In 2022, the reverse charge of VAT on imports will become mandatory and automatic
As of January 1, 2022, the General Directorate of Customs and Indirect Rights (DGDDI) will transfer the management and collection of VAT applicable to imports to the General Directorate of Public Finance (DGFIP) for all taxpayers identified for VAT in France.
As a reminder, a valid French intra-community VAT number must be communicated by the taxpayer to the DGDDI. This mechanism of simultaneous declaration and payment on the VAT return becomes automatic and mandatory. As a consequence, companies that do not have this number but wish to carry out import operations must first ask their company tax department (SIE) for the attribution of a French intra-community VAT number and opt for the normal real regime.
In addition, each taxpayer will have a VAT tax return pre-filled with certain customs data relating to its import operations, and will be responsible for verifying the amounts as of January 1, 2022.
A dedicated notice is already available on the DGFiP website. In addition, the DGDDI will provide additional assistance by making available a dedicated space on the customs.gouv.fr website. This will provide access to a table containing certain customs data from their customs declarations for a given reference period.
This data will include the declaration number and its date of “bon à enlever” (BAE), the application concerned (Delta-G / XI / H7), the item number and the nomenclature of goods, the VAT rate applied and the associated taxable base. Within the framework of this reform, the SIE of the operator liable for payment becomes his main contact for these changes, in the same way as for ordinary VAT and the other professional taxes managed by the DGFiP.
