TGCA Saint-Martin explained: 4% rate, invoices and deadlines

The TGCA (taxe générale sur le chiffre d'affaires) is the turnover tax of French Saint-Martin: 4% on top of your price, shown separately on the invoice, with no zero rate and no deduction of the TGCA you pay on purchases. You file a return every month — even when nothing is due — by the 15th of the following month, and since 1 January 2026 that return goes to the tax office by email. Below is how it works, what your invoices must say, and how corporate tax (IS) fits in.

What is the TGCA?

Saint-Martin has its own tax code, the CGI de Saint-Martin, and its own tax on sales. The TGCA looks like VAT on the invoice — a percentage added to the price — but it behaves differently in the books, because there is no input-tax deduction.

• The general rate is 4%. A 2% rate applies only to building, rebuilding or heavily renovating affordable housing (since 20 October 2025).
• There is no zero rate. When an invoice carries no TGCA, it has to say why, with the article of the law.
• No deduction: the TGCA on what you buy is simply part of your cost price.
• The tax is due when the money comes in (cash basis). You may switch to the invoice date (« débits »), but only after a written request to the tax service; it then applies to everything from the first of the next month.
• Accommodation and car rental carry the normal 4% — the separate tourist taxes ended on 1 April 2020 — and a stay of more than 90 days a year is exempt. Renting out a home falls under the 3% droit de bail instead.

Who pays the TGCA?

Any business that sells goods or services on Saint-Martin charges the TGCA to its customers and pays it over to the tax office. Imports carry no TGCA. A supplier based outside Saint-Martin who provides a service here owes the TGCA himself and has to register; keep his registration certificate, because without it you, as the customer, are jointly liable. The return also asks for the amount of such services you bought.

When is there no TGCA, and what must the invoice say?

Since there is no zero rate, every invoice without TGCA must carry the reason and the article. These are the situations and the wording the law expects:

• An exempt operation (art. 253): « Exonération de TGCA — art. 253 du CGI de Saint-Martin ».
• A service for a customer outside Saint-Martin that is not used here (art. 252 II): « Service non utilisé à Saint-Martin ». The invoice must name the customer, and you must be able to show the payment.
• Goods you take out of Saint-Martin (art. 254): « Exportation exonérée de TGCA ».
• Goods sold to a business for its stock — resale or raw material, not equipment for its own use (art. 251 I 3°): « Stock — hors champ de la TGCA ».
• A sale by a local producer to a business (art. 251 I 2°): « Producteur — hors champ de la TGCA ».

What else must every invoice show?

Your NIF, a sequential number, the date, per line the unit price excluding tax and the rate (or the reason there is none, with the article), the total excluding tax, the TGCA as a separate amount, and the delivery date if it differs from the invoice date. Each missing item can cost €15.

How often do you file, and by when?

• The return is monthly, also when no TGCA is due.
• If your TGCA for a whole year stays under €2,000, you may choose to file and pay per calendar quarter.
• Return and payment are due together on the 15th of the month after the period. If that falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the next working day counts.
• Amounts go on the return in whole euros, with 0.50 rounded up.

How is the return sent since 2026?

Since 1 January 2026 every business return goes to the Centre des Finances Publiques by email, as a PDF, and the tax is paid by bank transfer with the proof of payment attached. Paper and cheques are refused. The details matter: the email subject, the file name and the description on your bank transfer must all read NIF_TGCA_year_month. A return with the wrong name is not processed.

What about corporate tax (IS)?

A SARL, an EURL or an SAS pays impôt sur les sociétés (IS). The rate is 20%, or 10% on the first €40,000 of profit when turnover stays under €7.63 million, the capital is fully paid up and at least 75% is held by individuals. An EURL whose only partner is an individual falls under income tax by default and can opt for IS.

• The IS return is due within three months of year-end; for a year ending 31 December, by the second working day after 1 May.
• The balance is due on the 15th of the fourth month — 15 May for a calendar year — with four instalments on 15 March, June, September and December.
• Losses carry forward without a time limit.
• The annual accounts are approved within six months of year-end and filed with the commercial court registry within a month after that (two when filed electronically).
• The DLCP — business licence and patentes — is separate from IS: due before 1 July, with any balance by 30 November.

Euros, dollars and guilders

The currency of Saint-Martin is the euro, and your TGCA return and your accounts are in euros. In daily business, though, many customers pay in US dollars, and guilders come across from the Dutch side. Every amount you receive in dollars or guilders has to end up in euros on the return, so it pays to record the exchange rate with each transaction rather than reconstruct it at the end of the month.

Saint-Martin or Sint Maarten?

Same island, two tax systems. The Dutch side, Sint Maarten, has its own turnover tax (ToT) at 5%, its own tax office and its own deadlines, and works in guilders. Nothing in this article applies there. If your business is on the Dutch side, read how bookkeeping works in Sint Maarten.

How CORA handles the TGCA

Saint-Martin is the one place where CORA sends the return itself. CORA builds your monthly — or quarterly — TGCA return from your books, in whole euros, and shows you the amount and the NIF_TGCA reference. You make the bank transfer with that reference and add the proof of payment; if you filled in the collectivité's own form, you attach it too. CORA then emails the overview of your figures, your proof of payment and the form to the tax office's declarations address, with the reference as the subject and in every file name, and keeps a copy of exactly what went out and when.

• Every invoice without TGCA gets the right wording and article — exempt, export, service not used on Saint-Martin, stock or producer.
• Your NIF on every invoice, with a warning when it is missing.
• For a SARL, EURL or SAS: an IS indication, every date in your calendar — the IS return, the balance, the four instalments and the DLCP — and turnover reconciled with your TGCA returns.
• Euros, dollars and guilders side by side, with exchange rates fetched every day, and your French bank connected live.
• A free read-only login for your accountant.

CORA does not send the IS return or the DLCP: for those it gives you the figures and the dates. See everything CORA does on Saint-Martin, or start your free trial.

This article explains the rules in general terms. For your own situation, check with the Centre des Finances Publiques of Saint-Martin or your accountant.