COSMOPOLITE GROUP
OUR SERVICES
ABOUT
Cosmopolite is present in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and has sales offices in the United Kingdom and the United States. Cosmopolite serves more than 300 of the world’s leading clients in 29 countries.
Finding a Tax representative in France – 1/28
In certain cases, a foreign company carrying out transactions in France that are subject to French VAT must appoint a tax representative established in France to carry out the formalities incumbent on the company.
What is a tax representative?
This local company is responsible for compliance with VAT tax obligations for transactions carried out in France (Member State of identification) by the trader he represents. He must then be able to present to the tax authorities the invoices and the accounts of the represented company.
He is required to complete the legal and regulatory formalities and, in the case of taxable transactions, to pay the tax payable. He is held jointly and severally liable for the declaration and payment of VAT by the represented trader. He may therefore, if necessary, be called in solidarity of payment.
Points to keep in mind when choosing your tax representative in France
Traders are free to choose their tax rep from among the VAT taxable persons established in France. They must be provided with an administrative organisation as well as sufficient human and material resources to carry out their representation activities. They must also prove their financial solvency and their tax morality.
The written designation must be made by the legal representative of the represented company and include the following information:
- The names (or company name) and addresses of the company and the tax rep,
- The e-mail addresses of the company and the tax rep,
- A description of the activities carried out by the represented operator justifying the appointment of a tax rep,
- Tthe effective date of the tax representation in France
- ¹(in principle, the appointment cannot have retroactive effect).
Once appointed, the tax rep must be accredited by the corporate tax service (SIE) to which he belongs. He must then attach the written designation accompanied by the following documents:
- Acceptance of his appointment as representative,
- An undertaking to complete the formalities and, where applicable, pay jointly and severally the VAT due,
- An extract of Kbis less than 3 months old,
- An extract from the criminal record less than 3 months old.
If necessary, the accreditation department may ask the tax representative to provide additional documents to prove its solvency.
The EIS shall notify the tax representative in writing of the granting of accreditation or of the reasoned refusal to issue.
After registration, the business tax service (SIE) to which the tax representative belongs, assigns the represented operator a VAT identification number. The tax representative can then use this number assigned to the operator to report the transactions carried out.
Tax representation in France is an extremely supervised activity.