France TVA / VAT calculator

The four French VAT rates in 2026

France operates the most granular VAT structure in the EU, with four distinct rates under the Code général des impôts (CGI):

• Standard rate: 20% (taux normal) — most goods and services.
• Intermediate rate: 10% (taux intermédiaire) — restaurant meals, takeaway food (depending on consumption context), hotel accommodation, passenger transport, certain renovation works on housing more than two years old.
• Reduced rate: 5.5% (taux réduit) — groceries, books (including e-books since 2020), water, gas/electricity for domestic use, public transport (some regions), cultural events.
• Super-reduced rate: 2.1% (taux super-réduit) — newspapers and periodicals, certain pharmaceuticals reimbursed by social security, live performances and ticketing of the first 140 performances of a new theatrical work.

Restaurant context: 10% vs 20%

French restaurant VAT is one of the trickiest in Europe. The 10% rate applies to meals consumed in restaurants, cafés and brasseries. Alcohol served with the meal is at 20% even if everything else on the bill is at 10% — so a wine-pairing dinner with a €60 food bill and a €40 wine bill has €6 of TVA on the food and €8 on the wine. Takeaway food intended for immediate consumption is at 10%; takeaway food intended to be reheated at home (frozen meals, packaged sandwiches) is at 5.5%. The distinction was tested in multiple court cases through the 2010s.

The math: add or remove TVA

• Add 20% TVA: gross = net × 1.20
• Remove 20% TVA: net = gross ÷ 1.20
• Add 10% TVA: gross = net × 1.10
• Remove 10% TVA: net = gross ÷ 1.10
• Add 5.5% TVA: gross = net × 1.055
• Remove 5.5% TVA: net = gross ÷ 1.055

Worked example: a French B2B service invoice shows a net amount of €1,000 and TVA at 20% (taux normal), so the total is €1,200. The customer pays €1,200; the supplier remits €200 of TVA to the Direction générale des Finances publiques (DGFiP) on the next quarterly return.

Micro-entreprise and VAT exemption

French micro-entrepreneurs (auto-entrepreneurs) are exempt from charging TVA up to certain annual turnover thresholds, refreshed for 2025:

• Services (BIC services, BNC): €37,500 (basic threshold), €41,250 (tolerance threshold).
• Sales of goods (BIC vente): €85,000 (basic), €93,500 (tolerance).

Below the basic threshold, the entrepreneur does not charge TVA and cannot reclaim input TVA on purchases. Once turnover exceeds the basic threshold for two consecutive years (or exceeds the tolerance threshold even briefly), TVA registration becomes mandatory.

Common French TVA edge cases

• Press subscriptions: 2.1% super-reduced rate. A French newspaper subscription is one of the cheapest VAT lines in Europe.
• E-books vs paper books: Both at 5.5% since the EU directive changes in 2020. France pioneered the e-book reduction in 2012 and won the resulting EU court case in 2018.
• Renovation work: 10% on renovation of housing more than two years old (with certain exclusions for new construction or extensions). The threshold for "renovation" vs "reconstruction" has produced extensive case law.
• Solar panels: 5.5% on installation and supply for residential use under €30,000, intended as an environmental incentive.

How to use the calculator

Set the rate from the dropdown (20%, 10%, 5.5%, or 2.1%), enter your amount, and choose net-to-gross or gross-to-net. The calculator returns all three values. For mixed-rate baskets, run each line separately and sum the totals.