Does France Have Sales Tax? VAT Rates, Refunds, and Imports

France does not have a sales tax in the American sense. It charges a Value Added Tax, called TVA (Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée), which is already built into the price you see on the shelf or the menu. The standard rate is 20%, with lower rates for food, medicine, and other essentials, and non-EU visitors can reclaim the tax on many purchases when they leave the country.¹

How VAT Differs from a Sales Tax

A U.S.-style sales tax is added at the register. French VAT is not. Prices in France are displayed TTC (toutes taxes comprises), meaning the tax is already inside the number on the tag. If a jacket is marked €150, you pay €150. Your receipt usually shows a second line labeled HT (hors taxes), which is the pre-tax figure — useful if you want to see exactly how much VAT you paid, but not something that changes what you owe at checkout.²

Behind the scenes, VAT is collected at every step of the supply chain. Each business charges VAT on its sales, deducts the VAT it paid on its own purchases, and sends the difference to the government. The consumer at the end of the chain carries the full weight of the tax.² For a shopper, the practical effect is just that there are no surprises at the register.

The Four VAT Rates

The rate depends on what you buy, not where in mainland France you buy it.

20% is the standard rate and covers most goods and services: clothing, electronics, appliances, furniture, professional services, and alcoholic beverages whether at a shop or with a meal.³
10% applies to restaurant meals and non-alcoholic drinks eaten on the premises, passenger transport, hotel stays, and certain renovation work on homes older than two years.³
5.5% covers everyday essentials — staple foods like bread and fresh produce, bottled water, books, feminine hygiene products, equipment for people with disabilities, and residential gas and electricity subscriptions.³
2.1% is a super-reduced rate for a narrow set of items: pharmaceuticals reimbursable by social security, certain press publications, and admission to some live cultural performances.

A couple of quirks matter for tourists. Eat in a restaurant and your food is taxed at 10%, but any wine or beer you order alongside jumps to 20%. Order the same food to go and you often pay 5.5%, because takeaway is treated as a food product rather than a catering service.

Corsica and the Overseas Departments

The four-rate system above is mainland France. If your trip includes Corsica or the overseas departments, expect different numbers. Corsica keeps the 20% standard rate but drops many mainland-10% items to lower island rates and uses a special 0.9% rate for a handful of categories, including sales of live animals and first performances of musical works.

Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion use an 8.5% standard rate with a 2.1% reduced rate. French Guiana and Mayotte sit outside the VAT system entirely and charge no VAT at all.

Getting Some of the Tax Back as a Non-EU Visitor

If you live outside the European Union — the United States, the United Kingdom after Brexit, Canada, or elsewhere — you can reclaim the VAT on many purchases through the “détaxe” system.

Who Qualifies and What Counts

You must be at least 16 and reside outside the EU, and you need to spend at least €100 in total on qualifying goods. The items must leave the EU before the end of the third month following the month of purchase, so something bought on March 15 must be out of the EU by June 30.⁴⁵

Several categories are excluded from the refund program:⁵

Tobacco products
Weapons and ammunition
Cultural goods such as protected artworks and antiques
Certain private-use vehicles, including go-karts, snowmobiles, and ultralight aircraft
Petroleum products
Goods bought for professional or commercial use

Services do not qualify either. Hotel stays, restaurant meals, and guided tours are consumed in France rather than exported home, so their VAT stays with the French treasury.

How the Refund Actually Works

Ask the retailer at checkout for a tax-free form (bordereau de vente à l’exportation). The shop creates an electronic form tied to your passport, listing the items and the VAT paid. When you leave the EU, validate the form at a PABLO self-service kiosk at the airport or major train station by scanning the barcode. If the kiosk rejects your scan or none is available, a customs officer can stamp the form manually. Keep the goods accessible in your carry-on, since customs may want to see them.⁴

Once the form is validated, the refund comes either at a cash window in the airport, where available, or by bank transfer from the retailer or a tax-refund operator such as Global Blue or Planet.⁴ These operators charge a commission, so you will not get back the full 20%. Most travelers report recovering roughly 10% to 12% of the purchase price after fees.

If you forget to validate before flying home, you have six months from the purchase date to fix it. You will need either a customs receipt from your home country showing you declared and paid duty on the goods, or a certificate from the French embassy or consulate confirming they inspected the items, sent along with your travel ticket, a passport copy, and a letter of explanation to the customs office at your original departure point in France.⁴

Bringing Goods Into France or Ordering from Abroad

Goods shipped into France from outside the EU are subject to import VAT at the same rate that applies domestically — 20% for most consumer products — plus any applicable customs duties. That covers online orders from U.S. retailers and packages sent by friends abroad.

If you are traveling into mainland France from a non-EU country, you can bring goods without paying duty or VAT as long as the total value stays under set thresholds:⁶

€430 for air or sea travelers aged 15 and older
€300 for land travelers aged 15 and older
€150 for travelers under 15

Any single item that pushes you over the allowance must be declared, and VAT and duty apply to its full value, not just the excess. As of March 2026, France also charges a €2 administrative fee per consignment valued at €150 or less shipped from non-EU countries to individuals, to cover customs processing.

1
impots.gouv.fr. TVA
2
Ministère de l’Économie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle, énergétique et numérique. La TVA, qu’est-ce que c’est?
3
European Parliamentary Research Service. Highs and Lows: VAT Rate-Setting in the European Union
4
Douanes. VAT Refund Process in France
5
Service-Public.fr. Sale in Tax Free to Tourists
6
Portail de la Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects. Customs and Tax Exemptions in Quantities and Values