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Management of the new procedure by the Public Finances General Directorate when France is the Member State of refund

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROCEDURE

As provided for in Directive 2008/9/EC, the new procedure has come into force since 1 January 2010 for refund applications submitted by businesses established in another Member State.

The Directive will be transposed into French law by the end of 2009 and will be accompanied by publication of an administrative circular specifying the arrangements for processing of refund applications by the Public Finances General Directorate (DGFiP).

ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION FOR REFUND OF FRENCH VAT

> What are the formalities?

To receive a French VAT refund, taxable persons established in another Member State must submit their applications via the electronic portal provided by their Member State of establishment. The information to be entered in the electronic form has been standardised at EU level and agrees with the information specified in Directive 2008/9/EC:

- Identification of applicant and bank account details (Art. 8.1);

- List of purchases/imports (Art. 8.2) using codes to describe the nature of the goods/services acquired (Art. 9).

The Member State of establishment will check that the applicant is a taxable person before forwarding the electronic application to the Member State of refund pursuant to Article 18 of the directive.

> For further information on how to access the portal and its features, applicants are invited to contact the administration of their Member State of establishment. Moreover, France has asked the Commission to promote the pooling of information on each Member State's planned arrangements so that this information can be made available to applicants on the tax portal.

> May a foreign applicant appoint an agent?

The refund application is generally submitted by the applicant, but it may also legitimately be submitted on behalf of the taxable person by a third party appointed for this purpose. The electronic portals set up by Member States are usually designed to allow applicants to delegate submission of an application to a third party.

In addition to information about the applicant, an agent must enter his own identification data on the electronic form (name, postal address and e-mail address). If the agent has also been nominated as the payee, he must enter his bank account details in the field provided for this purpose.

> For further information on how an agent appointed by the applicant can access electronic procedures, the businesses concerned are invited to contact the administration of their Member State of establishment.

* What specific information does France require?

> Currency (Directive 2008/9/EC, Art. 8.2(e) and (f))

The taxable amount and the amount of VAT must be expressed in euros, the currency that is legal tender in France.

> Secondary codes for nature of goods/services acquired (Directive 2008/9/EC, Art 9.2)

In the refund application the nature of the goods and services acquired must be indicated by a secondary code in addition to the classification set out in Article 9.1. A definitive list of the secondary codes used by France is made available through publication of an official decision by the Commission.

> Copies of invoices and importation documents (Directive 2008/9/EC, Art. 10)

Applicants must attach to their electronic refund applications scanned copies of invoices or importation documents if the taxable amount is €1000 or more, or €250 or more where fuel is concerned. At this stage the Commission recommends that file size be limited to 5 MB, and discussions are still in progress to determine alternative methods of submitting the full number of invoice copies required.

> Description of activities (Directive 2008/9/EC, Art. 11)

in addition to the information required by Article 8 of the directive, applicants must provide a description of their business activities using NACE codes.

> Language preferences (Directive 2008/9/EC, Art. 12)

‘Free text' fields in the refund application must be completed in French or English. Replies to information requests from the administration (Directive 2008/9/EC, Art. 20) must also be written in one of these languages.

> Applications submitted by an agent

The arrangements for handling refund applications submitted by an agent on behalf of a taxable person established in another Member State will not be affected by the new procedure. The nature of the authority required, as currently defined in Circular 3 D-2-99, should remain the same. An agent submitting applications for refund of French VAT via the portal provided by the applicant's Member State of establishment must supply proof that he is authorised to do so in the form of a letter of appointment that will serve as legal authority and which must be sent by post to the DGFiP's VAT

> Refund Department (Service de Remboursement de la TVA). This document must be in French.

The nature of the authority required for receiving a VAT refund on behalf of a foreign applicant will be specified in an administrative circular to be issued by the end of the year.

In order not to delay the processing of refund applications, the applicant (or his agent) must ensure that the authority required by the French administration is sent to the DGFiP's VAT Refund Department at the same time as the application is submitted electronically through the portal provided by the Member State of establishment. It should be noted that the authority cannot be forwarded electronically within the framework of the IT arrangements implemented by the various Member States.

FRANCE'S ARRANGEMENTS FOR PROCESSING REFUND APPLICATIONS

> How will a foreign applicant be notified that his application has been received by France?

Upon receiving the refund application files forwarded by other Member States, the DGFiP will check the message syntax with a view to issuing confirmation of receipt (Directive 2008/9/EC, Art. 19.1).

Confirmation of receipt of the application by France will be notified to the applicant electronically via the Member State of establishment. Depending on the arrangements of the Member State of establishment, confirmation of receipt will be sent to the applicant either by e-mail (with a copy to the agent, where appropriate) or by posting the information on the electronic portal.

> Who processes the applications?

The contact details of the department responsible for processing applications sent to France will remain the same:

Service de Remboursement de la TVA

10, rue du Centre

TSA 60015

93465 NOISY-LE-GRAND CEDEX

Tel: +33 (0)1 57 33 84 00

Fax: +33 (0)1 57 33 84 85

E-mail: sr-tva.dresg@dgfip.finances.gouv.fr

When processing applications, the DGFiP's VAT Refund Department may, if it considers that it does not have all the relevant information to make a decision on part or all of the refund application, request additional information by e-mail or by post from the applicant, the competent authorities of the Member State of establishment, or a third party such as the agent (Directive 2008/9/EC, Art. 20).

The applicant will be kept informed by the VAT Refund Department of any extension to the time-limit for processing the application following a request for further information or any request sent to a third party (an agent or supplier, for example) or the Member State of establishment.

> How will an applicant be notified of the decision?

The procedure for notification of the decision is set out in Article 19.2 of Directive 2008/9/EC.

With the computerised system proposed by the Commission, the DGFiP will send an electronic decisionnotification message, for information. This notification will contain the main elements of the decision:

date, nature, amount claimed, amount refunded and, where appropriate, the main grounds for refusal.

Depending on the provisions made by the Member State of establishment, the decision will be notified either by e-mail (with a copy to the agent, where appropriate) or by posting the information on the electronic portal.

For decisions adversely affecting applicants (part approval or outright refusal), the e-mail will be supplemented by postal notification of the official decision specifying the grounds for refusal.

The refund of the amount approved will be paid by bank transfer to the account specified on the form within ten days of the date of the decision (Directive 2008/9/EC, Art. 22).

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