Administrative19 July 20267 min read

VAT and training organisations in France: getting the exemption (article 261-4-4°a CGI)

Many founders of French training organisations first run into the VAT question when drafting their first quote: should you add 20% VAT, or does an exemption exist? The answer is yes — but it is neither automatic nor tied to Qualiopi. Here is how the VAT exemption for vocational training actually works, and how to obtain it without a misstep.

What article 261-4-4°a of the CGI says

Article 261-4-4°a of the French General Tax Code (CGI) allows continuing vocational training services, as defined in article L. 6313-1 of the Labour Code, to be exempted from VAT when delivered by a private-law provider. This exemption is neither mandatory nor automatic: it requires a voluntary request to the administration. Until the request has succeeded, the organisation invoices its training at the standard VAT rate, like any other service.

Two prior conditions must be met before filing the request:

holding an active activity declaration number (NDA), obtained via the Cerfa 10782 declaration;
carrying out an activity that falls within the scope of continuing vocational training as defined by the Labour Code (training actions, skills assessments, VAE, apprenticeship training actions, etc.).

Qualiopi is not on this list: certification attests to the quality of the process, while the VAT exemption is a separate tax procedure resting solely on the NDA and the nature of the activity.

Who can request the exemption

The scheme is open to any private-law entity holding a valid NDA: sole proprietorship (micro-entreprise), company (EURL, SASU, SARL…) or association. The legal form or tax regime of the business (including the micro-entreprise’s VAT exemption threshold, “franchise en base”) has no direct bearing on eligibility — what is examined is the nature of the training activity, not the provider’s legal form.

That said, the exemption only covers services that genuinely fall within continuing vocational training. If your activity is mixed (training and consulting, for instance), only the “training” share falls within the exemption’s scope — a point also worth watching when completing your BPF annual activity report, which already breaks revenue down by activity type.

The procedure: Cerfa form and DREETS

The request is filed on form n°3511-SD (“Request for attestation for activities within the scope of continuing vocational training”), addressed to the DREETS (Regional Directorate for the Economy, Employment, Labour and Solidarity) with territorial jurisdiction — the body that succeeded the former DIRECCTE.

In practice:

Download and complete form 3511-SD.
Attach the requested documents evidencing your training activity (at minimum, your activity declaration receipt).
Send the file to your region’s DREETS, keeping proof of filing.
Provide the contact details of your local business tax office (SIE): it is the office that will apply the exemption once the attestation is issued.

There is no unified online process for this request today: it goes through the DREETS by post, unlike the activity declaration or the BPF, which are now handled on “Mon Activité Formation”.

Review delay: silence means approval

The DREETS has a three-month period from receipt of the complete file to issue the attestation or notify a reasoned refusal. Past that period without a response, the attestation is deemed granted — a protective mechanism for the organisation, provided it can prove the filing date. This is why it is essential to keep evidence of the submission (acknowledgement of receipt or a dated deposit).

Once obtained, the attestation has no time-limited validity: it remains valid as long as the conditions that justified it persist. It therefore does not need to be renewed every year, unlike the BPF.

The mandatory wording on your quotes and invoices

Once the exemption is granted, every invoice issued for a continuing vocational training service must carry the wording “TVA non applicable — article 261-4-4°a du CGI”, along with the reference of your attestation. This wording is not cosmetic: omitting it exposes the organisation to a tax reassessment risk, as the administration may consider that VAT should have been collected absent clear justification on the commercial document.

Check your quote, agreement and invoice templates as soon as you receive the attestation — a single oversight in a template can ripple across dozens of invoices before it is caught.

What happens if you request nothing?

Without a request, no exemption applies: you invoice your training services with VAT, like any other service. This is not an infraction — it is simply a default choice that can weigh on your price competitiveness against exempt competitors, particularly with funders and individuals who cannot reclaim VAT. Many organisations wait through their first months of activity to stabilise their NDA before filing the request — though nothing prevents filing it as soon as the activity declaration receipt is obtained.

When can the attestation be withdrawn?

The exemption is not acquired indefinitely without condition. It can be called into question in several cases:

lapse of the NDA, notably from failing to file the BPF or from no training activity over two consecutive financial years (see our article on the BPF);
withdrawal of an approval required to carry out the declared activity;
a breach found during an audit by the tax administration or the body in charge of controlling vocational training.

In these situations, the DREETS or the tax office ends the attestation through a reasoned decision, with effect on invoices issued from that decision onward. Conversely, an organisation that has obtained the exemption cannot voluntarily give it up to switch back to VAT as a simple management choice: it is a regime that follows the actual nature of the activity, not a freely reversible option.

VAT exemption and Qualiopi: two separate procedures

It is common to conflate the two topics, since they often arise in the same year of creation. Yet:

	VAT exemption	Qualiopi certification
Legal basis	Article 261-4-4°a of the CGI	Future of Work law (Avenir professionnel), RNQ
Contact	DREETS + tax office	Accredited certification body
Access condition	Active NDA + eligible activity	Active NDA + 32 indicators of the reference framework
Mandatory?	Optional, on request	Mandatory to access public/joint funding

An organisation can be VAT-exempt without being Qualiopi-certified (if it does not seek public or joint funding), and conversely, a newly certified organisation must launch its own tax procedure for the exemption — certification does not trigger it automatically. To know whether Qualiopi concerns you, read Is Qualiopi mandatory for you?

Take action

Securing your tax and regulatory obligations from the start avoids many after-the-fact reassessments. The Complete Qualiopi Kit (€297, 14-day guarantee, documents in French) provides the procedures and evidence tables for the 32 indicators to prepare your certification with confidence, and the ebook Créer son organisme de formation en 30 jours (€67) details a French training provider’s administrative steps, from the activity declaration to the first invoices — both bundled in the complete pack at €347.