Quick Answer: Adding the normal 20% rate to a €1,000 price HT adds €200.00, giving €1,200 TTC. Going the other way, from €1,000 TTC back to HT, gives €166.67 of TVA -- exactly one sixth of the gross -- leaving €833.33. At 20%, France has the lowest normal VAT rate of the four largest eurozone economies.
Overview
France applies four TVA rates in metropolitan territory: the normal 20%, two reduced rates of 10% and 5.5%, and a particular rate of 2.1%.
The conversion between prix HT (hors taxes) and prix TTC (toutes taxes comprises) is the calculation people actually need, and at 20% it has an unusually clean form: the TVA is exactly one sixth of the TTC price, and the HT price is exactly five sixths of it.
Which rate applies to a given supply is fixed by the Code général des impôts, not chosen by the seller. This calculator handles the arithmetic and does not attempt classification -- a deliberate decision, explained below.
How This Is Calculated
Adding TVA to a price HT:
Recovering HT from TTC uses the VAT fraction:
At 20% that is 20/120, which simplifies to one sixth. At 10% it is 1/11, at 5.5% it is 5.5/105.5, and at 2.1% it is 2.1/102.1.
Worked Example
Adding 20% to €1,000 HT: €200.00 of TVA, €1,200.00 TTC.
From €1,000 TTC to HT: €1,000 ÷ 6 = €166.67 of TVA, leaving €833.33 HT. Deducting 20% of the TTC instead would give €800, understating the HT price by €33.33.
The other rates on €1,000 HT: €100.00 at 10%, €55.00 at 5.5%, €21.00 at 2.1%.
Against its neighbours: on a €100 net purchase France charges €20, against €21 in Spain and the Netherlands and €22 in Italy.
What This Does Not Account For
- Which rate applies to which supply. This is set by the Code général des impôts and is genuinely intricate. During verification of this page, one government-adjacent summary misattributed restauration to the 2.1% rate when it belongs at 10%, which is precisely why classification is left to the CGI rather than encoded here.
- Corsica and the overseas departments, which apply their own reduced rates differing from metropolitan France.
- The franchise en base de TVA, under which small businesses below the turnover thresholds do not charge TVA at all.
- Autoliquidation (reverse charge) in construction and cross-border business supplies.
- Exonérations, and the distinction between exempt supplies and those outside the scope, which differ in their effect on input TVA recovery.
- The One Stop Shop and EU distance selling.
- TVA sur les débits versus sur les encaissements, which affects timing rather than amount.
- TVA on property transactions, which interacts with droits de mutation.
Common Pitfalls
- Deducting 20% from a TTC price. €1,000 minus 20% is €800, wrong by €33.33. The correct HT is €833.33, because the TVA is one sixth of the TTC and not one fifth of it.
- Assuming restaurant meals are 5.5%. Restauration is at 10%. Only certain foodstuffs sold for later consumption fall to 5.5%.
- Applying metropolitan rates in Corsica or the DOM. Both have their own schedules.
- Forgetting the franchise en base. A business below the threshold issues invoices with no TVA and the calculation does not apply to it.
- Treating 2.1% as a general low rate. It is a narrow category set by the CGI, not a catch-all for cheap goods.
- Confusing exonéré with hors champ. Both mean no TVA on the invoice, with different consequences for deducting input TVA.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert TTC to HT?
What is France's standard VAT rate?
What falls under 5.5% rather than 10%?
What is the 2.1% rate for?
Do the same rates apply in Corsica and overseas?
What is the franchise en base de TVA?
Sources
- economie.gouv.fr: "TVA: quels sont les taux de votre quotidien?" -- the normal rate of 20% and the reduced rates of 10%, 5.5% and 2.1%
- impots.gouv.fr: "TVA" professional guidance
- All rates verified on 30 August 2026. Classification of supplies is deliberately not encoded; see What This Does Not Account For.