France VAT invoice compliance rules tighten

The French Supreme Court has imposed tighter rules for foreign companies processing French VAT invoices.

In a recent court decision, a French VAT registered business was ruled as not being able to recover the VAT on an input invoice because the date was not correctly shown.  This is a basic EU VAT invoice requirement in France and other EU member states.  The appellant had asserted that  the invoice date was contained within the invoice number, this has held as insufficient.

Whilst appearing draconian, this case underlines the increasing strictness being applied by French and European VAT authorities on observance of the VAT Directive and local laws.