A client abroad is not the same as an EU client. Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Canada fall under different rules from Germany or Belgium, and many people mix them up.
The most expensive trap is on the buying side. A software subscription taken out in Ireland makes you liable for French VAT and forces you to file a return, despite the exemption.
Three questions are enough: are you selling or buying, inside the Union or outside, goods or a service? Where no official source answers, you will know that too.
The rules are not symmetrical: what you owe when selling and what you owe when buying have neither the same thresholds nor the same filings.
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Information verified on October 1, 2026. Indicative assessment with no legal force. The rules it applies are taken from official sources and dated, but it knows of your situation only what you tell it: only the authorities can settle your case.
The official pages where we read the rules and amounts applied here.
The French tax authority lists only three cases where a micro-entrepreneur under the exemption has anything to do about the European Union:
A provider established outside France invoices you without tax, and it falls to you to declare and pay French VAT on that purchase. The exemption changes nothing. The tax authority writes that a micro-entrepreneur has no VAT return to file « as a general rule »: that small reservation covers precisely these transactions. A €40-a-month software subscription with an Irish provider is enough to open it, and nobody will ask you for it before an audit.
An invoice sent to a German agency carries no VAT for two entirely unrelated reasons, and it must therefore state both. The first is your own regime, and the exemption wording says so: « TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI » until 31 December 2026, « TVA non applicable, article L. 233-3 du CIBS » from 1 January 2027. The second is that the tax is due in the client's country, where they account for it themselves: that is the reverse charge, and it calls for its own wording. Both intra-EU VAT numbers are added, yours and theirs.
Invoicing a service to an EU business triggers a European services declaration, on the customs portal and never on impots.gouv.fr. It has no threshold, it is filed by the 10th working day of the following month at the latest, and only for the months in which such a service was invoiced. It is a summary statement, separate from any VAT return, that lets the client's administration cross-check what they declare having bought against what you declare having sold.
| Your transaction | VAT number | What you file |
|---|---|---|
| You sell a service to an EU business | From the first euro | One declaration per invoiced month, to customs |
| You buy a service in the EU | From the first euro | A VAT return, despite the exemption |
| You buy goods in the EU | Above €10,000 a year | A VAT return above the threshold |
| You sell goods to EU consumers | Above €10,000 a year | Through the VAT one-stop shop |
| Your client is outside the Union | Not applicable | To be checked with your tax office |
| You sell goods to an EU business | Not settled | To be checked with your tax office |
The number is issued by the business tax office, requested through the secure messaging of your professional account, and it is entirely free. Rules recorded on 8 September 2026.
Lucie, a graphic designer in Lyon, receives orders in the same week from an agency in Berlin, a firm in Geneva, and a consumer in Seville buying from her shop.
She issues three identical invoices, without VAT, as she does for her French clients.
The Berlin one is incomplete: it lacks both VAT numbers and the reverse-charge wording, and it triggers a monthly filing with customs.
The Geneva one falls under other rules that no general page gives. The Seville one counts towards a €10,000 total she is not tracking.
Of her three invoices, only one is correct.
Request your intra-EU VAT number from your tax office. It is free, and you need it before the invoice, not after.
Ask for your client's number and check it. It is what justifies the tax going to them.
Carry both wordings, your exemption and the reverse charge. One alone is not enough.
Note the month. Every month in which you invoice an EU service calls for its filing with customs.
Track your €10,000 totals over the calendar year. The crossing happens mid-year, not on the following 1 January, and it is what triggers the number request.
The VAT exemption threshold is measured on your total national turnover. Do not assume your foreign invoices fall outside it.
The micro-enterprise ceiling does not move either, and it has no connection with the VAT thresholds.
No. Under the basic exemption you charge no VAT, and for a business-to-business service the tax is due in the client's country anyway, where they reverse-charge it. Your invoice then carries two wordings instead of one: your exemption regime and the one sending the tax to the client.
No, and the confusion is common. The intra-EU VAT number and the European services declaration only cover transactions with member states. A Swiss, British or American client falls under other rules that vary with the nature of the transaction: have your case checked by your business tax office before issuing the invoice.
Yes, and it is the most common case. For services bought within the Union no threshold protects you: the obligation starts at the first euro. You become the person liable for French VAT on that purchase and must declare it, even though you are under the exemption and have collected no tax.
No, it is entirely free. It is not issued automatically while you are under the exemption: you request it from your business tax office, through the secure messaging of your professional account. Letters or websites offering to obtain it for a fee are commercial offers.
Yes, in full. What you collect from a foreign client is declared to URSSAF like the rest and bears the same social contributions. The payer's country changes neither the filing schedule nor the rate applied.
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