Guidelines on French initiative to tackle VAT fraud on e-commerce

French tax authorities published further information about the obligation of online selling platforms to provide details on sales made by selling businesses in these platforms.

Last 7 January 2020 the authorities published guidelines on the legislative changes introduced in article 10 of the Law 2018-898 to tackle VAT fraud. According to this article, online platforms should provide each seller with information about their tax obligations on each activity made in France. These platforms should also provide links where the sellers can access this information from official websites of the tax authorities.

Additionally, online selling platforms like Amazon, eBay or Alibaba will also be required to provide once a year and no later than 31 January of the following year, a report with all sales made in the country by each seller, including the sales value, all identification details of the seller and the customer and, if available, the bank details where the funds are transferred for each sale. This information must be sent to both, the tax authorities (about all sellers) and the seller (about all sales made in the country).

In practice, this means the French tax authorities will have full view on the online selling activity of those businesses selling in France via an online selling platform, irrespective of these businesses being based in the EU or outside the EU.

Calculate your costs on VAT returns

How can we help you?

At Marosa we noticed a spike on French VAT registrations this month mostly due to this initiative. If you are selling your products online to French individuals, you are likely to be affected by these changes.

Marosa has a dedicated team on VAT obligations of online selling businesses. We are specialized in regularizing your past obligations and using tax technology to minimize your work on all tax obligations. Contact us to know more on we can help you.