Registration of your company in France, without administrative missteps

Are you affected?

• Non-EU company selling goods in France
• Intra-community acquisitions or transfers of goods located in France
• Distance sales (e-commerce) to French consumers beyond the thresholds
• Intangible services to non-taxable persons using the service in France
• Imports under a customs regime requiring a French VAT number

How we proceed

Everything you need to know about French VAT registration

When is French VAT registration mandatory?

French VAT registrationThe process of obtaining a French VAT number from the relevant tax office, to charge, declare and remit VAT on taxable transactions in France. Learn more → becomes mandatory whenever a company — French or foreign — carries out a transaction subject to French VAT: selling goods stored in France, importing goods into France, exceeding the EU distance-selling threshold, or supplying certain services to non-taxable persons in France. Registration is required regardless of whether the company has staff, an office, or a bank account in France.

Foreign companies: UK, US and EU businesses

The registration process differs depending on where your company is established. UK companies and US companies are treated as non-EU businesses, meaning they generally must appoint an accredited fiscal representativeA jointly liable intermediary appointed by non-EU companies to fulfil French VAT obligations. Learn more →. EU companies — established in another EU Member State — can instead use a simpler tax agentAn intermediary appointed by an EU-established company to handle its French VAT formalities, without being jointly liable for its VAT debts. Learn more →, without joint liability for VAT debts.

Amazon FBA & French VAT Registration

Amazon FBA does not automatically require French VAT registration — it depends on where your goods are stored, how they move between EU warehouses, and how you sell. Below are the scenarios that actually trigger a registration obligation.

Does an Amazon FBA seller need a French VAT number?

Not automatically. A French VAT number becomes necessary only once your goods are physically stored in France, or once you exceed the EU-wide distance-selling threshold without using the OSS scheme. Selling on Amazon.fr alone, with stock held in another country, does not by itself create a French VAT obligation.

When does Amazon FBA trigger French VAT registration?

Registration is triggered the moment Amazon places your inventory in a French fulfilment centre, regardless of where your customers are located. It can also be triggered by domestic sales dispatched from a French warehouse to French customers, which are treated as local sales rather than distance sales.

What happens when goods are stored in an Amazon warehouse in France?

Once stock physically enters a French Amazon warehouse, your business is treated as holding inventory in France, which generally requires a French VAT registration — independently of your total EU-wide sales volume or of the OSS threshold.

Amazon Pan-European FBA

Under Pan-European FBA, Amazon can move your inventory between its warehouses across several EU countries to optimise delivery times. Each country where your stock is placed can trigger its own local VAT registration obligation, making Pan-EU FBA one of the main reasons sellers end up needing multiple EU VAT numbers, including in France.

Amazon inventory movements between EU countries

When Amazon transfers your goods from one EU warehouse to another (for example from Germany to France), this transfer is itself a taxable intra-EU movement of your own goods, which must generally be reported separately from your sales to customers, in each country involved.

French VAT number required by Amazon

Once your inventory is stored in France, Amazon will generally require proof of a valid French VAT number to continue using French fulfilment centres, and may restrict your FBA offers in France until the number is provided.

VAT returns for Amazon sellers

Once registered, Amazon FBA sellers must file periodic French VAT returns (CA3)The French VAT return form, filed monthly or quarterly, reporting VAT collected and deductible. Learn more → covering both domestic sales dispatched from France and, where applicable, distance sales not covered by the OSS scheme. Import VAT on goods entering France from outside the EU is generally reported on the same return.

EORI and imports

If you import your own inventory into France from outside the EU, you will also need an EORI numberA unique identification number issued by customs to any operator carrying out import or export operations with the EU. Learn more → to clear customs, in addition to your VAT registration.

OSS / IOSS for Amazon sellers: scope and limits

The OSSAn EU scheme allowing a single quarterly return to declare and pay VAT due on distance sales across several EU countries. Learn more → can cover your distance sales to French consumers from stock held in other EU countries, but it does not remove the need for a separate French VAT registration once you store goods in France. Similarly, IOSSA scheme allowing VAT to be collected at the point of sale on low-value goods (up to €150) imported and sold to EU consumers. Learn more → only applies to imported low-value parcels sold to consumers — it does not cover FBA inventory movements or domestic sales from a French warehouse.

Shopify & French VAT Registration

Unlike Amazon FBA, Shopify itself does not store or move your inventory — your VAT obligations depend entirely on where you hold stock and how you ship to customers, not on the platform.

Does a Shopify seller need French VAT registration?

Only if you store goods in France, or once your EU-wide distance sales exceed the €10,000 annual threshold without using the OSS scheme. Selling to French customers from stock held outside France, below that threshold, does not by itself require French VAT registration.

Selling to French customers from abroad

If your stock is held outside France and your total EU distance sales stay under €10,000 per year, you can generally continue charging VAT at your home country's rate. Once you exceed this threshold, French VAT (or the OSS-declared equivalent) becomes due on sales to French consumers.

Stock stored in France

As with Amazon, storing inventory in a French warehouse or third-party logistics centre — even if orders are placed through Shopify — creates a French VAT registration obligation from the moment the goods enter French territory.

Importing goods into France

If you import goods from outside the EU into a French warehouse to fulfil Shopify orders, import VAT applies and generally requires French VAT registration, along with an EORI numberA unique identification number issued by customs to any operator carrying out import or export operations with the EU. Learn more → for customs clearance.

Distance selling on Shopify

Distance sales made directly from your Shopify store to French consumers, with stock held elsewhere in the EU, are subject to the same €10,000 EU-wide threshold and OSS rules as any other e-commerce channel — Shopify itself has no special regime.

OSS for Shopify merchants

The OSSAn EU scheme allowing a single quarterly return to declare and pay VAT due on distance sales across several EU countries. Learn more → lets Shopify merchants declare VAT on EU-wide distance sales through a single quarterly return, avoiding registration in every destination country — but only for sales made from stock already inside the EU.

IOSS for Shopify merchants

The IOSSA scheme allowing VAT to be collected at the point of sale on low-value goods (up to €150) imported and sold to EU consumers. Learn more → applies specifically to low-value parcels (up to €150) shipped directly to EU consumers from outside the EU. It does not apply to goods already stored within the EU, nor to shipments above the threshold.

When Shopify itself does or does not change the VAT obligation

Shopify's tax settings can help calculate and display the correct VAT rate, but they do not create or remove a registration obligation — that always depends on where your stock is held and your sales volumes, not on the platform's settings.

VAT invoices on Shopify

Once registered, invoices issued to French or EU customers must show your French VAT number and the correct VAT rate. Shopify can be configured to generate compliant invoices, but the underlying registration and rate logic must be set up correctly first.

French VAT returns for Shopify sellers

Registered Shopify sellers must file periodic French VAT returns (CA3)The French VAT return form, filed monthly or quarterly, reporting VAT collected and deductible. Learn more →, covering domestic sales dispatched from France, non-OSS distance sales, and any import VAT, in the same way as any other registered business.

Importing goods into France

Companies importing goods into France from outside the EU must, in most cases, register for French VAT to account for import VAT — either paid at customs or, more commonly, self-assessed directly on the VAT return through the reverse chargeA mechanism under which the customer, rather than the supplier, accounts for and pays the VAT due on a transaction. Learn more → mechanism (ATVAI), which avoids a cash-flow disadvantage.

Holding stock or a warehouse in France

Storing goods in a French warehouse — whether your own facility or a third-party logistics provider — generally triggers a French VAT registration obligation from the moment goods physically enter French territory, regardless of where your sales are eventually made.

Distance selling to French consumers

Since the July 2021 e-commerce VAT reform, distance salesThe sale of goods to a final consumer shipped from one country to another, typically in the context of online retail. Learn more → of goods to consumers across the EU are subject to a single €10,000 annual threshold. Below this threshold, you may charge VAT at your home country's rate; above it, French VAT (or the VAT of the destination country) becomes due, unless you opt for the OSSAn EU scheme allowing a single quarterly return to declare and pay VAT due on distance sales across several EU countries. Learn more → scheme.

OSS and IOSS registration

The One Stop Shop (OSS)An EU scheme allowing a single quarterly return to declare and pay VAT due on distance sales across several EU countries. Learn more → lets you declare VAT due on distance sales across the EU through a single quarterly return, instead of registering separately in every country. The Import One Stop Shop (IOSS)A scheme allowing VAT to be collected at the point of sale on low-value goods (up to €150) imported and sold to EU consumers. Learn more → serves a similar purpose for imported goods valued under €150. Neither scheme replaces a standard French VAT registration if you also hold stock or a permanent establishment in France.

Customs Procedure 42

Customs Procedure 42A customs regime exempting import VAT when goods are immediately onward-supplied to another EU Member State. Learn more → allows an importer to bring goods into France exempt from import VAT, provided those goods are immediately onward-supplied to another EU Member State. The import VAT is then reverse-charged by the final buyer in the destination country, rather than paid in France — useful for companies using France as a transit point for EU-wide distribution.

Fiscal representative vs tax agent

Non-EU companies must appoint an accredited fiscal representativeA jointly liable intermediary appointed by non-EU companies to fulfil French VAT obligations. Learn more →, who is jointly liable for the VAT owed. EU-established companies can instead appoint a tax agentAn intermediary appointed by an EU-established company to handle its French VAT formalities, without being jointly liable for its VAT debts. Learn more →, a lighter-weight arrangement without joint liability. AFC can act in either capacity depending on your company's country of establishment.

Frequently Asked Questions