Fiscal Partner
Leading firm for French VAT fiscal representation, compliance and support of companies not established in France. Dedicated contact, multilingual follow-up.
Visit the websiteLegal framework, place of supply, DES
The DES rests on article 289 B of the Code général des impôts (CGI, French Tax Code) and on article 262 of implementing regulation 282/2011, which sets out the rules for declaring intra-Community services. The general B2B rule is that the place of taxation is that of the customer (article 44 of directive 2006/112/EC), with reverse charge by the latter. The French supplier invoices free of VAT, mentions article 44 and the customer's intra-Community VAT number, then includes each transaction in the DES for the month when the service was performed.
The derogating rules of article 47 (immovable property), article 50 (auction sales), article 53 (access to a cultural, educational or sporting event) or article 55 (on-board catering) remove certain services from the DES scope, since they do not follow the customer's place. The firm's work consists precisely in sorting, line by line, what falls within the DES and what does not.
The DES is mandatory regardless of amount. A single service per month is enough to trigger a filing. The quarterly election threshold, introduced to simplify small volumes, allows a supplier that carries out no supplies of goods and less than 50,000 euros of intra-Community services per quarter to switch to quarterly filing, upon formal option with Customs.
Services concerned, who must file in 2026?
The DES covers every B2B service subject to the general rule, supplied by a French taxable person to a taxable customer identified for VAT in another Member State. The fields concerned are broad: consulting, audit, legal services, studies, engineering, architecture, advertising, marketing, IT services, software licences, sub-contracted work, remote maintenance, intellectual services, B2B training not tied to an event, long-term hire of means of transport, management fees.
B2C services do not fall under the DES. Electronically supplied, telecommunications and broadcasting services provided to private individuals in the EU fall within the OSS one-stop-shop (see the page OSS and IOSS for e-commerce). Services exempted under other provisions (financial services, health services) also leave the scope.
| Type of service | Place of taxation | DES |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting, audit, B2B legal | Customer's country (art. 44) | Yes |
| Engineering, studies, R&D | Customer's country | Yes |
| Long-term hire of means of transport B2B | Customer's country | Yes |
| Immovable-property services (art. 47) | Country of the property | No |
| Access to a cultural or sporting event | Place of the event | No |
| B2C electronic services | Consumer's country (OSS) | No |
Permanent establishments of a foreign company in France, branches and VAT groups within the meaning of article 256 C of the CGI may also be required to file the DES when they invoice intra-Community services from the French VAT number. An experienced firm is able to map emission points and consolidate filings by legal entity.
Services of a specialised DES firm
The engagement combines legal expertise on VAT place-of-supply and data engineering on invoice extraction. It is organised around seven concrete services.
- Review of billing general terms: mandatory statements, explicit mention of article 44 of the directive, reporting of the customer's VAT number, sequential numbering, bilingual template where needed.
- Mapping of services by product line and fee family, tying each accounting code to a place-of-supply rule, reference matrix for the sales teams.
- Real-time VIES check of customers' intra-Community VAT numbers before invoicing, retention of proof of check (timestamp, VIES reference), alerts in case of invalidity or suspension.
- Monthly extraction of invoices from the ERP, filtering of intra-Community B2B services, removal of duplicates, reconciliation with the general ledger and the CA3 VAT return.
- Production of the DES XML file compliant with the Customs format, filing through pro.douane.gouv.fr, archiving of the administrative acknowledgement, traceability in an electronic register.
- Management of corrections: filing of a corrective DES in case of omission, double counting or country error, with an explanatory memo attached to pre-empt any follow-up.
- Response to VIES enquiries, which have multiplied since the introduction of automated consistency checks between VAT returns, recapitulative statements and replies from other Member States.
Deliverables include a client-specific DES manual, the series of XML files filed, the VIES check register, a monthly dashboard by country and a variance statement against the CA3. The firm also runs a hotline for non-standard cases (composite service, intra-group recharges, freelancer established abroad, digital platform).
Typical DES matrix by customer country
The chart below shows the monthly breakdown of a DES for an average French consulting firm, by customer country. It helps finance teams calibrate volumes per jurisdiction and focus VIES checks on high-volume countries.
Criteria to choose your DES firm
Selection rests on four key points. First, fine mastery of place-of-supply rules. The DES does not boil down to the IT execution of the filing; the real added value is the qualification of each service. A credible firm trains a team on the Court of Justice case law (CJEU C-605/12, C-155/12, C-421/10) and on the BOFIP-Impôts doctrine BOI-TVA-DECLA-20-30-40.
Second, operational robustness. A client portal, ERP connectors, a validation workflow, a timestamped audit trail, automatic alerts on invalid VIES numbers; these building blocks turn a tedious obligation into a controlled process.
Third, defence capability in the event of a cross-check. The DGFiP now compares your DES with CA3 data and with replies from foreign administrations. A firm that anticipates these cross-checks prepares the evidence, formalises doubtful cases and reduces the risk of reassessment.
Fourth, broader coverage. The best DES firms also cover the French CA3 return, the multi-country VAT audit review and the coordination with the electronic-invoicing obligations planned for 2026.
Comparative analysis and field feedback
Three profiles of players share the engagement. The large accountancy networks (Mazars, Grant Thornton, BDO, RSM) embed the DES in their global VAT offering, with a flat smoothed fee, a standardised documentary platform and a dedicated team per sector. Independent VAT firms (TAJ, Fiscalead, TVA Conseil) bring strong specialisation, often led by former tax inspectors, with faster response times. Outsourced providers (Fiscal Connexion, Fiscal Partner, Experts TVA) cover the DES within a full-service compliance offering, including CA3, DES, DEB and fiscal representation.
Field feedback identifies four success factors: a written and shared invoicing procedure, a monthly DES versus ledger reconciliation, a pre-invoice VIES check, a single client-side lead. The recurring pitfalls are invoicing without the customer's VAT number (which requalifies the service as B2C), confusion between electronic services and remote consulting (which leads to the wrong declarative circuit), under-reporting of a composite service split into several natures.
A services group that outsourced its DES to a specialist cut its annual corrections by 70 per cent in two years, largely thanks to the systematic VIES checks and early dialogue with the DGFiP on atypical cases.