France – VAT reverse charge on import becomes mandatory and importing companies must obtain a VAT number

From 2022, the management, collection and control of VAT due on imports will be transferred to the tax authorities.

This means that VAT will no longer be settled at customs and that the VAT reverse charge on import will be mandatory !

For this to happen, all companies importing goods ito France will have to register for VAT in France and show their French VAT number on the customs documents. They will have to reverse charge the VAT due on import via a French CA3 form.

To meet the needs of these changes, the CA3 will be adapted and certain boxes of the French CA3 will be pre-filled using the data entered into the customs documents.  Warning – the pre-filled data is not binding for the authorities.