On 01/01/2020, a new French legislation against fraud introduces new measures aiming at controlling the payment of VAT and custom duties for goods introduced in France by foreign vendors (outside EU) ;

In January 2020, all the EU marketplaces will have to give to the French tax authorities the list of their vendors with the amount of transactions realized by each vendor through the platform.

Also in early 01/01/2020, the French tax authorities will ask platforms to justify that their vendors outside EU are respecting the tax legislation notably that they pay VAT and custom duties for the goods shipped to French customers.

2 different types of situations can arise :

• You ship directly from outside EU: you will have to prove that, for each shipment, you (or your shipping company) have paid the right amount of custom duties and VAT. For your information, shipping companies like Chronopost, UPS, etc… have automatic and reliable processes in order to pay custom duties and VAT and can provide satisfying documentation. If you choose another shipment method, you will need to be able to justify to us that each goods shipped has been subject to VAT and custom duties.

• If the goods sold through our platform are stored in the EU (through another platform or a storage supplier), the sale is subject to EU VAT regulations and you need to be registered for VAT in the EU.

If you cannot deliver us one of these elements (as the case may be) we could be obliged to close your account on our platform at the request of the French tax authorities.

Discover here companies able to help out on these VAT matters.