Definition
The month he becomes liable for VAT, a freelance developer looks at his bank account and finds himself richer than he has ever been.
His invoices have grown, his clients pay more, nothing else has changed. A few weeks later his first VAT return arrives, and part of that money leaves again. It was never his.
Output VAT is the tax you add to the pre-tax price of your invoices once you are VAT-registered, and which you collect on behalf of the French Treasury.
You do not own it, you merely collect it: it passes through your bank account, it does not settle there.
As long as you fall under the VAT exemption scheme (franchise en base de TVA), this line does not exist for you: charging VAT is forbidden, and your invoices carry the Article 293 B notice instead.
Output VAT enters your life the day you become liable, that is, when your activity crosses the thresholds set for 2026 by article 293 B of the French tax code.
Those are €85,000 of total national turnover for the previous year and €93,500 for the current year. A sub-threshold of €37,500 and €41,250 applies to services and liberal activities.
Those four figures are written into the statute itself: unlike the micro-enterprise ceilings, raised for the years 2026 to 2028, they have not moved since 1 January 2025 and are not revalued from one year to the next.
A freelancer with €54,000 in the bank
Camille builds websites on her own account. In 2026 her service receipts cross €41,250 during the year: she becomes VAT-liable, and her following invoices carry one extra line.
Take the year after that, the first she spends entirely with VAT.
The amount collected depends on the rate applicable to her activity, which her invoices set out; here is what her bank statement says.
| What came into her account | Amount | Who owns that money |
|---|---|---|
| Total collected over the year | €54,000 | Two owners mixed together |
| Of which output VAT | €9,000 | The Treasury |
| Turnover excluding tax | €45,000 | Hers, before contributions and tax |
The €45,000 is her turnover: that is the figure she enters on her Turnover declaration to URSSAF, that is the figure compared with her micro ceiling of €83,600 for the years 2026 to 2028, and that is the base on which her contributions are calculated.
The €9,000 of output VAT enters none of those three calculations. Nor does it leave as it came: when she files her VAT return, she subtracts from her output VAT the Input VAT she paid to her own suppliers, and pays over only the difference.
The opposite mistake costs even more: adding VAT to your invoices while still under the exemption, because a billing tool is misconfigured or a client asks for it.
Any VAT written on an invoice becomes payable simply because it was written there, with no right of deduction to set against it, as the Bulletin officiel des finances publiques (the official tax doctrine) makes clear.
And VAT charged in error is not deductible for your client, who loses it outright. Putting it right means a credit note and a corrected invoice, not an apologetic email.
Output VAT, input VAT and turnover
Three notions look alike and never stand in for one another. Output VAT is what the client pays on top of the price. Input VAT is what you paid your own suppliers.
Turnover is the pre-tax price and nothing else: it is counted on money actually received, not on invoices issued, so an invoice sent in December and paid in January falls into the following year, its VAT along with it.
That leaves the confusion that alarms the most new business owners, and one sentence settles it.
Becoming liable for VAT does not cost you your micro-entrepreneur status: the two mechanisms are independent.
A service provider collects VAT from €37,500 in 2026 while the micro ceiling runs up to €83,600: between those two figures, they charge VAT and remain a micro-entrepreneur, with the same contributions and the same declaration as before.
The two tiers of thresholds and their effective dates are set out in the VAT threshold entry.
Frequently asked questions
Should you declare your turnover to URSSAF including VAT?
No, the declaration is made excluding tax.
Output VAT stays outside it: it counts neither towards the declared turnover, nor towards the micro-enterprise ceiling, nor towards the contribution base.
Declaring a VAT-inclusive figure means paying contributions and income tax on money that belongs to the state.
From which day must you start charging VAT?
It depends on which 2026 threshold you cross.
If your turnover exceeds the basic threshold, €85,000 overall or €37,500 for services, without reaching the higher one, VAT applies from 1 January of the following year.
Since 1 January 2025, a single overrun is enough: the tolerance that once allowed two consecutive years above the basic threshold without losing the exemption is gone, and the two-year rule that applies to the micro ceiling has never had an equivalent here.
If you cross the higher threshold, €93,500 or €41,250, it applies to transactions carried out from that very day.
The Urssaf page states "from the first day of the month in which the threshold is exceeded", which the French tax code and the public service portal both contradict: follow the statute, and plan for corrected invoices covering transactions already issued that month, deposits included.
How do you avoid spending the VAT you have collected?
By no longer reading your account balance as available cash.
Output VAT is a debt with a fixed due date: setting it aside as it comes in, on a separate account or through an automatic transfer, spares you the shock on filing day.
It is the first habit to build the month you become VAT-liable.
What if my clients are abroad?
The rules change with the country and with the status of the client, business or consumer.
Even under the exemption, the French tax administration points to situations where a return still exists: purchases of goods from an EU supplier, import VAT, and distance sales to consumers in another member state.
The most common case among freelancers in tech lies elsewhere: invoicing a service to a business in another member state means applying for an EU VAT number from your tax office, even under the exemption and from the very first euro, free of charge.
Check your case before issuing the invoice, not afterwards.