VAT: adjustment of the scope of reduced VAT rates on heating-related operations (art. 10)
From January 1, 2025, the scope of reduced VAT rates will be adjusted to bring French legislation into line with developments in EU law. As a result, the scope of the 5.5% reduced rate applicable to heat supply (French tax code, art. 278 0 bis B) would be aligned with the provisions of article L 211-2 of the Energy Code, and would include, in particular, ambient energy.
With the same objective in mind, work involving the supply or installation of a boiler likely to use fossil fuels would no longer benefit from the reduced rate of 10%, provided for certain work carried out in dwellings completed at least two years ago, and would henceforth be taxable at the standard rate of 20%.
In addition, from February 1, 2025, subscriptions for electricity supplies with a maximum power rating of 36 kilovoltamperes or less would no longer benefit from the reduced rate of 5.5%. Subscriptions relating to periods starting on or after this date would, like electricity supplies, be subject to the standard tax rate of 20%.
Administrative cooperation in tax matters (art. 14)
Article 14 provides for the transposition of the provisions of Council Directive 2023/2226 of October 17, 2023 (DAC 8), which impose new information collection and reporting obligations on service providers and operators of digital assets (crypto-assets and e-money).
Designed to meet the objectives of automatic and mandatory exchange of information for tax purposes between EU Member States, the scheme aims to identify digital asset transactions, the accounts used and their holders. The new obligations would apply to transactions carried out on or after January 1, 2026.
A number of changes have also been made to the scope of the reporting obligations of lawyers in connection with the declaration of cross-border devices (DAC 6), the reporting obligations of online platforms (DAC 7) established outside the European Union, and the organization of the sharing of information collected with customs and anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing authorities.
