The French tax administration announces reduced VAT rate on imports

The french Tax administration has announced recently to reduce the VAT on imports to 5,50% starting from April 26th, 2020. These measures are taken in order to contain help contain the COVID19 crisis.

These exceptionnal measures concern the following products:

• masks
• protective clothing
• body hygiene products

This was published in the official journal of the tax administration the day after, April 27th.

We'd like to remind you that this texts also provides a retroactive clause concerning the intracommunity movements (sales from one EU country to another EU member state).

• Concerning masks and protective clothing, the intracommunity movement is counting from March 24th onwards
• Concerning the body hygiene products, the intracommunity movement is counting as from March 1st onwards.

For the moment there is no detailed list of products available, eligible to be qualified under the reduced VAT rate of 5,50%.

We'd also like to refer to the official text of the french tax code: Article 278-0 bis du Code Général des Impôts. To read this text directly on the website of the french tax administration, click here.