VAT in Monaco: the four rates, why they are French, and who can reclaim the tax
Written by Julien Rossi, Tax, licensing and compliance lead. Reviewed by Camille Perrin. Updated 20 September 2026. Reading time 12 minutes.
Short answer
Monaco charges VAT. The Code des taxes sur le chiffre d'affaires sets four rates: 20% (Article 51), 10% (Articles 52 and 56), 5.5% (Article 52-0) and 2.10% (Articles 58, 59 and 95). They are France's rates, because Article 15 of the convention of 18 May 1963 applies turnover taxes in the Principality on the same bases and at the same tariffs as in France.
On this page
- Whether Monaco charges VAT
- The four rates and their articles
- What stays at 20%
- Why the rates are French
- Monaco and the European Union
- One territory with France
- Selling out of Monaco
- Buying into Monaco
- Digital services
- The traveller's refund
- Business refunds outside the EU
- The accredited representative
- Buildings and the options to tax
- Where this guide stops
- From our practice
- Sources
- Fifteen questions answered
- Next step
Does Monaco charge VAT, and what is the standard rate?
Monaco charges VAT, and the standard rate is 20%. Article 51 of the Code des taxes sur le chiffre d'affaires, the Monegasque turnover-tax code, words it without qualification: Le taux normal de la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée est fixé à 20 %. Any person, business or independent professional habitually carrying out economic operations for payment is a taxable person (Article 1er I), whatever the legal form.
No second turnover tax sits underneath it. The Code names one tax on turnover and that tax is VAT, so a Monaco sales tax is the same 20% under another name: our reading of the statute, not a line quoted from it. Every other Monegasque tax sits in taxation in Monaco, and the older argument about whether Monaco is a tax haven is a different question from the rate charged at a till.
Monaco's four VAT rates, and the article that sets each one
Four rates are in force, and each one has its own article. The Government's VAT page, updated 27/08/2026, lists three of them, 20%, 10% and 5.5% for basic products, and presents them as the rates most commonly applied. That is accurate as far as it goes. The Code adds a fourth rate of 2.10% in three narrow places, and it splits the 10% between goods (Article 52) and services (Article 56).
| Rate | What it covers | Article | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20% | the standard rate: everything no other article reaches | Art. 51 | the carve-outs below come back to this rate |
| 10% | firewood and wood products for heating, unprocessed ornamental horticulture, certain organic fertilisers | Art. 52 | the goods half of the 10% |
| 10% | hotel accommodation, qualifying furnished lettings, passenger transport, on-premises restaurant sales and take-away food for immediate consumption, admission to cultural and educational sites, television subscriptions, approved home-help services, assignments of authors' rights | Art. 56 | alcoholic drinks stay at 20% inside the sale (Art. 56 o) |
| 10% and 5.5% | improvement, conversion, fitting-out and maintenance works on dwellings completed more than two years ago; energy renovation of the same dwellings at 5.5% | Art. 56 bis 1; Art. 52-0 bis | two rates on the same building, decided by the work |
| 5.5% | food for human consumption, books in print, download and audio form, equipment for disabled people, feminine hygiene products, condoms, school canteen meals, admission to theatre, circus, concert and cinema, heat-network subscriptions, care-home board and lodging | Art. 52-0 | the carve-outs of Art. 52-0 A return to 20% |
| 2.10% | first performances of newly created stage works and certain circus shows; reimbursable medicines and medicines approved for care establishments; qualifying press publications, their digital versions and online press services | Arts. 58, 59 and 95 | the rate most published rate cards omit |
What stays at 20% inside a reduced-rate list
A rate attaches to a product, not to a shelf. Three articles put back at 20% things a reader expects to find in the reduced lists.
- Confectionery: 20%, carved out of the 5.5% food list by Article 52-0 A 1° a).
- Most chocolate products: the same carve-out, in the same article.
- Margarines and vegetable fats: 20%, Article 52-0 A.
- Caviar: 20%, named in the article itself.
- Alcoholic drinks: 20% on the supply, and 20% inside an otherwise 10% on-premises sale (Article 56 o).
- Housing works: 10% on dwellings completed more than two years ago (Article 56 bis 1), 5.5% on their energy renovation (Article 52-0 bis).
- The paperwork tolerance: attestation n° 353-0026 may be omitted for repair and maintenance works under EUR 300 including tax, where the invoice carries the three required mentions (Government VAT page, updated 27/08/2026).
Attestations n° 353-0024 and n° 353-0026 are named, never described: the forms were not opened.
Why Monaco charges French VAT: the convention of 18 May 1963
The rates are French because a treaty says so. Article 15 of the Franco-Monegasque tax convention of 18 May 1963 provides that turnover taxes and the taxes replacing them sont appliquées dans la Principauté sur les mêmes bases et aux mêmes tarifs qu'en France, are applied in the Principality on the same bases and at the same tariffs as in France. Ordonnance Souveraine n° 3.037 of 19 August 1963 made the convention enforceable, and from 1 January 1993 the Monegasque VAT ordinances carry the same direct references to Community rules as the French texts (Article préliminaire I of the Code). The customs union rests on a second convention of the same day and is not the source of the rate.
Two things that circulate are not in the text. Article 17 does not make Monaco collect the tax and send it to France for a share back: the total collected in the two States, less the local-tax shares, est réparti entre les deux Gouvernements, selon les modalités fixées entre eux, on terms the two Governments agree, and those terms were not located. And 1963 is not a year in which VAT was introduced in Monaco: it is the year of the two conventions. Article 16 puts drinks duties on the same footing, and the general regime for intra-Community movements of excise goods has applied in Monaco since 1 January 1993 (La fiscalité monégasque).
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two Franco-Monegasque conventions signed the same day
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the tax one whose Art. 15 applies turnover taxes on the same bases and at the same tariffs as in France
Art. 15
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and the customs one that organises the union. 19 August 1963: Ordonnance Souveraine n° 3.037 makes the tax convention enforceable. 1 January 1993: the Monegasqu
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and the general regime for intra-Community movements of excise goods applies. Today: four rates in the Code
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and Art. 7 of Directive 2006/112/EC as consolidated on 14 April 2025. No step may be added to the four
Art. 7
Figure 1. Four dated steps: no year of introduction, no date for the move to 20%
Is Monaco in the European Union for VAT?
Monaco is not a member of the European Union, and its transactions are treated from the Union's side as French. Both halves are written down.
Article 7(1) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC, in the consolidated text of 14 April 2025, provides that "in view of the conventions and treaties concluded with France, the United Kingdom and Cyprus respectively, the Principality of Monaco, the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia shall not be regarded, for the purposes of the application of this Directive, as third countries". Article 7(2) says what Member States must do with that: they "shall take the measures necessary to ensure that transactions originating in or intended for the Principality of Monaco are treated as transactions originating in or intended for France".
The Monegasque side states the other half. The Government's VAT page reads La Principauté est incorporée dans le territoire douanier européen (bien que demeurant un État tiers à l'Union Européenne): incorporated into the European customs territory although remaining a third State to the European Union, with access of goods and services to the single market from Monaco assured. France and Monaco form a customs union under the customs convention of the same day, and French customs rules apply directly in the Principality.
The answer is therefore one sentence with two halves: a third State to the European Union, inside the European customs territory, and not a third country for the purposes of Directive 2006/112/EC.
| The statement as it circulates | The sort of page that carries it | The text that controls | What that text says |
|---|---|---|---|
| "forms part of the EU territory for VAT purposes" | a VAT data vendor | Directive 2006/112/EC, Art. 7(1) | Monaco is not regarded as a third country for that Directive; it is not made part of the Union |
| "a de facto part of the European Union VAT area" | a VAT software platform | Directive 2006/112/EC, Art. 7(2) | Member States must treat transactions originating in or intended for Monaco as French transactions |
| "legally it is not an EU VAT territory" | a public discussion forum | Art. 7(1) and Art. 7(2) read together | Monaco is outside the Union, and its transactions are treated as French all the same |
| "part of the French VAT system due to its EU customs status" | a formation provider | convention of 18 May 1963, Art. 15 | the rates follow the tax convention; the customs union is a separate instrument of the same day |
| "considered as part of France" | an EU institution page | the Monegasque Government's own wording | inside the European customs territory, although remaining a third State to the European Union |
One territory with France: where a supply takes place
One drafting habit in the Code explains every cross-border rule that follows. Article 6 I deems the place of a supply of tangible movable goods to be in Monaco lorsque le bien se trouve à Monaco ou en France, when the goods are in Monaco or in France at dispatch, at installation or at handover.
The phrase à Monaco ou en France then recurs where it matters: at Article 9 for the place of an intra-Community acquisition, at Article 31 for the exemption of an intra-Community supply, and at Article 81 for imports.
It does not mean the two States have merged. Monaco is sovereign, with its own Code, its own tax department and its own returns, and the Code simply places the two territories inside one sentence. That is why a sale from Monaco to France raises no cross-border question and a sale to Italy does.
Selling out of Monaco: to France, to another Member State, outside the EU
A sale out of Monaco lands in one of three places. France is domestic. A Member State other than France is an exempt intra-Community supply under Article 31 I 1°, on a customer identified for VAT there who has given the number, and the exemption is lost if the recapitulative statement of Article 73 is not filed. Outside the Union is an exempt export under Article 29 I 1°, along with the services directly linked to it.
| Direction | Treatment | Article | Who accounts for the tax, and what is required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monaco to France | domestic sale, Monegasque VAT at the applicable rate | Art. 6 I | the seller, on the ordinary return |
| Monaco to another Member State | exempt intra-Community supply | Art. 31 I 1° | the customer accounts for the tax; the exemption is lost without the recapitulative statement (Art. 73, fine under Art. 107 II) |
| Monaco to outside the European Union | exempt export, with the services directly linked to it | Art. 29 I 1° | the seller, on proof of exit |
| In from another Member State | taxable intra-Community acquisition, located in Monaco when the goods are in the Principality or in France on arrival | Arts. 2 I 1° and 9 I | the acquirer pays the tax (Art. 62 3) |
| In from outside the European Union | import subject to VAT on entry to Monaco or France of goods not in free circulation | Art. 81 I | the importer; no customs duty rate is published on this page |
| Supplier established outside Monaco and France | reverse charge | Art. 62 1 and 2 | the Monegasque customer, acting as a taxable person and holding a Monegasque VAT number |
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to France, domestic
Art. 6
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to another Member State on a valid VAT number, exempt intra-Community supply, flagged "exemption lost without the recapitulative statement"
Art. 31
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outside the EU, exempt export
Art. 29
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in from a Member State, taxable acquisition paid by the acquirer, with the EUR 10,000 floor for non-taxable legal persons
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in from outside the EU, import VAT
Art. 81
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supplier established outside Monaco and France, reverse charge on the Monegasque customer (Art. 62 1). Side note repeating "à Monaco ou en France" as the device
Art. 62 1
Figure 2. Six outcomes, one drafting device: Monaco and France inside the same sentence
Failing to file the intra-Community statements costs EUR 750, raised to EUR 1,500 if they are not produced within thirty days of a formal notice, with a further EUR 15 for each omission or inaccuracy capped at EUR 1,500 (Article 107 II). The periodic return of trade in goods with the other Member States is required as well, and no threshold for it appears here: no official text giving one was read.
Buying into Monaco: acquisitions, imports and the reverse charge
The buyer's side answers what people type as Monaco import tax. In the statute it is import VAT, and the rules divide by where the goods or the supplier come from.
Which Monegasque tax registrations will your activity trigger?
Tell us what the business will sell and where its customers are.
Digital services sold to consumers in Monaco
Telecommunications, broadcasting and electronically supplied services sold to a non-taxable customer established, domiciled or habitually resident in Monaco are deemed supplied in Monaco (Articles 13 10° to 12° and 14 bis I 1), so Monegasque VAT applies.
Registration in Monaco does not follow from that. Article 68 ter II 3° releases from Monegasque identification a taxable person not established in Monaco or in France who reports those supplies through one of the Directive's special schemes (Title XII, Chapter VI, sections 2 to 4) in a Member State other than France. Article 68 ter II 1° does the same for a person whose only supplies are ones on which the customer accounts for the tax. The rule that circulates, that a foreign seller must register in Monaco on its first sale to a consumer there, is not what the Code says.
Two things this page does not state, because no official text for either was read: the small-supplier threshold of Article 14 bis I 2, whose amount was cut off in the rendered text, and how a one-stop-shop return labels a Monegasque sale.
Can a visitor reclaim the VAT on shopping in Monaco?
Most people who ask are disqualified before the first step. The exemption of Article 29 I 2° is for a traveller not domiciled or habitually resident in Monaco, in France or in another Member State. Manufactured tobacco is excluded, and so are quantities indicating a commercial purpose. Shopping in Monaco is not tax free: VAT is charged at the till and a qualifying traveller reclaims it afterwards.
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a person domiciled or habitually resident in Monaco
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France or another Member State is disqualified
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and manufactured tobacco and commercial quantities are outside the scheme (Art. 29 I 2°). Step 1: purchases over EUR 100 including VAT
Art. 29
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one shop or three calendar days under the same VAT number (Art. A-52 C). Step 2: export sales slip issued electronically by the seller on the day of the sale to
Art. A-52
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drawn as an open box with no figure
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because no percentage
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fee or period is published
Figure 3. Five steps, the fifth empty: the payout is a commercial term, not a rule of law
1. Buy enough, in the right window. The purchases must total more than EUR 100 including VAT, in one shop or within three calendar days in several shops identified under the same VAT number (Article A-52 C).
2. Take the slip on the day. The seller issues the export sales slip, the bordereau de vente à l'exportation, electronically on the day of the sale to an eligible traveller holding a passport (Article A-52 A). No text read obliges a seller to offer one.
3. Leave in time. The goods must leave the Principality and the European Union before the end of the third month following the month of purchase (Article 29 I 2° c).
4. Get it stamped. The slip is stamped by the customs office of exit from the European Union (Article A-52 D), a function in the text rather than a named office.
5. Be paid, on terms the law does not fix. No official text read publishes a percentage, a fee scale, a payout period or a calculator. What a traveller receives is a refund operator's commercial term, after that operator's own fee.
Reclaiming Monegasque VAT as a business established outside the EU
A second refund exists, and it is for businesses rather than travellers. Monegasque VAT is refunded to a taxable person established outside the European Union who has no seat, no establishment and no taxable supplies in Monaco, on a claim of at least EUR 400 for a quarter or EUR 50 for a year (Articles A-128 G I and A-128 I). The refund is excluded for countries on a ministerial list that grant no comparable advantage. That list was not read, so no country is named here, and no processing period is published for a claim.
| Who reclaims | Minimum | Conditions | Proof and article |
|---|---|---|---|
| A traveller leaving the European Union | more than EUR 100 including VAT | not domiciled or habitually resident in Monaco, France or a Member State; goods out before the end of the third month; tobacco and commercial quantities excluded | export sales slip stamped on exit (Arts. 29 I 2°, A-52 A, A-52 C, A-52 D) |
| A business established outside the European Union | EUR 400 a quarter, or EUR 50 a year | no seat, establishment or supplies in Monaco; excluded for countries on a ministerial list | claim to the tax department (Arts. A-128 G I, A-128 I) |
| A consumer resident in Monaco, France or the EU | nothing | none available: the traveller's exemption turns on residence outside the EU | Art. 29 I 2° a) |
Sellers established outside Monaco: the accredited representative
A person established outside Monaco who is liable for VAT there, or who has filing duties there, must have a representative accredited with the Direction des Services Fiscaux and established in the Principality. Failing that, the tax and any penalties attached to it are owed by the customer on the taxable transaction (Article 72 I). The test is where the person is established, never how much it sells. How a representative is accredited belongs to the registration page and not here.
VAT on buildings, and the operations that can opt in
Two system facts sit outside every rate card. Operations contributing to the production or the supply of buildings are inside VAT (Article 5 I), and VAT applies to supplies of buildings by a taxable person acting as such (La fiscalité monégasque). Registration duties on transfers of property are a different tax, and this page publishes no rate for them: the figures in circulation are stale.
The second fact runs the other way. Some normally exempt operations become taxable at the option of the person carrying them out: exempt non-commercial activities, the operations of banking and financial establishments, and bare lettings of premises for industrial, commercial or professional use. The option is named on the Government's VAT page; how it is exercised is a procedure, and not this page.
Registering, declaring and paying: where this guide stops
A business starting operations in Monaco declares its existence to the Direction des Services Fiscaux within fifteen days (Article 66 I 1°). That is the whole of what this guide says about registering: the documents, the number and the filing regimes are on VAT registration in Monaco. A franchise en base, a small-business exemption, also exists, and a business inside it charges no VAT. VAT is then declared and paid periodically to the Recette des Taxes (Déclarer et payer la TVA, updated 30/07/2026), at Le Panorama, 57 rue Grimaldi, MC 98000 Monaco, open 9:30 to 17:00 Monday to Friday.
Two Monegasque taxes are regularly confused with this one: the profits tax, charged on a company's results rather than on turnover, and succession duty, which is inheritance tax in Monaco.
From our practice
Three confusions come up in almost every file once the authorisation is granted and the registrations follow: the profits tax read as the same thing as the turnover tax, "Monaco is tax free" met by a 20% line on a first invoice, and a request to check a VAT number the way a French one is checked.
What we do with it is narrow. Advice or assistance in tax matters for payment is an authorised activity under Article 8 of Loi n° 1.144 of 26 July 1991, and the titles expert-comptable and comptable agréé are protected by Loi n° 1.231 of 12 July 2000. We explain the rule and assemble the file. We are not the Direction des Services Fiscaux, an accountancy practice, an accredited fiscal representative, a refund operator or a law firm; who may keep books and advise is the accountancy guide.
Sources
The statutes first, then the pages of the department that administers the tax, each with the date it was read or last updated. Every government page cited here is the French original.
- Code des taxes sur le chiffre d'affaires and its annex, consolidated (the PDF offered on the page was dated 1 August 2026): Arts. 1er, 2, 5, 6, 9, 13, 14 bis, 29, 31, 51, 52, 52-0, 52-0 bis, 56, 56 bis, 58, 59, 62, 66, 68 ter, 72, 81, 95, 107, and Annex Arts. A-52 A, A-52 C, A-52 D, A-128 G I, A-128 I. Read 19 September 2026.
- Franco-Monegasque tax convention of 18 May 1963, Arts. 15, 16 and 17. Read 19 September 2026.
- Council Directive 2006/112/EC, consolidated text of 14 April 2025, Article 7 only. Read 19 September 2026.
- La taxe sur la valeur ajoutée, updated 27/08/2026: the customs-union and third-State sentences, the three rates most commonly applied, who is a taxable person, the options to tax, the EUR 300 tolerance, the department's address. Read 19 September 2026.
- La fiscalité monégasque: the intra-Community regime for excise goods in force since 1 January 1993, and VAT on supplies of buildings. Archived 6 September 2026.
- Déclarer et payer la TVA, updated 30/07/2026: that VAT is declared and paid to the Recette des Taxes.
- Demander l'attribution d'un numéro de TVA intracommunautaire, updated 03/08/2026: the official procedure page, which publishes no number format. Read 19 September 2026.
Next step: VAT and tax registration in Monaco
Answered with the article
+ Is there VAT in Monaco, and what is the standard rate?
Yes. Article 51 of the Code des taxes sur le chiffre d'affaires sets the standard rate at 20%, and Monaco charges it because Article 15 of the Franco-Monegasque convention of 18 May 1963 applies turnover taxes in the Principality on the same bases and at the same tariffs as in France.
+ Does Monaco have a sales tax separate from VAT?
No. The Code names one turnover tax and that tax is VAT, so a Monaco sales tax is the same 20% under another name. Registration duties on transfers of property or shares are a separate tax, and the rates circulating for them are stale, so this page publishes none.
+ What are Monaco's reduced VAT rates, and what does each one cover?
Three of them. 10% on hotel accommodation, passenger transport, on-premises and take-away food, cultural admissions and some goods (Articles 52 and 56). 5.5% on food, books, equipment for disabled people and cultural admissions (Article 52-0). 2.10% in three narrow cases (Articles 58, 59 and 95).
+ Is there a 2.1% VAT rate in Monaco?
Yes, and most rate cards omit it. The Code charges 2.10% on the first performances of newly created stage works and certain circus shows (Article 58), on reimbursable medicines and medicines approved for care establishments (Article 59), and on qualifying press publications and online press services (Article 95).
+ Which food and drink is taxed at 20% rather than 5.5%?
Confectionery, most chocolate products, margarines and vegetable fats, caviar and all alcoholic drinks are carved out of the 5.5% food list by Article 52-0 A and taxed at the standard rate. Alcoholic drinks also stay at 20% inside a restaurant sale otherwise taxed at 10% (Article 56 o).
+ Why does Monaco apply the same VAT rates as France?
Because of a tax treaty, not because of customs. Article 15 of the convention of 18 May 1963, made enforceable by Ordonnance Souveraine n° 3.037 of 19 August 1963, applies turnover taxes in the Principality on the same bases and at the same tariffs as in France. The customs union is a separate convention of the same day.
+ Is Monaco in the European Union for VAT purposes?
Monaco is not a member of the European Union. Article 7(1) of Directive 2006/112/EC provides that it is not regarded as a third country for the purposes of that Directive, and Article 7(2) requires Member States to treat transactions originating in or intended for Monaco as transactions originating in or intended for France.
+ Is Monaco inside the EU customs territory, and does it remain a third State to the EU?
Both are true at once. The Monegasque Government states that the Principality is incorporated into the European customs territory although remaining a third State to the European Union, and that French customs rules apply directly in Monaco under the customs convention of 18 May 1963.
+ Can a visitor get a VAT refund on shopping in Monaco, and what is the minimum purchase?
Only a traveller who is not domiciled or habitually resident in Monaco, France or another EU Member State. The purchases must exceed EUR 100 including VAT, in one shop or within three calendar days in shops identified under the same VAT number, and the goods must leave the European Union before the end of the third month following the purchase.
+ Is shopping in Monaco tax free?
No. VAT is charged at the till at the Monegasque rate. A qualifying non-resident traveller may reclaim it afterwards on an export sales slip issued electronically by the seller on the day of the sale and stamped by the customs office of exit from the European Union.
+ How much comes back on a Monaco VAT refund, and is there a calculator?
No official text we could read publishes a refund percentage, a fee scale or a calculator. The law fixes the conditions and the EUR 100 minimum. What a traveller is actually paid is the refund operator's commercial term, set after its own fee, and we publish no figure for it.
+ How is VAT charged on a sale from Monaco to France, to another EU country and outside the EU?
A sale to France is domestic: the Code places the two territories in one sentence. A supply to another Member State is an exempt intra-Community supply on the customer's VAT number, and the exemption is lost if the recapitulative statement is not filed. A supply outside the European Union is an exempt export.
+ Does a foreign business selling digital services to consumers in Monaco have to register in Monaco?
The sale is located in Monaco, so Monegasque VAT applies to it. Article 68 ter II 3° nevertheless releases a seller not established in Monaco or France from identifying in Monaco where those supplies are reported through one of the Directive's special schemes in a Member State other than France.
+ Can a business established outside the EU recover the Monegasque VAT it has paid?
Yes, if it has no seat, establishment or supplies in Monaco. The claim must reach at least EUR 400 for a quarter or EUR 50 for a year. The refund is excluded for countries on a ministerial list that grant no comparable advantage, and no processing period is published.
+ What does a Monaco VAT number look like, and can it be checked?
No official text we could read publishes the format of a Monegasque VAT number or a public way of checking one, and neither does the Government's own procedure page. We publish no format and no example. Who is identified, and how the number is applied for, is on our registration page. ---
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