In brief: you cannot apply a single rule to all invoicing to the European Union. The treatment depends in particular on the nature of the transaction and your client’s VAT status. The sources examined specify certain cases involving supplies of goods and transactions for which the client is liable for VAT, but they do not make it possible here to determine a general rule for all supplies of services.
Supply of goods to another Member State
To fall under the situation provided for in Article 262 ter, you must make a supply of goods dispatched or transported to another Member State of the European Union.
Your client must be a taxable person, or a non-taxable legal person, identified for VAT purposes in a Member State other than the Member State of departure. They must also have provided you with their VAT identification number.
This provision concerns the supply of goods described in Article 262 ter. You cannot automatically extend it to all sales, all goods or supplies of services.
When your client is liable for VAT
If your client established in another Member State is liable for VAT, the invoicing rules provided for in Article 289 apply to transactions carried out by you when the place of establishment of your economic activity is in France or when you have a fixed establishment in France from which the transaction is carried out.
This rule applies subject to the exception provided for when you have appointed your client to issue invoices in your name and on your behalf.
Details and checks not specified here
The extracts examined refer to the invoicing rules of Article 289, without reproducing all the mandatory details to be included on the invoice. Therefore, they do not make it possible to specify here the required details, VAT rates or any mention of a reverse charge.
For the supply of goods covered by Article 262 ter, the sources confirm the importance of the VAT identification number provided by your client. However, they do not specify the procedure or service to use to verify it.
Limitations of the answer
The sources examined do not make it possible to determine the VAT treatment of all supplies of services based solely on the nature of your client. Nor do they make it possible to specify the deadlines, periodic returns, forms or an online or paper-based procedure for all transactions invoiced to a client located in the European Union.
The distinction to retain is therefore as follows: Article 262 ter covers a specific category of supplies of goods, whereas Article 289-0 organizes the application of the invoicing rules when your client established in another Member State is liable for VAT, under the conditions provided for by that provision.