Starting an online store in France: legal status, VAT and obligations

Technically, an online store can be up and running in a weekend. The legal, tax and consumer-law framework, however, has to be settled before the first order, and early mistakes are expensive to fix: a status that does not fit your real margin, VAT overlooked on sales to Germany or Spain, copied terms of sale that mention neither the withdrawal right nor the consumer mediator. This guide is a launch roadmap: it follows the order in which we advise founders to make these decisions, from VAT to terms of sale and payment receipts. The in-depth comparison of legal forms (SASU, EURL, SAS, holding company) belongs to another article, the right legal structure for an e-commerce business, to which we refer for that choice.

Quick answer. To start an online store in France, choose your status based on expected margin and volume: the micro-enterprise allows up to €203,100 in annual sales (2026 threshold), while a company suits significant stock or co-founders. The VAT exemption ends at €85,000 of sales in 2026, and above €10,000 of EU distance sales, the buyer's country VAT applies.

The legal status of an online store should be chosen first according to gross margin and the need to finance stock, not only expected turnover. Two families coexist: the micro-enterprise (sole proprietorship under the micro regime) and the company, most often a SASU or an EURL (single-shareholder simplified company or limited liability company).

The micro-enterprise is a simplified sole-proprietorship regime in which income tax and social contributions are calculated on turnover, with no deduction of actual expenses. For sales of goods, the ceiling is €203,100 of annual turnover for 2026 to 2028, according to Service Public Entreprendre and Urssaf, prorated in the year of creation.

The micro-BIC tax regime applies a flat 71% allowance on turnover from purchase-resale activities, according to impots.gouv.fr. This allowance is meant to cover all your expenses: purchases of goods, advertising, platform commissions, payment fees, packaging, returns.

Our reading: margin comes before volume#

At the firm, we look at one question first: will your actual expenses exceed 71% of your turnover? For resale of wholesale products with sustained paid acquisition (Meta, Google, influencers), this is common. In that case, the micro-enterprise taxes you on a theoretical profit higher than your real profit, and social contributions, calculated on turnover, still weigh on months when your margin is zero.

Conversely, for handmade products or a high-margin brand testing its market, the micro-enterprise remains a simple and reversible starting point. The detailed comparison between SASU, EURL, SAS and holding company, including the impact on the founder's pay and fundraising, is covered in the legal structure article cited in the introduction: here we only keep the decision logic at launch.

An online store does not charge VAT as long as it benefits from the VAT exemption for small businesses (franchise en base de TVA), meaning as long as its sales stay below €85,000 in 2026, according to Service Public Entreprendre. The franchise en base is a regime that exempts small businesses from collecting and filing VAT, whatever their legal form: a SASU can also benefit from it.

The tolerance threshold is €93,500 in 2026 for sales of goods: between €85,000 and €93,500, the exemption is kept until 31 December of the year. The plan for a single €25,000 threshold, introduced by the 2025 Finance Act, was abandoned by a law enacted on 3 November 2025. The thresholds for services are €37,500 (tolerance threshold €41,250).

Under the exemption, every invoice must carry the statement « TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI » (VAT not applicable, article 293 B of the French Tax Code), as economie.gouv.fr reminds. The trade-off is often forgotten: a business under the exemption does not recover VAT on its stock purchases, tools or advertising.

Trade-off: stay exempt or opt into VAT?#

Staying exempt benefits a store that sells mostly to consumers: its displayed price includes no collected VAT, which leaves room against VAT-registered competitors. Opting into VAT makes sense when you buy a lot of stock or advertising with recoverable VAT, or when you sell to businesses that deduct VAT. The calculation should be based on your forecast, not on intuition.

An intra-EU distance sale is the sale of goods shipped from France to a consumer in another Member State. As long as the total of these sales stays below €10,000 excluding VAT over the current and previous calendar year, French VAT applies, according to impots.gouv.fr and the BOFiP (official French tax doctrine).

Above €10,000, the VAT of the country of delivery becomes due, at that country's rate. The OSS (One-Stop-Shop, guichet unique de TVA) is the optional European Union scheme that lets you declare and pay this foreign VAT from your French business tax account, without registering in each country. The detail of quarterly returns and rates by country is covered in our article on VAT and IOSS obligations in e-commerce.

The IOSS (Import One-Stop-Shop) is the part of the one-stop shop reserved for goods imported from non-EU countries in consignments with an intrinsic value of €150 or less. It directly concerns dropshipping models sourcing from Asia. The adjustments made by the latest budget to platforms and to the one-stop shop are summarised in our update on the 2026 Finance Act and e-commerce.

The underestimated risk: one threshold for the whole of Europe#

The €10,000 threshold is not assessed country by country: it combines all distance sales to all other Member States, together with certain electronic services supplied to European consumers. A store selling €3,000 in Belgium, €4,000 in Germany and €3,500 in Italy has already crossed the threshold. Set up a sales report by country of delivery in your CMS from day one: it is the data most often missing when a correction is needed.

An e-commerce website must display legal notices, general terms of sale and complete pre-contractual information before any order. Legal notices stem from the French law on confidence in the digital economy (LCEN) of 21 June 2004.

A company's legal notices include its registered name, legal form, registered office address, share capital, registration or SIREN number, a contact email and phone number, its intra-EU VAT number and the identity of the web host, according to economie.gouv.fr. Failure to provide this information is punishable by a fine of up to €375,000 for a legal entity.

B2C general terms of sale (CGV) are the contract governing the relationship with the consumer: prices including VAT, product characteristics, delivery times, legal warranties, withdrawal terms and the mediator's contact details. The clauses that differ depending on whether you sell to consumers or to businesses are detailed in our comparison of B2B and B2C terms of sale.

Withdrawal right and mediator: the two classic omissions#

The right of withdrawal (droit de rétractation) allows consumers to cancel a distance purchase within 14 days, without giving a reason. If the seller has not informed the buyer of this right, the period is extended by 12 months from the end of the initial period (article L221-20 of the French Consumer Code), according to economie.gouv.fr.

The seller refunds all sums paid, including initial delivery costs, no later than 14 days after being informed of the withdrawal, using the same means of payment. Any business selling to consumers must also provide the contact details of a competent consumer mediator (médiateur de la consommation), in its terms of sale or on its website.

The DGCCRF (French consumer protection authority) states that failing to meet pre-contractual information obligations exposes you to an administrative fine of up to €3,000 for an individual and €15,000 for a legal entity; for withdrawal rules, the caps rise to €15,000 and €75,000.

Cookies and personal data#

An online store that places advertising or audience measurement trackers must obtain consent, and refusing must be as easy as accepting, according to the CNIL (French data protection authority). In practice, this means a "Reject all" button at the same level and in the same format as "Accept all". Setting up the banner and the record of processing activities is covered in our article on GDPR and cookies for an e-commerce website.

An online store's receipts are booked at the gross amount of the sale, with the commissions of the platform or payment provider recorded separately as expenses. The transfer received in your bank account is a net amount (sales minus fees, refunds and chargebacks): booking it as is understates turnover and distorts the monitoring of micro and VAT thresholds.

In practice: one clearing account per provider#

At the firm, we advise opening one clearing account per payment provider from day one (Stripe, PayPal, Shopify Payments, Amazon, etc.). Sales enter it gross from the CMS, fees and refunds leave it, and the balance must match the transfer received. A persistent gap signals an unsynchronised order, a dispute or a currency converted incorrectly. The choice of provider and its effect on reconciliation are compared in our article on Stripe, Adyen and Mollie.

Selling on a marketplace adds a transparency obligation: the European DAC7 directive requires platforms to report to the tax authorities any sellers exceeding 30 transactions or €2,000 of sales in the year, according to impots.gouv.fr. The platform sends you a summary in January: reconcile it with your books, because the tax authorities hold the same figures. How DAC7 fits with the ViDA reform and Pan-EU logistics is explained in our 2026 e-commerce compliance guide.

E-invoicing applies to an online store from the day it is created: since 1 September 2026, all businesses, whatever their size, must be able to receive electronic invoices through an approved platform, according to impots.gouv.fr and economie.gouv.fr. Your suppliers, wholesalers and service providers will gradually invoice you through this channel.

Issuing electronic invoices and e-reporting become mandatory for SMEs and micro-enterprises no later than 1 September 2027. For sales to consumers (B2C), what is required is not an electronic invoice but the transmission of transaction data (e-reporting), at a frequency linked to the VAT regime. A business under the VAT exemption (franchise en base) does not charge VAT but remains a VAT-registered person (assujetti), so it is covered by the reform for both receiving and issuing, according to impots.gouv.fr. Setting up a complete chain, from the marketplace to e-reporting, is detailed in our guide to OSS, IOSS VAT and e-reporting.

The formalities for starting an online store follow a logical order in which each decision shapes the next one:

1. Model the numbers: selling price, purchase cost, platform and payment fees, acquisition budget, return rate. This calculation decides between micro-enterprise and company.
2. Choose and check the name: registered name, trade name, domain name and trademark are different things (see trade name, company name and shop sign).
3. Choose the status and register the business on the INPI one-stop shop (guichet unique), with the right VAT option.
4. Choose the platform: hosted or open source, the choice affects bookkeeping, exports and VAT by country (see Shopify or WooCommerce in 2026).
5. Draft legal notices, terms of sale and a privacy policy, including withdrawal, warranties and a designated mediator.
6. Set up payments: dedicated bank account, payment providers, export of sales by country.
7. Organise bookkeeping before the first sale: software, monthly reconciliations, platform for receiving electronic invoices.

• Margin forecast done (actual expenses compared with the 71% allowance)
• Status and VAT regime chosen with full knowledge of the trade-offs
• Statement « TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI » if exempt
• Complete legal notices, including the web host
• B2C terms of sale with the 14-day withdrawal period and model form
• Consumer mediator designated and displayed
• Cookie banner with an equivalent reject button
• Sales tracked by country of delivery (€10,000 threshold)
• One clearing account per payment provider and monthly reconciliation
• Approved platform chosen to receive electronic invoices

The first point to watch is the confusion between net payouts and turnover: it is what makes businesses cross a threshold without noticing. The second is importing goods from outside the EU without anticipating customs, import VAT and IOSS. The third is copying another site's terms of sale, which rarely fit your products, delivery times and mediator. If you are unsure whether specialised support is needed, we explain what a specialised e-commerce chartered accountant brings.

• The legal status of an online store should follow its real margin: if expenses exceed 71% of turnover, the micro-enterprise becomes costly.
• The VAT exemption covers sales up to €85,000 in 2026 (tolerance €93,500), with no recovery of VAT on purchases.
• Above €10,000 of distance sales to the EU as a whole, the buyer's country VAT applies, declarable through the OSS.
• LCEN legal notices, B2C terms of sale, a 14-day withdrawal right and a consumer mediator are required from the first sale.
• Since 1 September 2026, every business must be able to receive electronic invoices; issuing and e-reporting follow on 1 September 2027 for SMEs and micro-enterprises.