credit: the monthly claim window, the January window for the annual credit, and the quarterly window where each return of the quarter shows a credit.<\/p>\n The official refund pages confirm the two-track system a foreign importer must choose between. A business that is registered for French VAT claims its credit through the French returns and the SIE or SIEE; a business with no French establishment and no registration uses the European refund portals (the former 8th directive procedure for EU businesses, the 13th directive procedure for non-EU businesses) described on the official VAT refund page<\/a>. An importer that clears goods through France is in the first track by definition, because import reverse charge requires the French number. Do not file a 13th directive refund claim for import VAT while holding a French number: the administration will reject it as filed through the wrong channel, and the months lost can push the claim past the annual window.<\/p>\n Selling the goods onward from France has its own invoicing discipline. Article 289 of the CGI requires: “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” The text is on article 289 of the CGI<\/a>. Every domestic French sale needs a compliant invoice with the French VAT number, the rate and the amount; every intra-community delivery from France to a customer in another Member State needs the customer’s valid VAT number, proof of transport and the correct exemption mention, because the French exemption for the onward leg depends on it. Where the onward customer is itself a French taxable person and the foreign supplier is not established in France, article 283 of the CGI moves the liability to the buyer for supplies covered by article 259 A made by a supplier established outside 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 text is on article 283 of the CGI<\/a>. Read the contract before the truck leaves: whoever is designated as importer on the customs declaration bears the reporting duty, and a mismatch between the customs importer, the CA3 filer and the invoice issuer is the single most common trigger of a French reassessment against foreign groups.<\/p>\n French VAT enforcement is a calendar business, and the calendar is unforgiving. Article 1728 of the CGI punishes late or missing returns: “Le d\u00e9faut de production dans les d\u00e9lais prescrits d’une d\u00e9claration ou d’un acte comportant l’indication d’\u00e9l\u00e9ments \u00e0 retenir pour l’assiette ou la liquidation de l’imp\u00f4t entra\u00eene l’application, sur le montant des droits mis \u00e0 la charge du contribuable ou r\u00e9sultant de la d\u00e9claration ou de l’acte d\u00e9pos\u00e9 tardivement, d’une majoration de :” followed by “10 % en l’absence de mise en demeure ou en cas de d\u00e9p\u00f4t de la d\u00e9claration ou de l’acte dans les trente jours suivant la r\u00e9ception d’une mise en demeure d’avoir \u00e0 le produire dans ce d\u00e9lai ;” The text is on article 1728 of the CGI<\/a>. The rate climbs to 40 percent where the return is still missing thirty days after a formal notice, and to 80 percent where an undisclosed activity is discovered. For an importer, a missing CA3 therefore costs three times: the surcharge on any VAT due, interest for late payment, and the evidentiary weakness of a file where the customs declarations show imports that no return ever reported. The cheapest corrective step is to file spontaneously before any notice arrives, because the 10 percent rate is the floor and later stages only add percentages.<\/p>\n Refused refunds follow a different logic from surcharges. The Conseil d’\u00c9tat decision cited above shows the administration rejecting a 259,932 euro claim as out of time, the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise and the Versailles appeal court siding with the administration, and the whole dispute turning on the interplay of articles 242-0 A, 242-0 C and 242-0 G of annex II with article R. 196-1 of the LPF (livre des proc\u00e9dures fiscales, the book of tax procedure). The decision is CE, 31 May 2021, no. 441762, Hitachi Zosen Inova AG<\/a>. A foreign importer that receives a rejection letter should therefore read it as a deadlines letter first and a substance letter second: which period did the office say the credit belonged to, which window did it say was missed, and did the office consider the loss of taxable-person status that opens the total refund under article 242-0 G? The Cassation judgment adds the parallel trap on the deduction side: a refund claim cannot rescue VAT that was never declared in time, since without a timely declaration “le cr\u00e9dit de TVA ne peut donner lieu ni \u00e0 imputation ni \u00e0 remboursement” (Cass. com., 1 October 2025, no. 24-14.456<\/a>). Rebuild the chain month by month before answering: customs assessments, CA3 returns as filed, dates of receipt of the invoices or assessments, and the exact date of the refund claim.<\/p>\n Contesting from abroad follows the standard French tax claim path, with one clock that matters above all. Claims on indirect taxes must reach the administration no later than 31 December of the second year following the event giving rise to the claim: the formula, taken from article R. 196-1 of the LPF as quoted by the Conseil d’\u00c9tat, reads “Pour \u00eatre recevables, les r\u00e9clamations relatives aux imp\u00f4ts autres que les imp\u00f4ts directs locaux et les taxes annexes \u00e0 ces imp\u00f4ts, doivent \u00eatre pr\u00e9sent\u00e9es \u00e0 l’administration au plus tard le 31 d\u00e9cembre de la deuxi\u00e8me ann\u00e9e suivant celle, selon le cas :” with, for VAT disputes, the relevant case being “(…) \/ c) De la r\u00e9alisation de l’\u00e9v\u00e9nement qui motive la r\u00e9clamation (…)” (CE, 31 May 2021, no. 441762, Hitachi Zosen Inova AG<\/a>). The claim (r\u00e9clamation contentieuse) is filed with the competent office, which for a registered foreign importer is the SIEE, and it must state the amount, the legal grounds and the supporting documents; a one-line email asking for the money back is not a claim. Once filed, the administration has six months to decide: article R.* 198-10 of the LPF provides that “La direction g\u00e9n\u00e9rale des finances publiques ou la direction g\u00e9n\u00e9rale des douanes et droits indirects, selon le cas, statue sur les r\u00e9clamations dans le d\u00e9lai de six mois suivant la date de leur pr\u00e9sentation.” The text is on article R.* 198-10 of the LPF<\/a>. Silence for six months counts as an implied rejection and opens the two-month window to seize the administrative court. A foreign company should therefore diary three dates the day it files: the 31 December guillotine of R. 196-1, the six-month decision deadline, and the two-month court deadline after an express or implied rejection.<\/p>\n Where the dispute is a reassessment (proposition de rectification) rather than a refused refund, the order of operations is reversed: answer the auditor first, claim later. Ask for the documents the auditor relied on, reconcile every customs line with the corresponding CA3 line, produce the transport proofs for the onward intra-community legs, and put the representative or agent in copy so the answers arrive within the French deadlines despite the time difference. The representative’s role is decisive here for non-EU importers, because the representative is the administration’s designated contact and, as article 289 A warns, the tax and penalties fall on the recipient of the operation where no valid representative stands behind the file (article 289 A of the CGI<\/a>). Companies that change forwarder, warehouse or representative mid-dispute should notify the SIEE in writing the same week: reassessments sent to a former representative’s address are still legally notified, and “we never received it in Ohio” does not reopen an expired claim window.<\/p>\n Importing through France without a French company is entirely lawful, but it is a registration business before it is a logistics business. The order that works is fixed: confirm that the goods will clear French customs under your name, obtain the EORI and the French VAT number through the SIEE with a representative where the law requires one, tick the import reverse-charge boxes from the first customs declaration, report every import on the monthly CA3, deduct in the right month, claim refunds inside the annual, quarterly or loss-of-status windows, and invoice the onward sales with the documents the exemption depends on. The two court decisions in this guide draw the boundaries in red: declare deductible VAT in the month of receipt and no later than 31 December of the second following year, or lose both set-off and refund (Cass. com., 1 October 2025, no. 24-14.456<\/a>); and when a refund is refused as late, check the monthly, January and quarterly windows plus the loss-of-status total refund before giving up (CE, 31 May 2021, no. 441762<\/a>). The texts behind those rules are all public: article 256<\/a>, article 277 A<\/a>, article 286<\/a>, article 286 ter<\/a>, article 287<\/a>, article 283<\/a>, article 271<\/a>, article 289<\/a>, article 289 A<\/a> and article 1728 of the CGI<\/a>, with the claim deadlines in article R.* 198-10 of the LPF<\/a> and the practical steps on VAT registration<\/a>, VAT refunds<\/a> and customs VAT identification<\/a>. A container waiting at the port is the most expensive place to learn these rules; a file completed before the ship docks is the cheapest insurance a foreign importer can buy.<\/p>\n Container held at a French port, SIEE asking for a tax representative, or a VAT refund rejected as out of time? Get a phone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer from our firm. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> or write through our contact page<\/a>. We assist foreign companies in Paris and across \u00cele-de-France, in English, from the first import VAT registration to the contestation of a reassessment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Foreign company importing goods through France without a French office: EORI and French VAT number, tax representative or agent, CA3 reverse charge, refunds and how to contest a reassessment from abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80314,80313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2126825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decryptage","category-doing-business-in-france"],"yoast_head":"\nI. How to get your goods through French customs without paying 20 percent VAT in cash<\/h2>\n
A. Why your import triggers French VAT and why the border no longer collects it<\/h3>\n
B. How to register from abroad: the SIEE file, the tax representative or agent, and the papers that unblock the goods<\/h3>\n
II. How to report, deduct and recover the import VAT and survive a reassessment<\/h2>\n
A. How to self-assess on the CA3, deduct the VAT and claim a refund from abroad<\/h3>\n
B. How to survive late returns, a refused refund and a reassessment: surcharges, time limits and contesting from abroad<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Need a quick opinion on your case<\/h2>\n