PlatformsDecember 10, 202410 min read

Stripe VAT France: Complete Guide for E-commerce Sellers

Stripe collects your payments, not your VAT. This confusion costs many sellers dearly. Here's how to secure your financial flows.

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{ "id": "vat-data-available-in-stripe", "text": "VAT Data Available in Stripe", "level": 2 },

{ "id": "optimal-account-configuration", "text": "Optimal Account Configuration", "level": 2 },

{ "id": "stripe-tax-advantages-and-limits", "text": "Stripe Tax: Advantages and Limits", "level": 2 },

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Introduction

Stripe has become essential for e-commerce sellers. But beware: Stripe collects your payments, not your VAT. This confusion costs many sellers dearly. Here's how to secure your financial flows.

IntΓ©gration Stripe

Common Misconception

Stripe is a payment processor, not a VAT compliance solution. Even with Stripe Tax enabled, you remain responsible for your declarations to the tax authorities.

What Stripe Does (and Doesn't Do) for Your VAT

Let's start by dispelling a common misunderstanding:

What Stripe Does

  • Collect payments from your customers
  • Record transaction information (amount, date, customer)
  • Handle refunds
  • Provide detailed financial reports
  • Calculate VAT with Stripe Tax (optional service)

What Stripe Does NOT Do

ActionDoes Stripe do it?
Declare your VAT to tax authoritiesNo
Generate your CA3/CA12 declarationsNo
Reliably auto-classify your sales as B2B/B2CNo
Manage your OSS/IOSS obligationsNo
Produce your e-reporting filesNo

Legal Responsibility

You remain solely responsible for your VAT compliance in the eyes of tax authorities. In case of an audit, you will be the one reassessed, not Stripe.

VAT Data Available in Stripe

Stripe collects valuable information for your VAT compliance. Here's what you can use:

Customer Data

  • Billing address: essential for determining the applicable VAT rate
  • Country: crucial for OSS and territoriality rules
  • VAT number: if collected, helps identify B2B sales
  • Email: for traceability

Transaction Data

  • Total amount: including VAT if you've configured it
  • Currency: important for conversions
  • Date and time: for the taxable event
  • Payment status: successful, failed, refunded
100%of usable dataStripe allows exporting all your transactions

Stripe's Strength

Unlike some platforms, Stripe allows collecting complete customer information, including the intra-community VAT number. This data is essential for accurate B2B/B2C classification.

Stripe DataVAT Use
customer.address.countryDetermining applicable rate
customer.tax_idB2B classification
amount_totalVAT calculation base
currencyConversion if needed
createdTaxable event date
statusPayment receipt confirmation

Optimal Account Configuration

To maximize Stripe's usefulness for your VAT, configure these elements correctly:

Customer Information Collection

In your Checkout settings, enable mandatory collection of:

  • Complete billing address
  • VAT number (optional for customer, but displayed)
  • Full name or company name

Product Configuration

  • Define the appropriate tax code for each product
  • Specify whether your prices are excluding or including VAT
  • Use metadata to enrich your exports

Webhooks and Exports

  • Configure webhooks to receive events in real-time
  • Schedule regular exports for your accounting

Practical Tip

Enable the "checkout.session.completed" webhook to automatically capture each sale with all customer information as soon as it's finalized.

Stripe Tax: Advantages and Limits

Stripe Tax is the automatic VAT calculation service offered by Stripe. Here's an honest assessment:

Stripe Tax Advantages

  • Automatic VAT rate calculation based on customer country
  • OSS threshold management
  • European VAT number validation (VIES)
  • VAT reports by country

Stripe Tax Limitations

LimitationImpact
No declarationStripe Tax calculates but doesn't declare
Additional cost0.5% per transaction (on top of Stripe fees)
No multi-platform managementOnly for sales via Stripe
No e-reportingNot prepared for 2026 reform
0.5%additional feesStripe Tax cost per transaction

Stripe Tax vs Dedicated Solution Comparison

FeatureStripe TaxDedicated Solution (e.g., NomadVAT)
VAT CalculationYesYes
Multi-platformNoYes
Automatic declarationsNoYes
E-reporting 2026NoYes
B2B/B2C classificationPartialComplete

Automating VAT Compliance with Stripe

For complete VAT compliance, you need to combine Stripe with a specialized solution. The ideal process:

Optimal Workflow

1Stripe collects payments and customer data
2Automatic export to your VAT compliance solution
3Automatic classification B2B/B2C based on customer data
4Calculation of VAT due by rate and country
5Generation of declarations and e-reporting files
Step 1

Stripe Connection

Integrate your Stripe account with your VAT compliance solution

Step 2

Automatic Import

Transactions are imported automatically every day

Step 3

Classification

Each sale is classified B2B/B2C based on available data

Step 4

Declaration

Your VAT declarations are generated automatically

Essential Stripe Data for Compliance

For each transaction, make sure you have access to:

  • Customer identity: name, complete address, VAT number if B2B
  • Amount: total and detail per line if multiple products
  • Date: precise timestamp for the taxable event
  • Status: confirmation that payment is received

Ready for 2026?

With the e-reporting reform coming into effect in September 2026, your Stripe data will need to be transmitted to tax authorities. NomadVAT automates this transmission by importing your Stripe data and generating compliant files.

Conclusion

Stripe is an excellent payment processor, but it's not a VAT compliance solution. By understanding this distinction and properly configuring your account, you can leverage Stripe data to feed a true compliance solution.

This is exactly what NomadVAT offers: native integration with Stripe that transforms your payment data into compliant VAT declarations, ready for e-reporting 2026.