CESOP in France:
Cross-Border Payment Reporting for VAT Compliance
Central Electronic System of Payment information (CESOP) is the EU – wide system for reporting cross-border payments, which requires payment service providers in France to submit transactional data to the tax authority for VAT compliance purposes.
Managing International Payment Transparency within the French Tax Framework
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Since 1st of January 2024, and under EU Directive 2020/284, payment service providers in France are required to collect data on cross-border payments for VAT compliance purposes.
Since 1st of April 2024, payment service providers must report collected cross-border payment data to the French tax authority on a quarterly basis, with the first transmission due by 30th April 2024.
France’s CESOP Reporting Overview
Implementation
Mandatory since January 2024, for all payment service providers (PSPs) operating in France to collect data on cross-border payments. Reporting to the French tax authority commenced on April 2024
Tax Authority
Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP), the French tax administration
Format
Data must be submitted in a standardized XML format as defined by the European Commission's technical guidelines
Digital Signature
Not specifically required; however, data integrity and authenticity must be ensured as per the technical specifications provided by the European Commission
Archiving
PSPs are required to retain records of reported transactions for a minimum of 5 years to comply with audit and verification processes.
Other French regulations
Is your SAP system ready for France’s mandatory CESOP cross-border reporting?
Frequently asked questions
Who must report under CESOP in France?
All payment service providers (PSPs) established or providing services in France are required to report cross-border payments if they process more than 25 such payments per payee per quarter. This includes banks, e-money institutions, and certain fintech providers.
What qualifies as a cross-border payment under CESOP?
A cross-border payment refers to any transaction where the payer is located in one EU member state and the payee is in another, or outside the EU. Domestic transactions within France are excluded from CESOP reporting obligations.
How often must CESOP reports be submitted?
Reports must be submitted on a quarterly basis. The reporting deadline is the end of the month following the end of each calendar quarter. For example, Q1 data must be submitted by April 30.
What kind of information must be included in CESOP reports?
PSPs must include details such as the payee’s name, VAT ID (if available), IBAN or other identifiers, number and total value of payments received, and the origin country of the payer. The goal is to provide transparency for VAT enforcement.
How should data be submitted to the French tax authority?
Data must be submitted electronically in XML format, following the EU Commission’s CESOP technical specifications. In France, submissions are made via the official portal of the tax authority (DGFiP).
Are there penalties for non-compliance with CESOP?
Yes. Non-compliance, such as failure to report, late submissions, or submitting incorrect data, can lead to administrative penalties and increased scrutiny from the French tax authority. Maintaining accurate reporting processes is essential.
How mandatory CESOP reporting will impact business in France
The implementation of CESOP in France represents a critical compliance layer for payment service providers and financial institutions handling cross-border transactions. To combat VAT fraud, businesses must report detailed transactional data to the French authorities on a quarterly basis, specifically targeting payments where the beneficiary is located in another jurisdiction. This means that ERP systems must be capable of aggregating, validating, and extracting complex payment data in the mandated XML format, ensuring that reporting thresholds are correctly calculated and submitted in a fully automated and secure way.
At Code10, we support this transition through a combination of SAP Standard implementation and advance eCompliance integration delivered via our eCompliance Hub. We maximize SAP’s native functionalities wherever applicable and develop targeted enhancements when regulatory or technical requirements go beyond standards capabilities. Our approach ensures structured data extraction, threshold monitoring, and secure transmission to the French tax portal, enabling organizations to meet French CESOP obligations efficiently and with full technical reliability.
