TLDR: If you have a non-carry-forward VAT credit, you must use the form suited to your situation and submit it with the return showing this credit. For form no. 3519-SD, submission is made electronically. Special rules apply depending on your tax regime or country of establishment.
Refund of a non-carry-forward VAT credit
This content concerns the refund of non-carry-forward VAT credits. It does not present a single general procedure for all VAT carry-forward requests or for all categories of taxpayers.
In the general case, you use form no. 3519-SD, also identified as CERFA no. 11255, available on the impots.gouv.fr website. This form is intended in particular for businesses subject to the standard actual turnover regime, businesses that have opted for this regime and, under certain conditions, farmers subject to a monthly or quarterly return.
If you are subject to the simplified tax regime, your refund claim may have to be included directly on the annual adjustment return provided for under this regime.
The form and return to be submitted
You must submit the claim to the business tax department at the same time as the VAT return showing the credit for which you are requesting a refund.
Depending on your filing situation, this is notably return no. 3310-CA3-SD or return no. 3517-S-SD CA12/CA12E. You must use the return corresponding to your regime and the period concerned.
Form no. 3519-SD must be submitted electronically. Businesses subject to VAT e-filing and electronic VAT payment obligations must also use electronic transmission for their refund claim.
Supporting documents
You must attach bank, postal or savings bank account details:
- with your first refund claim;
- or when you change the account used for the refund.
The account details must correspond exactly to the name of the business or to that of the duly qualified representative.
When this is a new business’s first claim, or when the tax department requests it, you must also attach a statement of purchase and service invoices. This statement must indicate the suppliers or service providers, their addresses, the date and amount of each invoice, as well as the corresponding amount of VAT. The total of the tax column must be calculated.
For a provisional refund claim relating to the acquisition of fixed assets, you must attach the original invoices showing the deductible VAT concerned. Under the simplified regime, this type of provisional refund is subject to a minimum amount of €760.
Deadlines according to your regime
Under the general regime, the claim corresponding to a VAT credit must be filed with the January return for the year concerned or, at the latest, by 31 December of the second following year.
Under the standard actual regime, annual claims are filed during January for the previous calendar year. Quarterly claims are filed during the month following the quarter concerned. Monthly claims are filed during the month following the month concerned, when the deductible VAT credit reaches at least €760.
The deadline and amount rules vary depending on the tax regime and the nature of the refund. You must therefore check that the form and filing period correspond to your situation.
Special situations
If you are established in another Member State of the European Union and are requesting a refund of VAT charged to you in France, you must submit your claim through the electronic portal of the Member State in which you are established. The competent French department may request additional information from you or request it from the authorities of your Member State of establishment.
If you are established outside the European Union and do not carry out taxable transactions in France, you must use form no. 3559-SD. Form no. 3559-BIS-SD concerns claims submitted as part of occasional tax representation or an occasional tax mandate.
For a claim by a taxable person established in another Member State, the first request for additional information must be made within four months following receipt of the claim. The department is not required to communicate its decision before the expiry of a six-month period from that receipt.