There are times when we need to be back to revisit challenging matters, especially when they are topical issues! The tax on cosmetics, approved by the French Parliament and validated by the Constitutional Council in the midst of the 2012 Finance Law on Social Security, will be implemented this year. How does one declare it? How does one pay it? Many companies are wondering. First answers.
Approved on November 29, 2011, it states, “everybody who places a cosmetic product on the French market for the first time" (meaning manufacturers and importers) is subject to a tax of 0.1% of the revenues due to this product.
Once the principle laid down, how it will be applied is the point to know.
What to do, in practice?
First point: the persons concerned (manufacturers and importers) shall declare this tax. It is to be declared at the same time as the VAT, before March 31 … and paid at the same time to the relevant taxes' offices.
On this same date, another declaration shall be sent the French Agency for the sanitary safety of Health products (Afssaps), the final recipient of this tax. However, as Anne Dux, the Agency’s Manager of the FEBEA Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Department, says, “its content and the form to fill in are not yet established.” What is known today is that it shall be sent not later than March 31 of every year.
Last information: a fiscal instruction is to be released mid-March, which should help every people getting a clearer picture of the procedures to follow.
