Plan contractor hiring in France

A France-resident contractor is engaged through a registered business that contracts and invoices in its own legal identity. That may be the person’s entreprise individuelle, including the micro-entrepreneur regime, or a one-person company. Registration creates a presumption that the supplier is independent. The actual operating relationship can still reverse it when the buyer exercises permanent legal subordination. The contract and invoice should therefore name the same registered supplier. Registration is the starting presumption; classification remains a separate decision about how the work is directed in practice.

Sources: French Labour Code, article L8221-6, Service Public, mandatory invoice information

If the line is crossed

Reclassification can turn the foreign buyer into the employer for the covered period even when it has no French establishment. A foreign company employing someone who falls under French social security registers through Urssaf’s service Firmes étrangères, makes the employment declarations and pays French social contributions. Where permanent subordination was used intentionally to avoid employer formalities, article L8221-6 also makes the convicted ordering party liable for employer contributions calculated on the sums paid during the concealed-employment period. If that concealed employment relationship ends, the worker has a separate statutory indemnity equal to six months of salary. International social-security coordination can change which country’s system applies, so identify the system covering the worker before calculating employer contributions.

Sources: French Labour Code, article L8221-6, Urssaf, service Firmes étrangères, French Labour Code, article L8223-1

An ordinary B2B service from a French contractor to a business abroad is invoiced without French VAT. The wording then follows the customer. An EU business customer receives an invoice marked autoliquidation, while a business established outside the EU receives TVA non applicable – art. 259-1 du CGI. That split comes from the cross-border place-of-supply rule, even where the contractor is a micro-entrepreneur or otherwise below the French VAT-franchise ceiling. First identify the buyer as a taxable business and capture its country and, for an EU buyer, VAT number. Then test the service itself. Work connected with French real estate, event admission and other listed special categories can bring taxation back to France.

Sources: French tax administration, B2B services

What an invoice has to show

• The supplier’s French legal identity, including SIREN and the form-specific wording

  For an entreprise individuelle, show the contractor’s first and family names with Entrepreneur individuel or EI, the address and SIREN. For a company, show its legal name, SIREN, registered-office address, legal form and share capital. These details let accounts payable match the invoice to the signed supplier. When the contract names a SASU or EURL, that company’s identity belongs on the invoice; when it names an EI, use the individual’s registered business identity.

  Sources: Service Public, mandatory invoice information

• Autoliquidation for an EU business customer, or TVA non applicable – art. 259-1 du CGI outside the EU

  Lead the tax review with the customer’s country and business status. For an EU taxable customer under the general B2B rule, the invoice carries autoliquidation and the relevant VAT identification numbers. For a taxable customer outside the EU, it carries TVA non applicable – art. 259-1 du CGI. The VAT-franchise phrase under article 293 B describes a different reason for leaving off French VAT and should not substitute for the cross-border wording. If the work concerns French real estate, event admission or another special category, stop and determine the actual place of supply before approving either phrase.

  Sources: French tax administration, B2B services, Service Public, mandatory invoice information

• The due date, discount terms, late-penalty rate and €40 recovery-cost notice

  French professional invoices carry the settlement date and the early-payment discount, including the prescribed statement when no discount is offered. They also state the late-penalty rate and the €40 fixed recovery-cost charge. These are invoice-content requirements even where the customer is abroad. Capture them as structured payment terms instead of leaving accounts payable to infer a date from “net” language in an email. The invoice text does not by itself decide whether every French statutory ceiling governs the cross-border contract, so align it with the signed governing-law and payment clauses before approval.

  Sources: Service Public, mandatory invoice information, DGCCRF, payment-term rules

The contractor bills by invoice, and the date on which payment falls due must appear on that document. France supplies a 30-day default after the service is performed when the parties set no term and French law governs the debt. That gives the payer a concrete fallback, but it is a poor substitute for a signed clause in a cross-border engagement. Put the invoice cadence, acceptance event and due-date calculation in the contract, then make the invoice repeat the resulting calendar date. This avoids turning an internal approval delay into an invented extension of the supplier’s term.

Sources: Service Public, mandatory invoice information, DGCCRF, payment-term rules

When invoices are settled

Where French commercial law governs, the parties can generally agree no more than 60 calendar days after invoice issue, or 45 days end of month when that alternative is written and not manifestly abusive; periodic invoices are capped at 45 days after issue. With no agreed term, payment falls due 30 days after performance. An acceptance or verification procedure normally cannot exceed 30 days after performance. A longer period, or one that shifts the maximum payment clock, must be express and non-abusive. Late penalties run without a reminder. The default rate is the applicable ECB refinancing rate plus ten points; an agreed rate cannot fall below three times the legal-interest rate. The debtor also owes the fixed €40 recovery charge.

Sources: DGCCRF, payment-term rules

The currency on the invoice

A French contractor may invoice the foreign customer in euros or in an internationally recognised currency that has an ISO 4217 code and is convertible into euros. The currency clause should name the unit, price and party carrying conversion risk. Where a special-rule service is taxable in France, a foreign-currency invoice also shows the euro countervalue of the taxable base and VAT and the exchange rate used. For the ordinary B2B service in scope, French VAT is absent, yet the contractor still records the difference between the invoiced receivable and the euro value received as a foreign-exchange gain or loss. Fixing the currency and conversion convention at signature prevents a later treasury preference from changing the commercial price.

Sources: French Ministry for the Economy, invoicing in a foreign currency, French tax administration, B2B services

Running a registered contractor through the buyer’s staff hierarchy

Registration creates the statutory presumption of independence. Permanent legal subordination can reverse it when a manager sets daily hours, directs method, controls each step and responds to failure through internal discipline. Those are the powers French courts use to identify subordination. Design the engagement around outputs, delivery dates, acceptance and contract remedies. Keep the contractor outside staff leave approval, performance ratings and disciplinary workflows. The buyer can protect quality through a precise statement of work and correction rights while leaving the supplier responsible for organising the work.

Sources: French Labour Code, article L8221-6, Cour de cassation, Social Chamber, 1 February 2000, appeal 98-46.201

Demanding France’s domestic electronic-invoice flow for a foreign-customer transaction

Transactions with operators established abroad fall into France’s e-reporting scope. The domestic electronic-invoice exchange covers transactions between businesses established in France and subject to French VAT. The contractor’s size controls the reporting start: large and mid-sized businesses enter on 1 September 2026, while small and micro businesses enter on 1 September 2027. This is a French supplier-side reporting duty. It does not make the foreign payer join a French platform or turn an otherwise valid cross-border invoice into a domestic invoice. Ask for the legally complete invoice and let the contractor route its French reporting through its chosen approved provider.

Sources: French tax administration, electronic invoicing and e-reporting