How to Calculate Duties and Taxes on Imports to France

French import VAT runs at 20%, 10%, 5.5% or 2.1% on the customs value plus duty and costs to the first destination, and VAT-registered businesses self-assess it on their CA3 return instead of paying at the border. Online purchases from outside the EU worth EUR 150 or less also pay EUR 3 duty per article category, and all online purchases pay a EUR 2 fee per category since 1 November 2026. France’s own EUR 2 parcel tax was repealed on 1 July 2026, so don’t add it.

• Valuation basis: CIF
• Tax base: Customs value plus duties and other charges due on import, plus incidental costs such as transport and insurance to the first place of destination. Under IOSS, VAT is on the sale price at checkout.
• VAT standard rate: 20%. Mainland rates. Lower rates apply in Guadeloupe, Martinique and La Reunion, for example 8.5%.
• Reduced rates: 10%, 5.5%, 2.1%

IOSS: non-EU sellers and marketplaces may register in one member state, through an EU intermediary unless their country has a qualifying recovery agreement, to charge destination VAT on consignments up to EUR 150, excluding excise goods. Without IOSS, Special Arrangements or standard import VAT apply. From 1 November 2026 product identifiers are mandatory on these distance sales.

• Douane says the national tax was introduced in March 2026 and repealed on 1 July 2026. The day, 1 March, is from a search excerpt of the Bercy page, and some commentary says suspended, not repealed.

Since 1 January 2022, autoliquidation of import VAT has been compulsory and automatic for businesses registered for VAT in France. There's no authorisation to apply for. You declare the import VAT on your monthly or quarterly CA3 and deduct it on the same return if you're entitled to, so no cash leaves the business for VAT at import.

You must give a valid French intra-EU VAT number at clearance. Douane checks it, and a declaration with an invalid number won't validate in Delta. A company established abroad without a French number needs to arrange it with the DGFiP first, and a customs broker can handle the Delta filing.

Private individuals, and public bodies not registered for VAT in France, stay with customs: Douane collects the VAT. Who owes it depends on the sale: the seller for a delivery in France, a platform facilitating a distance sale, or the consignee named on the declaration.

Two things separate France from most of the EU: self-assessment of import VAT is compulsory for registered businesses, and France had a brief national parcel tax that has now gone.

For a business importer, duty is due to customs and VAT goes on the CA3. For a consumer, the platform, seller or carrier handles customs and passes the cost on. Douane says it will never ask a private individual to pay these amounts directly, and warns about scams that pretend otherwise.

The sums follow EU rules. Up to EUR 150, a distance sale pays a flat EUR 3 per category. Above that, the tariff rate applies to the customs value, which includes transport and insurance to the EU border. The EUR 2 fee applies at any value on distance sales. VAT is then charged on the customs value, plus duties and other import taxes (not VAT itself), plus incidental costs such as commission, packing, transport and insurance to the first destination. Duty calculation covers the mechanics, and the import duty calculator does it for a real parcel.

1. Classify: find the tariff code with the HS code classifier. It sets the duty rate and helps fix the VAT rate.
2. Identify the buyer: consumer or business. Only a distance sale to a consumer can use the flat duty and owes the fee.
3. Check EUR 150: on the goods alone, for the whole consignment.
4. Add duty: EUR 3 per category up to EUR 150, or the tariff rate on the customs value above it, or for any business purchase.
5. Add the fee: EUR 2 per category for any distance sale.
6. Choose the VAT rate: 20% by default, 5.5% for most food and books, 10% for non-reimbursed medicines, 2.1% for reimbursed medicines.
7. Apply VAT: on the customs value, duties, fee and costs to the first destination. Businesses enter this on the CA3 and don’t pay it at the border.

Linen scarf and a phone stand, no IOSS, two categories.

Jigsaw puzzle with IOSS, where the seller charges duty and fee to the buyer at checkout, one category.

If the seller absorbs the EUR 5, it stays out of the VAT calculation.

Pump parts to a VAT-registered company in Lyon, tariff rate assumed at 3.5%.

• Paying import VAT to customs as a registered business: it goes on the CA3. Having no valid French VAT number at clearance blocks the declaration.
• Adding the old EUR 2 French tax: repealed on 1 July 2026. The EUR 2 now on the bill is the EU fee, charged per category.
• Using 20% on everything: most retail food and books take 5.5%, and reimbursed medicines 2.1%.
• Paying a “customs” text message: Douane doesn’t ask individuals to pay. Payment requests come from the platform or the carrier.
• Counting by quantity: two identical T-shirts are one category. A T-shirt and a toy are two.

The French tax on small parcels. It was introduced in March 2026 and repealed on 1 July 2026, when the EU duty started. Older articles and some calculators still mention it. Don't charge it on current imports.

Overseas. Lower rates apply in Guadeloupe, Martinique and La Réunion, for example 8.5% where the mainland rate is 20%, and 2.1% on human medicines and menstrual products. Certain essential health and food products are exempt on import there, listed in article 50 duodecies of the Code général des impôts. VAT is provisionally not applied in French Guiana and Mayotte.

Goods already bought but still abroad. Buying from an EU website doesn't avoid the charges. Douane looks at where the goods are when the sale is concluded: if they're still outside the EU, the charges apply.

Refusing delivery. If a carrier asks for payment and you refuse, it can hold the parcel or send it back, depending on the seller's and carrier's terms. Any extra charges are contractual, so raise them with the carrier.

Business purchases. The flat duty is written for distance sales, and Douane’s guidance is about those. A French company buying a small consignment pays the normal tariff, as Irish, German and Austrian customs instructions state.

Coming next. The EUR 3 duty ends on 1 July 2028 unless extended. The EU rule is set out in de minimis, and sellers should read IOSS and VAT. This page is guidance, not legal advice.