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Declaring American clients to the European authorities
Thread poster: Alexandre Tissot
Alexandre Tissot
Alexandre Tissot  Identity Verified
Local time: 21:30
Member (2012)
English to French
+ ...
Mar 28, 2013

Good afternoon,

I am a French freelance translator set in France. I have a special status in France that is sole trader ("auto-entrepreneur"). With the latter, I do not pay VAT and my customers do not pay it to me because VAT is not applicable pursuant to article 293 B of the CGI (French tax code). VAT reverse charge as per the European 2006/112/CE directive.

So, I use this VAT number to declare the business I do with my customers to the European authorities.

... See more
Good afternoon,

I am a French freelance translator set in France. I have a special status in France that is sole trader ("auto-entrepreneur"). With the latter, I do not pay VAT and my customers do not pay it to me because VAT is not applicable pursuant to article 293 B of the CGI (French tax code). VAT reverse charge as per the European 2006/112/CE directive.

So, I use this VAT number to declare the business I do with my customers to the European authorities.

However, I have a question about the American clients. Since the American companies do not have any VAT number, how can I declare them to the European authorities, please?

If you have any experience connected to this question, feel free to share it.

Best regards,

Alexandre Tissot ▲ Collapse
 
Michiel Leeuwenburgh
Michiel Leeuwenburgh  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 21:30
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
You don't. Mar 28, 2013

Not for VAT declarations anyway. There is no VAT treaty between the US and the EU, so you cannot charge VAT to US clients. And so there is no question of VAT declarations for US clients.
Of course, you do have to declare income from the US when it comes to income tax, but that is another story.
At least, this is how it works in the Netherlands.
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 20:30
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
The problem is with the name Mar 28, 2013

Some sort of value-added tax is charged by many countries around the world, and each country has a list of circumstances where the tax is charged. Within the EU Fiscal Zone, it gets a bit complicated but essentially if you're in an EU country then dealings with other EU countries are subject to EU VAT (unless you live within the Political EU but outside of the Fiscal EU, e.g. the Canary or Channel Islands, as I do... See more
Some sort of value-added tax is charged by many countries around the world, and each country has a list of circumstances where the tax is charged. Within the EU Fiscal Zone, it gets a bit complicated but essentially if you're in an EU country then dealings with other EU countries are subject to EU VAT (unless you live within the Political EU but outside of the Fiscal EU, e.g. the Canary or Channel Islands, as I do). You may not actually pay the EU VAT, but it has to be recorded.

The export of services from the EU to any non-EU country is quite simply outside the scope of EU VAT. ▲ Collapse
 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 21:30
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
Exactly... Mar 28, 2013

Michiel Leeuwenburgh wrote:

Not for VAT declarations anyway. There is no VAT treaty between the US and the EU, so you cannot charge VAT to US clients. And so there is no question of VAT declarations for US clients.
Of course, you do have to declare income from the US when it comes to income tax, but that is another story.
At least, this is how it works in the Netherlands.


It works like that also in Italy (where I was registered until end of 2011) and Spain (where I am registered now) except Canary Islands as Sheila said.

So... we have to declare our extra EU invoices for tax purposes but not for VAT declaration purposes.
 
Alexandre Tissot
Alexandre Tissot  Identity Verified
Local time: 21:30
Member (2012)
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you very much! Apr 2, 2013

Thank you very much for your answers!

By the way, I hope you had a good Easter.
 


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Declaring American clients to the European authorities







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