VAT for plumbers, electricians, heating engineers: rates and invoicing

Quick answer. For a plumber, an electrician or a heating engineer, the VAT rate depends on the work: 5.5% for energy renovation, 10% for routine maintenance and improvement, 20% by default. Since 1 March 2025, your invoicing justifies the reduced rate through a simple statement on the quote or invoice, and the reverse charge applies in subcontracting.

On a job site, a building trade craftsman almost never gets the labour price wrong. The costly mistake is the VAT rate, chosen or justified incorrectly. An invoice at 10% reclassified to 20% by the tax authorities, and the difference comes out of your pocket, plus interest. This article does not repeat the list of eligible works (seen from the client's side): it covers the day-to-day invoicing of a plumber, an electrician or a heating engineer, rate by rate, statement by statement, and the specific case of subcontracting reverse charge.

For the detail of which works qualify for the reduced rate from the homeowner's perspective, see our dedicated article on reduced VAT on renovation works. Here, we take the perspective of the person issuing the invoice.

The logic is simple to state, harder to apply daily. Three rates coexist on residential dwellings:

• 5.5% for works improving energy quality (French Tax Code, art. 278-0 bis A): heat pump installation, high-performance boiler, insulation, heating regulation.
• 10% for improvement, transformation, fitting-out and maintenance works other than construction or reconstruction, and excluding energy works (art. 279-0 bis): replacing a standard water heater, redoing an electrical installation, plumbing repairs.
• 20% by default: construction or reconstruction, a dwelling completed less than 2 years ago, premises not used as housing (offices, shops, business premises).

Table: which rate for which work#

A frequent trap: a single job often mixes lines at 5.5% (the energy equipment) and lines at 10% (the related works). An invoice can therefore carry several rates, provided each line is allocated cleanly.

The reduced rates, 5.5% as well as 10%, apply only to residential premises completed more than 2 years ago. It does not matter whether it is a main or secondary home, and it does not matter who occupies it: owner-occupier, tenant or free occupant can all benefit.

Two cases push you to the standard 20% rate:

1. The dwelling is less than 2 years old (recent construction or completion).
2. The premises are not used as housing (a shop, an office, a warehouse).

Reclassifications rest precisely on these two points. A heating engineer working in mixed-use premises, or in a freshly delivered building, must question the client before fixing the rate on the quote.

This is the most useful operational change to know. Since 1 March 2025, the client no longer signs a separate standard or simplified certificate. They now certify that the reduced-rate conditions are met through a statement placed directly on the quote or invoice.

In practice, your quote and invoice must contain a statement by which the client attests that the dwelling is used as housing, that it was completed more than 2 years ago, and that the works fall within the scope of the reduced rate. It is this statement, kept and signed as part of the quote, that secures the applied rate in the event of an audit.

Checklist of statements to include on the quote and invoice#

• Identity and contact details of the client and the company, SIREN and intra-EU VAT numbers.
• Precise address of the site (it determines the age and use of the premises).
• Detailed description of the works, line by line, with the rate applicable to each.
• Clear split between labour and supplies where relevant.
• The reduced-rate certification statement, dated and repeated on quote and invoice.
• Net amount, rate and VAT amount per rate, total including tax.

1. Qualify the job. Dwelling or business premises? More or less than 2 years old? Energy works, routine maintenance or new construction?
2. Allocate a rate to each line. Do not apply a single rate for convenience: split energy equipment at 5.5% and related works at 10% where the job justifies it.
3. Draft the certification statement. Include it on the quote signed by the client, then carry it over to the invoice.
4. Compute VAT per rate. A distinct net sub-total and VAT for each rate, never an approximate average rate.
5. Keep the supporting documents. Signed quote, certification statement, exchanges on the nature of the premises: this is your evidence file.

This is the second major invoicing topic for craftsmen, and the one generating the most accounting errors. When you act as a subcontractor on construction-related works (construction, repair, cleaning, maintenance, transformation, demolition) on behalf of a VAT-registered customer, you do not charge VAT: the main contractor reverse-charges it, then deducts it under ordinary conditions (Tax Code art. 283-2 nonies).

In other words, the subcontractor invoices net, without VAT, with the reverse-charge statement. The customer declares both output and deductible VAT on the operation themselves. It is neutral for them, but it must be triggered correctly.

Table: reverse charge, who invoices and who pays the VAT#

A key consistency point: when reverse charge applies, the person liable for VAT is the customer of the works. There is therefore no need to apply the certification (the statement) provided for reduced rates on the subcontractor's invoice. The reduced-rate statement and the reverse-charge statement do not coexist on the same invoice.

For a broader overview of the sector's tax specifics, see our article on the tax regime for the building industry.

In building craftsmen's files, two errors keep recurring. The first: applying 10% out of habit on a job that falls under the 5.5% energy rate, or conversely slipping to 20% while forgetting the dwelling is over 2 years old. The loss adds up fast as turnover grows. The second: forgetting the certification statement, now the sole supporting document, and ending up without evidence in an audit.

Our recommendation is to standardise a quote template that forces qualification of the job from the start, rather than correcting the rate afterwards. A well-built quote template does the work for you and drastically limits the reclassification risk. This is exactly the kind of setup we calibrate with the craftsmen we support.

An invoice at the wrong rate is not just a matter between you and the tax authorities. If you charged 10% instead of 20%, the additional VAT is owed by you, yet you only collected 10% from the client. Recovering the difference from a client long gone is rarely possible. The shortfall stays on your books. Conversely, charging 20% instead of 10% makes you less competitive and exposes you to a client claim. The rate is not an administrative detail: it is a margin line.

• Mixed-use premises: a dwelling partly converted into an office can cost you the reduced rate on the business share. Ask before the quote.
• New dwellings: check the completion date. Under 2 years, it is 20%, no exception.
• Subcontracting: never mix the reduced-rate statement and the reverse-charge statement on the same invoice.
• Line allocation: an energy renovation job almost always mixes several rates. A single convenience rate is a common error.

A heating engineer replaces an old boiler with a heat pump in a house built in 1995, occupied by a tenant. He invoices everything, equipment and labour, at 10% out of habit. The heat pump equipment and installation actually fell under the 5.5% energy rate. Conversely, the small related electrical job (bringing a socket up to standard) did indeed stay at 10%. A single quote template with two lines and two rates would have secured the whole thing, leaving nothing to chance. The certification statement, placed once and for all on the signed quote, would have closed the matter in an audit.

The rules cited refer to the 5.5% rate of article 278-0 bis A of the Tax Code, the 10% rate of article 279-0 bis, the statement on the quote or invoice since 1 March 2025, and the reverse charge on construction works of article 283-2 nonies. Our firm is registered with the Ordre des experts-comptables d'Île-de-France and supports building craftsmen on their business taxation and on bookkeeping and accounting review.