EU/UK VAT · FR · EU member · Euro area
France VAT
France VAT rates, number format and cross-border validation, from the European Commission VAT rates database and the EU VIES service. Signature: 23rd of 28 by standard rate (20%).
- Standard rate · At the EU/UK median
- 20%
- Reduced rate
- 10% / 5.5%
- Number format
- FR + 2 chars + 9 digits
- Validation
- VIES
- Rate schedule · Complex schedule
- 4 tiers
France vs all tracked jurisdictions by standard VAT rate
Where this country's standard rate sits among EU/UK rates we track (rate level is reporting fact, not a virtue)
20% 21st of 28 higher than 4 of 28 jurisdictions
Jurisdictions, banded by standard VAT rate
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more jurisdictions. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source European Commission VAT rates database · 2026-05-20
VAT Compliance Score
How straightforward France's VAT system is to comply with, from 3 of 3 tracked dimensions.
- Standard VAT rate 20% 83/100 · B
- Rate-schedule depth 4 tiers 0/100 · F
- EU distance-selling threshold registered €10,000 threshold 100/100 · A
Benchmarked against the EU/UK jurisdictions PlainVAT tracks (p10-p90 range per dimension); a higher score means a simpler, more business-friendly VAT regime to comply with. See how we place countries.
How this score was calculated
Three weighted dimensions, each scored 0-100 by linear interpolation between the tracked corpus's 10th and 90th percentile for that metric: Standard VAT rate (45% weight, lower is simpler), rate-schedule depth (35% weight, fewer distinct rate tiers is simpler), and whether an EU distance-selling/OSS threshold is registered for this jurisdiction (20% weight, EU membership makes cross-border selling simpler). A dimension that genuinely does not apply (e.g. the UK has no EU distance-selling threshold, being non-EU) is dropped and its weight redistributes across the remaining dimensions - a country is never penalized for a data point that does not exist for it.
France sits in the lowest standard-rate third
France's 20% standard VAT rate is a little below the median of 21%. It also applies a reduced rate of 10% on restaurants, transport, hotels, renovation work, a second reduced rate of 5.5% on food, books, energy, gas, electricity, and a super-reduced rate of 2.1% on newspapers, certain medicines, tv licence. That is 3 non-standard tiers spanning 12 distinct goods-and-services categories in our rate table, more tier structure than most of the jurisdictions we track, which typically run one or two. The most recently revised of these non-standard tiers is the reduced rate, in effect since 2014-01-01. The current rate has been in effect since 2014-01-01, unchanged for several years.
By standard-rate proximity, France matches Austria's standard rate almost exactly.
Derived from PlainVAT per-country rate table sourced from the European Commission's official VAT rates database. See methodology for the EU-wide rate range, refresh cadence, and source-linking policy.
France rate stack (lower-rate band)
France standard rate (lower band)
20%Most goods and services
In effect since 2014-01-01
Reduced rate
10%Restaurants, transport, hotels, renovation work
In effect since 2014-01-01
Reduced rate
5.5%Food, books, energy, gas, electricity
In effect since 2014-01-01
Super-reduced rate
2.1%Newspapers, certain medicines, TV licence
In effect since 1989-01-01
VAT number format
- Prefix
- FR
- Format
- FR + 2 chars + 9 digits
- Example
- FRXX123456789
- Validation service
- VIES (European Commission)
Tax authority
Direction generale des Finances publiques
Official guidance: https://www.impots.gouv.fr/
Source: European Commission Taxation and Customs Union EU VAT Rate Registry · 2026
TEDB schedule peers
Same-band standard rates plus one schedule-depth contrast. Stamps mark which TEDB tiers each jurisdiction currently publishes (STD · RED · SRED · ZERO · PARK), not a shared four-card strip.
France stamps: STD · RED · SRED (4 distinct TEDB rate types in the current extract).
France: TEDB schedule neighbours
Registry-wide peer sets keyed to France's 20% standard rate and 4 published tiers. Same-band cards above stay on proximity; these nationwide pills vary by entity.
Similar standard rate
Nearest jurisdictions by current standard VAT rate (20% here).
Similar schedule depth
Nearest jurisdictions by distinct TEDB rate tiers (4 tiers here).
Disclaimer: This information is for general reference only and should not be considered legal, tax, or financial advice. Confirm with your accountant or the relevant tax authority for your transaction.
Data sourced from the European Commission VAT rates registry for France (23rd of 28 by standard rate (20%)). See our methodology. Country rates are computed directly from that registry; no figure is typed in by an editor.