Definition
A graphic designer sends her first invoice: €1,200, a single line, no VAT anywhere. The client calls back the next day, convinced she has forgotten something. She has forgotten nothing.
She falls under the franchise en base (the VAT exemption scheme for small businesses), and her invoice carries a short sentence instead: "TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI".
The franchise en base de TVA relieves businesses whose Turnover stays below certain thresholds of any duty to declare or pay VAT.
It is not something you apply for: it is the default position of almost every micro-entrepreneur at the start.
Its legal home is article 293 B of the French tax code, and in 2026 it sets two tiers of amounts: €85,000 of total national turnover for the previous year, and €93,500 for the current year, with a sub-threshold of €37,500 and €41,250 for services and liberal activities.
That sub-threshold covers neither food and drink consumed on the premises nor accommodation, which count towards the overall ceiling only.
These amounts are written directly into the tax code.
They have not moved since 1 January 2025 and were not changed in 2026: unlike the micro-scheme ceilings, they follow no automatic uprating.
Lawyers, authors and performing artists have thresholds of their own, €50,000 and €55,000 for their regulated work in 2026, €35,000 and €38,500 for the rest of their activity.
What the exemption gives, and what it takes away
Three effects always travel together, and the third one tends to surface too late.
You charge no VAT, so the price you quote is the price you collect, which makes you cheaper than a VAT-registered competitor when you sell to consumers.
In exchange, you reclaim no Input VAT on your purchases: a laptop, a software subscription or an office rent cost you their VAT-inclusive price, permanently.
The third effect is the harshest. Any VAT written on an invoice becomes payable simply because it was written there, even by mistake, even by a badly configured billing tool.
And VAT charged in error is not deductible for the client, who loses it outright: a misconfigured invoice costs you money and costs the person paying you as well.
That is the whole point of the Article 293 B notice, which is mandatory on every invoice.
The Bulletin officiel des finances publiques (the official tax doctrine) in fact accepts three wordings, including a reference to article 293 B bis for the EU-wide exemption: presenting the first one as the only acceptable form is a common shortcut.
A craftsman at €90,000: the arithmetic that catches people out
Here is the most widespread trap on this subject, and it comes down to one addition. A craftsman sells furniture he builds and invoices the installation at the customer's home.
In 2026 he collects €80,000 from sales and €10,000 from services.
| What he collects in 2026 | Amount | Threshold to respect |
|---|---|---|
| Furniture sales | €80,000 | Counts towards the total |
| Installation work | €10,000 | €37,500: respected |
| Total national turnover | €90,000 | €85,000: exceeded |
His services share sits comfortably below €37,500, and he loses the exemption all the same, because €85,000 is not a threshold reserved for sales: it is the overall ceiling, binding on everyone, service providers included.
His total reaches €90,000, above the basic threshold but below the higher threshold of €93,500: he therefore keeps the exemption until 31 December and becomes liable for VAT on 1 January of the following year.
Since 1 January 2025, crossing the basic threshold once is enough to trigger the switch, the former tolerance of two consecutive years having gone.
Had that same craftsman crossed the higher threshold of €93,500, or a service provider the €41,250 mark, the switch would not have waited until January: VAT applies to transactions carried out from the very day the threshold is crossed.
On this precise point, the Urssaf page states "from the first day of the month in which the threshold is exceeded", which both the French tax code and impots.gouv.fr contradict.
Follow the statute, and plan for corrective invoices on transactions already issued that month, deposits included.
Neither the micro ceiling nor an exemption by nature
Two confusions deserve to be cleared up here, because no other entry meets them this closely.
The first one is expensive: crossing a VAT threshold does not cost anyone their micro-entrepreneur status.
The two mechanisms are independent, and the gap is striking for a service provider, liable for VAT from €37,500 while the Turnover threshold runs up to €83,600 in 2026.
A freelancer at €45,000 therefore charges VAT while remaining a micro-entrepreneur, with the same revenue declaration and the same contributions as before.
The detail of basic thresholds, higher thresholds and their effective dates lives in the VAT threshold entry.
The second one is a matter of vocabulary, and it changes the answer when a client raises it.
The franchise en base is not a VAT exemption by nature: the transaction stays within the scope of VAT, it is the business that is relieved of it as long as it stays below the thresholds.
An exemption by nature attaches to the activity itself, certain continuing vocational training or certain medical procedures for instance, and depends on no amount collected.
Frequently asked questions
Does the single €25,000 exemption threshold apply?
No, and it never did. Scheduled for 1 March 2025 by the 2025 finance act, it was suspended before taking effect, then removed by the act no. 2025-1044 of 3 November 2025.
The differentiated thresholds remain in place. The January 2025 articles announcing it are still online, which is why it keeps coming up.
Do you have to file a VAT return while exempt?
None, as a general rule, and that reservation carries real exceptions.
The French tax administration points to purchases of goods from an EU supplier, import VAT, which is due even under the exemption, and distance sales to consumers in another member state.
In those three situations a return exists despite the exemption.
Do I get an intra-EU VAT number while exempt?
Not automatically: under the exemption it is not issued as a matter of course.
You request it from your business tax office through the secure messaging of your professional account, and it is issued entirely free of charge: letters offering to obtain it for a fee are commercial offers, never the administration.
In 2026 it becomes mandatory for purchases of goods within the European Union above €10,000 a year, for any service exchanged with a European business, sold or bought, from the first euro, and for distance sales to European consumers above €10,000 a year.
The EU VAT number entry sets out those three cases.
What changes on 1 January 2027?
VAT rules move into a new code on that day, the code des impositions sur les biens et services (CIBS), and the invoice wording changes with them.
Until 31 December 2026 the wording remains "TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI"; from 1 January 2027 it is "TVA non applicable, article L. 233-3 du CIBS". The thresholds do not change, and the old wording remains accepted until 30 June 2028.
No other change is confirmed to date for 2027. This page is up to date as of 5 September 2026 and will be revised when the finance act is published.