Like may EU countries, France has been looking to consolidate its numerous reduced VAT rates to comply with the EU VAT Directive. This only permits countries to have two reduced VAT rates in addition to the standard, higher rate. The current standard VAT rate in France is 19.6%. The French VAT rate is due to rise to 20% on 1 January 2014.
The Ministry of Finance had announced as part of this re-working of the French Value Added Tax regime that the art import tax rate would have to increase to the new 10% reduced rate. But this reversal has come as the art dealer network has campaigned to help ensure Paris retains is position as one of the most important art markets. For example, the UK VAT rate is 5% for imported art work. There is now import VAT in the US, where New York is the other major art world competitor to Paris.
