How do I file my VAT return online? Complete guide

How do you file your VAT return online? And how can you avoid the classic pitfalls when filling in your VAT return?

VAT (Value Added Tax) is a tax levied on businesses and paid to the Treasury. Unless you are exempt from VAT, your business is affected. An intra-Community number is allocated to you for this purpose.

Whether you operate under the simplified or the actual VAT regime, the VAT credit and VAT to be declared must be calculated correctly, in accordance with the accounting requirements.

See all software Accounting

How do I file my VAT return online?

To file a VAT return, a company must complete a return form and submit it to the tax authorities.

CA3 or CA12 VAT return: which form to submit?

Each tax regime has its own VAT return form:

• standard tax system: form CA3,
• simplified actual system: form CA12,

Page 1/2 of the CA3 VAT return for 2020/Ministère de l'action et des comptes publics

Who should file a CA3 or CA12 VAT return?

💡 Whether a business is subject to corporation tax (IS) or income tax (IR) due to its BNC or BIC regime, it can claim the simplified actual regime if it meets the conditions for the amount of VAT.

How do I complete a VAT return?

What do you need to state on your return?

• the turnover excluding VAT for the period concerned (box A, line 01),
• amounts subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20% (box B),
• amounts subject to VAT at the reduced rate of 10% (box B),
• amounts subject to VAT at the reduced rate of 5.5% (box B),
• amounts subject to VAT at the special rate of 2.1% (box B),
• amounts subject to VAT at the special rate applicable in Corsica and the French overseas departments (box B),
• the total gross amount of VAT due (line 16),
• the amount of deductible VAT that the business can reclaim (lines 0702 and 0703),
• the amount payable (VAT due - VAT paid).

💡 Note: are you lost? Instructions are available with the form when you declare your VAT online.

Example of a VAT return

How do you calculate your monthly VAT return and pay it online? The Directorate General of Public Finances explains this in this video, using the example of a business that :

• generated a turnover of €10,000 over the period to be declared,
• has €1,200 in deductible VAT.

👉 This video is a step-by-step tutorial on how to calculate and declare VAT online.

Where can I file my VAT return?

Option no. 1: declare online (EFI declaration)

You declare your VAT via the "Declare VAT" section of your Professional space ( EFI mode , Electronic Forms Interchange), on your online account on the tax authorities' website. EFI simplifies the dematerialised declaration process.

💡 "For your first payment, you will need to have sent a mandate to your bank beforehand" (source: impots.gouv.fr)

Option 2: go through a partner (EDI declaration)

EDI, which stands for Electronic Data Interchange, is a data exchange format used to dematerialise tax data.

Your EDI partner may be :

• your chartered accountant,
• an approved organisation
• a specialist service provider.

Whoever it is must use EDI-compliant accounting software.

When should VAT be declared?

VAT must be declared every year, even if the amount to be declared is zero. In this case, specify "nil". The only difference is that the frequency with which you declare VAT may vary depending on your tax regime.

For companies subject to the standard actual tax regime

• VAT returns are filed monthly. It concerns the VAT that became due during the previous month.
• If the annual amount of VAT is less than €4,000, it is possible to make one return and one payment per quarter, instead of a monthly return.

For companies under the simplified actual scheme

• If the financial year corresponds to the calendar year: declare no later than two working days after 1 May,
• If the financial year does not correspond to the calendar year: declare within three months of the end of your financial year.

VAT is paid in two instalments:

• 55% in July,
• 45% in December.

The amount of the instalments is calculated on the basis of the amount of VAT paid during the previous financial year. If this amount is less than €1,000, then the tax can be paid in a single instalment.

ℹ️ All the VAT due dates are available on the official French administration website.

How do you prepare your VAT return?

VAT returns, like other administrative formalities, can be frightening, or at least time-consuming, for managers and small businesses. Have you been procrastinating and now need to get your hands on all the amounts to declare?

Here are our tips for simplifying your VAT return next month.

Make an Excel VAT return preparation table

Build a simple Excel table to keep track of your collected VAT. For each applicable VAT rate, where applicable, you can list :

• VAT collected,
• VAT paid,
• your turnover.

Example of a preparatory table for a VAT/Zervant return

By setting up automatic formulas in your Excel spreadsheet, you can quickly obtain the amounts to be declared each month or half-year.

Automating the calculation of VAT returns with accounting software

Why use accounting software rather than Excel to prepare your VAT return? There are a number of advantages:

• Automated calculations with the correct VAT rates,
• no need to re-enter data
• a ready-to-use return,
• online VAT filing,
• traceability of your company's accounting data, including VAT returns, for you and your accountant,
• the guarantee that your returns will comply with the relevant standards.

Which software should you choose? In addition to the advantages listed above :

• Sage 50cloud Ciel helps VSEs and SMEs with a personalised diary showing the dates for filing your returns, and tracking the sending and receipt of returns;
• Yourcegid Finance Y2 manages the import of multi-company data, VAT consolidation and regularity checks for SMEs and SMIs.

Want more choice? Discover more accounting software

How does the VAT return work? Reminder of obligations

In France, businesses collect VAT on behalf of the State. With the exception of autoentrepreneurs (or microentrepreneurs), all businesses are subject to VAT and must file a VAT return.

However, as we have seen, there are several different systems, and depending on your company's tax system, your obligations will differ.

• Businesses collect VAT, but it is consumers who pay this tax (VAT collected).
• Businesses pay VAT to their suppliers.
• Businesses can reclaim the VAT they have paid on their purchases: this is deductible VAT.
• VAT can be reclaimed if the amount of deductible VAT is greater than the amount of input VAT.
• Conversely, the business pays VAT to the State when the amount of deductible VAT is less than the amount of VAT collected.

💡 VAT on debits corresponds to sales of goods. VAT on receipts corresponds to supplies of services.

See all software Accounting

5 mistakes to avoid when declaring VAT

1. Filing your VAT return after the deadline: any delay may result in penalties of 5% of the amount due.
   
2. Choosing the wrong rate: basic rate of 20% or reduced rate of 5.5%? An error in the rate leads to errors in the amount of VAT declared. So be careful.
   
3. Making calculation errors or forgetting amounts to declare: as we have seen, there are ways of preparing your return and automatically calculating deductible VAT.
   
4. Not anticipating the holiday period: is your business closed for its annual holidays? Take advantage of the system set up by the Treasury to declare your VAT even though the period is not yet over:
   • make a partial VAT return, which is provisionally valid, as long as you pay a deposit ;
   • the following month, make the adjustment by combining the two periods;
   • remember to mention this on line 2C of the return form.
     
5. Filing an incomplete VAT return: if the amount to be declared is zero, complete the form and tick the "nil" box. With regard to rounding, decimals may be disregarded for amounts of less than fifty euro cents. Beyond that, the amount should be rounded up to the nearest euro.

Do you now feel more confident about filing your VAT return?

Updated article, originally published in April 2017.