French attorney invoices need agreed rates, VAT treatment, and HT/TTC totals. Everhour keeps billing reports organized.
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This calculation answers how much a French attorney invoice should show before tax and after VAT. Start with the hours devoted to the case, multiply by the agreed hourly rate, then show the amount excluding VAT, or HT. If VAT applies, add it to reach the amount including VAT, or TTC.
In France, attorney fees are not just a time total. Except for emergency, force majeure, and specified legal-aid situations, a French lawyer must have a written fee agreement stating the fee amount or calculation method and expected costs and disbursements. The calculator result should match that agreement, not an informal rate.
The core formula is `hours × hourly rate`. For example, if a partner records 24 approved hours at €210 per hour and an associate records 7 approved hours at €95 per hour, the HT fees are €5,040.00 plus €665.00, or €5,705.00 before VAT.
The normal VAT rate in metropolitan France is 20% and applies to ordinary taxable professional services. On €5,705.00 HT, VAT at 20% is €1,141.00, so the TTC total is €6,846.00. If the lawyer is under the applicable VAT franchise regime, the invoice uses the exemption instead of adding VAT.
French national lawyer-fee rules leave billing increments to the agreement. They do not prescribe a national 6-minute, 15-minute, or annual billable-hour standard. If the agreement says time is billed in 15-minute units, apply that consistently before multiplying by the rate.
Do not use a success-only fee as the entire fee structure. In France, quota litis is prohibited, meaning a lawyer may not set all fees exclusively by the judicial outcome. An additional success fee can be agreed if it remains reasonable, but hourly work still needs its own agreed method when hourly billing applies.
A calculator is enough for a single draft invoice when the hours are approved, the rate is fixed, the VAT position is clear, and the client agreement already states the billing method. It also works for checking whether the HT, VAT, and TTC fields reconcile before sending the invoice.
Use a managed workflow when several people record time, rates differ by role, write-downs need approval, or reports must support later billing questions. Everhour Reporting lets teams group and filter logged time, add billing columns, export reports, and keep the invoice handoff tied to the underlying time data.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
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A French attorney invoice should separate the service line, quantity, precise description, unit price excluding VAT, applicable VAT rate or exemption, and total amounts excluding and including VAT. For hourly work, the quantity is the approved time after applying the billing increment stated in the fee agreement.
No. The normal VAT rate in metropolitan France is 20% for ordinary taxable professional services, but regulated lawyer activities can fall under the VAT franchise regime in 2026 when prior-year turnover is €50,000 or less, with a current-year increased threshold of €55,000 before VAT becomes due from the relevant date.
The billing increment is set by the fee agreement, not by a national French attorney-billing standard. The agreement can use hourly, 15-minute, 6-minute, or another method if the calculation is clear to the client. Apply the same increment before multiplying time by the agreed rate.
Between professionals, the default payment deadline is 30 days from completion of the service if no other deadline is agreed. Professional parties may agree up to 60 days from invoice issue or 45 days end of month, while periodic invoices are capped at 45 days from invoice issue.
For the first half of 2026, the recommended late-payment penalty rate is 12.15%, based on the ECB refinancing rate plus 10 points. B2B invoices also carry a €40 fixed recovery indemnity for late payment after the due date.
Everhour Reporting lets admins build reports with 45+ columns, metadata filters, grouping, date ranges, and exports in CSV, Excel/XLSX, or PDF. A billing review can group approved time by client, matter, member, task, billable amount, cost, and invoice status before the final invoice is prepared.
Use Everhour Reporting to group billable time, filter by matter or person, export the figures, and keep French billing reviews tied to the time records behind each invoice.
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