VAT thresholds, can I deregister for VAT, and if not, how do I declare it?
I’m an autoentrepreneur translator (régime micro-social simplifié, versement libératoire de l’impôt sur le revenu). I have been so for 5 years. Until 2021 my billing was under the VAT/TVA threshold.
1. In 2021 I earned 42133 euros and therefore went over the thresholds. However, my clients were all in Spain and the tax authorities told me I merely had to put ‘VAT reverse charge’ and my intra-european TVA number on my invoices, and not add VAT/TVA to my invoice amounts. I also had to declare the amounts to the Douane.
2. In 2022 I earned 26042 euros. I continued to put ‘VAT reverse charge’ on my invoices to Spain.
3. This year 2023 however, I have customers in France who now want translations. I went to the local tax office in Bergerac, and the lady there told me I did not have to charge VAT/TVA this year because I’d only gone over the limit one year, and it was not the immediately preceding year.
However, I think I read that once one has registered for VAT and started charging for it, one cannot not then go backwards and cease to charge. In summary, I would like to know if I have to charge VAT this year to my customers in France (adding 20% to my invoices I imagine), and if I have to do so, how do I then declare and pay this VAT to the authorities?
Thank you in advance,
Sophie