VAT for Consultants: Collection, Declaration, Recovery
As of 2026-08-16
Every SAP consultant on a full-year mission crosses the French VAT franchise ceiling (€36,800 for services) within 5-7 weeks, and the wrong invoicing treatment — charging 20% to a VIES-validated EU client, or entering the TTC amount as HT on the CA3 — creates a cash-flow problem for the client and an audit flag for you. This module gives the exact registration trigger, the three invoicing regimes (domestic 20%, intra-EU reverse charge, extra-EU out-of-scope), the CA3 filing mechanics, and the expense-recovery rules a consultant needs before the first cross-border invoice goes out. Get it wrong once and the client's AP team rejects the invoice; get it wrong on the CA3 and the penalty is 10% of VAT due plus 0.40% monthly interest.
What you will learn
- Determine when VAT registration is mandatory in France for a consulting structure and identify the key threshold and filing triggers
- Apply the correct invoicing treatment — domestic 20%, intra-EU reverse charge, or out-of-scope extra-EU — with legally compliant invoice wording
- Navigate monthly CA3 declarations: correctly allocate VAT collected, input VAT recovery, and zero-rated cross-border supplies across the relevant boxes
- Identify which professional expenses carry recoverable input VAT and apply the partial-recovery rules for mixed-use assets
When You Must Register for VAT
The threshold question is the first one every French consultant must answer. In France, a micro-entrepreneur or sole trader (EI/EURL) benefits from a VAT franchise (franchise en base de TVA) until turnover reaches €36,800 for services (2024 threshold, indexed). Once you cross that ceiling — or elect to waive it voluntarily — you become a redevable de la TVA and must charge, collect, and remit it. Most established SAP consultants on daily rates of €700–€1,100 exceed this ceiling within 5–7 weeks of a full-year mission, so in practice the question is not whether to register but when and under which VAT number format.
If you operate through a SASU or SARL, the franchise does not apply: companies are always subject to TVA from the first euro of revenue. File for your SIRET, then file your Cerfa n°13750*03 (or use the digital portal impots.gouv.fr > Espace Pro) to obtain your FR VAT number, formatted as FR + 2 check digits + 9-digit SIREN.
Prerequisites
- Review core concepts first: C095, C046, C065
Outcomes
- Choose the right VAT régime based on your revenue and client mix
- Apply intra-EU B2B reverse charge (autoliquidation) correctly
- Walk a client through the France VAT lifecycle: registration trigger, invoicing treatment, CA3 filing, and input-VAT recovery
- Build a reusable invoice-and-declaration compliance checklist you can carry across missions
Full module available to members. The full module adds: the decision framework · the end-to-end scenario walkthrough · the KPI scorecard · the anti-patterns · the knowledge check · the diagrams.