Bookkeeping in France (Plan Comptable Général, books, records and retention)

Which books a French business must keep under each regime, the account structure of the Plan Comptable Général, how expenses and assets are classified, what an invoice must carry, what the accounting file handed to a tax inspector must contain, and how long everything is kept. Figures are for tax year 2026. Two sources are older on their face, the retention page checked on 1 July 2024 and the invoice page on 11 August 2026, and the tax doctrine used here carries version dates from 2012 to 2021 (depreciation rates 23 September 2013, low-value assets 1 March 2017, declining balance 12 September 2012, accounting file format 7 June 2017, accounting file production 15 December 2021).

Section 1: Quick Reference

Field	Value
Country	France (République française)
Currency	EUR
Financial year	A twelve month period. An inventory checks assets and liabilities at least every twelve months
Accounting standards	Plan Comptable Général, règlement 2014-03 of the Autorité des normes comptables, as modernised by règlement 2022-06 of 4 November 2022 for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025
Governing bodies	Autorité des normes comptables; Direction générale des Finances publiques
Key legislation	Code de commerce articles L123-12 to L123-28; Code général des impôts; livre des procédures fiscales articles L. 47 A and A. 47 A-1
Books, real regime	Livre-journal, grand-livre, manuel des procédures comptables
Books, micro-entrepreneur	Livre des recettes, plus a registre des achats for traders and accommodation providers
Record retention	Ten years from the close for the books and supporting documents; six years for the documents the tax administration may call for
Who may keep the books	The business itself, or an expert-comptable on the roll of the Ordre des experts-comptables

Which books each regime must keep

The bookkeeping duty follows the tax regime, not the legal form. A trader is in the simplified real regime only if it meets every condition below at the same time, and in the normal real regime above any of them.

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21852
Simplified real regime, turnover limit for selling, catering and accommodation	EUR 945,000	"945 000 €"
Simplified real regime, turnover limit for other activities	EUR 286,000	"286 000 €"
Simplified real regime, the VAT owed for the previous year must stay below	EUR 15,000	"inférieur à 15 000 €"
Fine for not keeping the accounting documents for the required period	EUR 10,000	"une amende de 10 000 €"
Fine for a deliberate omission in the invoicing, by inaccurate or fictitious entries, on top of five years' prison	EUR 500,000	"500 000 € d'amende"

All the conditions, not any one: a business inside both turnover limits but owing more VAT than the limit is in the normal real regime. The three books are a livre-journal recording every movement, a grand-livre gathering the accounts and classifying the journal entries by account in the order of the Plan Comptable Général, and a manuel des procédures comptables describing the organisation and the controls. Each book gets an identification number listed by a greffier and is coté et paraphé. Every entry states the origin, the content, the account and the reference of the supporting document. Books may be electronic or handwritten, without blanks or alteration, dated and recorded as soon as they are drawn up. In the simplified real regime the livre-journal records receipts and payments day by day, with receivables and payables taken up at the close, general expenses entered at regular dates at least yearly, and the entries centralised every three months. On top of that a sole trader may elect super-simplified accounting each year by ticking the box on results return 2031, which allows a simplified valuation of stocks and work in progress.

The micro-entrepreneur keeps registers, not double-entry books.

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23266
Unit amount below which retail sales and services to individuals may be entered as one daily total	EUR 76	"inférieur à 76 €"
Criminal fine for a forged register or its use, on top of three years' prison	EUR 45,000	"45 000 € d'amende"
Penalty for each missing turnover declaration	EUR 60.1	"une pénalité de 60,1 €"
Yearly turnover which, once passed in two consecutive years, forces an account dedicated to the activity	EUR 10,000	"dépasse 10 000 €"

• Trader or accommodation provider. A livre des recettes encaissées in date order, with the amount and origin of each receipt and the client's identity, the means of payment and the document reference, totalled every three months. Plus a registre des achats listing the year's purchases in date order with the means of payment and the document references.
• Liberal profession. The livre des recettes only, on the same terms. That page requires no registre des achats.
• Under the VAT franchise there is more: a yearly register detailing purchases of goods and services, a livre-journal showing professional receipts day by day, and the invoices kept.
• Entries cannot be edited once recorded, and the registers may be paper, official downloadable models or software, held electronically if wanted. The page says in terms there is no sanction for failing to keep them, but forgery and its use carry the prison term and the fine above.

Section 2: Standard Chart of Accounts (Plan Comptable Général)

The class structure is the standard structure of the Plan Comptable Général as the tax doctrine describes it: a decimal codification in nine classes, classes 1 to 5 for the balance sheet, 6 and 7 for the result, 8 for the special accounts used for information duties such as the annexe (80 commitments, 88 result awaiting appropriation, 89 balance sheet), class 0 left available. It applies to every industrial and commercial business and to anyone who must draw up a bilan, a compte de résultat and an annexe. Sector plans may adapt it. See https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/3412-PGP.html

The account numbers below are OpenAccountants' own selection of the accounts a small French business uses most, not a reproduction of the standard. They were checked against the plan de comptes published by the Autorité des normes comptables in its version at the first of January 2026. The English labels are ours.

Classe 1: Comptes de Capitaux (Equity & Long-Term Financing)

Code	Account
101	Capital
106	Réserves, including the legal reserve (see france-financial-statements)
108	Compte de l'exploitant: owner's equity, sole traders
110	Report à nouveau créditeur: retained earnings
119	Report à nouveau débiteur: accumulated losses
120	Résultat de l'exercice, bénéfice
129	Résultat de l'exercice, perte
131	Subventions d'investissement
151	Provisions pour risques
164	Emprunts auprès des établissements de crédit

Classe 2: Comptes d'Immobilisations (Non-Current Assets)

Code	Account
201	Frais d'établissement
205	Concessions, brevets, licences
207	Fonds commercial: goodwill
213	Constructions
2154	Matériel industriel
2155	Outillage industriel
2181	Installations générales, agencements
2182	Matériel de transport
2183	Matériel de bureau et matériel informatique
2184	Mobilier
28	Amortissements des immobilisations
29	Dépréciations des immobilisations

Classe 3: Comptes de Stocks et En-Cours (Inventories)

Code	Account
31	Matières premières
35	Stocks de produits
37	Stocks de marchandises
39	Dépréciations des stocks

Classe 4: Comptes de Tiers (Receivables & Payables)

Code	Account
401	Fournisseurs
411	Clients
4191	Clients, avances et acomptes reçus
421	Personnel, rémunérations dues
43	Sécurité sociale et organismes sociaux
44551	TVA à décaisser: VAT payable
44562	TVA déductible sur immobilisations
44566	TVA déductible sur autres biens et services
44571	TVA collectée: output VAT
455	Associés, comptes courants
467	Autres comptes débiteurs ou créditeurs

Classe 5: Comptes Financiers (Cash & Financial Instruments)

Code	Account
512	Banques
53	Caisse
58	Virements internes

Classe 6: Comptes de Charges (Expenses)

Code	Account
601	Achats de matières premières
6061	Fournitures non stockables: water, energy
6063	Fournitures d'entretien et petit équipement
6064	Fournitures administratives
607	Achats de marchandises
611	Sous-traitance générale
613	Locations
6155	Entretien et réparations
616	Primes d'assurance
6226	Honoraires
623	Publicité, publications, relations publiques, including 6231 Annonces et insertions
6234	Cadeaux à la clientèle
6251	Voyages et déplacements
6256	Missions
6257	Réceptions
626	Frais postaux et télécommunications
627	Services bancaires
635	Autres impôts, taxes et versements assimilés, including 63511 Contribution économique territoriale
641	Rémunérations du personnel
645	Charges de sécurité sociale
657	Valeurs comptables des immobilisations incorporelles et corporelles cédées
6582	Pénalités, amendes fiscales et pénales, inside 658 Pénalités et autres charges
6611	Intérêts des emprunts et dettes
681	Dotations aux amortissements et provisions

Classe 7: Comptes de Produits (Revenue)

Code	Account
701	Ventes de produits finis
706	Prestations de services
707	Ventes de marchandises
708	Produits des activités annexes
741	Subventions d'exploitation, inside 74 Subventions
757	Produits des cessions d'immobilisations incorporelles et corporelles
758	Indemnités et autres produits: 7581 dédits et pénalités, 7582 libéralités reçues, 7583 rentrées sur créances amorties
76	Produits financiers
77	Produits exceptionnels

Section 3: Revenue Recognition

Scenario	Treatment
Default	Accruals. The livre-journal records every movement, and an inventory runs at least every twelve months
Micro-entreprise	Receipts basis. Receipts are entered when cashed, and the taxable profit is turnover less a flat-rate allowance
Régime réel simplifié	Accruals, with the super-simplified option: receipts and payments in the year, receivables and payables at the close
Régime réel normal	Full accruals, every movement day by day, operation by operation
Construction contracts	Avancement or achèvement, per PCG art. 622-2
Advance payments	Credited to 4191 until the performance is delivered

Turnover Thresholds

France taxes the previous year's income, so the micro regime has two live sets of limits. Use the row matching the year of the income. A single year over a limit does not end the regime. The limit must have been passed in both of the two preceding years, N minus one and N minus two, before the income of year N leaves the micro regime.

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23267
Micro limit, goods and accommodation other than furnished tourist lettings, income of 2025 declared in 2026	EUR 188,700	"188 700 €"
Micro limit, services, income of 2025 declared in 2026	EUR 77,700	"77 700 €"
Micro limit, goods and accommodation other than furnished tourist lettings, income received in 2026	EUR 203,100	"203 100 €"
Micro limit, services, income received in 2026	EUR 83,600	"83 600 €"
Flat-rate allowance, goods and accommodation other than furnished tourist lettings	71%	"abattement est de 71 %"
Flat-rate allowance, services taxed as industrial and commercial profits	50%	"50 %"
Flat-rate allowance, non-commercial profits	34%	"34 %"

Furnished tourist lettings are on their own limits and their own allowance. Use fr-rental-income.

The allowance replaces actual expenses, which is why registers replace double-entry books. These are not the bookkeeping limits: leaving the micro regime moves the business to a real regime, and which real regime is the separate test in the first table of this Guide.

Section 4: Expense Classification

Expense	Account	Note
Rent of professional premises	613
Utilities	6061	Apportion if the premises are also a home
Professional fees	6226
Insurance	616	Business cover only
Advertising	6231 for advertisements and insertions, 623 for the rest
Travel	6251	Business purpose, supported by a document
Entertainment	6257	Must be justified
Office supplies	6064
Telecoms	626	Apportion the business share if mixed
Bank charges	627
Loan interest	6611	Interest limits for companies are not covered here
Penalties and tax fines	6582	Inside 658. In the operating result since the reform, then added back on the tax return
Depreciation	681	Tax rules may differ from the accounting charge. See Section 5
Gifts to clients	6234	Input VAT is recoverable only on objects of very low value, the amount fixed by article 28-00 A of annexe IV to the CGI. See france-vat-return
Employer social charges	645	Rates are in france-payroll and fr-social-contributions

Section 5: Asset vs Expense Thresholds

Capitalisation Threshold

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/2109-PGP.html
Unit price excluding tax up to which materials and tooling may be deducted at once	EUR 500	"n'excédant pas 500 €"

The tolerance covers materials and tooling belonging in accounts 2154 and 2155, small office equipment, office and shop furniture, and software whose unit value excluding tax does not exceed it. It is a tax tolerance, not an accounting rule: the Plan Comptable Général sets no minimum, and an item with a useful life of more than one year is an asset. For office and shop furniture the tolerance holds only where the purchases of a given item in one financial year run to a small number of units, and it does not cover the initial furnishing of an office building, a restaurant or a shop, nor a complete renewal. Transport equipment is outside the tooling limb and is capitalised.

Standard Depreciation Rates (Amortissement Linéaire)

Yearly straight-line rates, given "à titre purement indicatif" and printed without the percent sign, as "Maisons d'habitation ordinaires 1 à 2".

Asset	Rate
Source	https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/4520-PGP.html
Ordinary dwelling houses	1% to 2%
Workers' houses	3% to 4%
Commercial buildings	2% to 5%
Industrial buildings, land excluded	5%
Plant (matériel)	10% to 15%
Tooling (outillage)	10% to 20%
Office equipment	10% to 20%
Motor vehicles	20% to 25%
Furniture	10%
Fittings and installations	5% to 10%
Patents and plant variety certificates	20%

The list is indicative and is beaten by the trade's usages and the particular conditions of use. A shorter life may be used where the effective life will very probably be shorter than the normal life, and the business must then prove the abnormal depreciation. Patents bought in financial years beginning on or after 1 January 1988 may be written off over a minimum of five years. The legacy Guide printed rates for computer hardware and software: they are not in the doctrine's list, so none is stated here, and the asset's own useful life governs.

Declining Balance (Amortissement Dégressif)

An asset qualifies only if it falls in the categories set by article 22 of annexe II to the CGI and by article 39 A of the CGI, was not already second hand when bought, and has a normal useful life of at least three years. See https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/4684-PGP.html and https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/4682-PGP.html

Normal useful life	Coefficient
Source	https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/4699-PGP.html
Three or four years	1.25
Five or six years	1.75
More than six years	2.25

The rate is the straight-line rate for the normal useful life multiplied by the coefficient. The first charge runs from the first day of the month of acquisition or construction, reduced in proportion to the part of the financial year that follows. Once the declining charge for a year falls below the residual value divided by the years still to run, the business may take that larger figure instead. Certain equipment carries increased or reduced coefficients. Dwelling buildings, worksites and the premises used to carry on the profession are outside the method by their nature, while hotel investments, movable and immovable, are inside it. Assets already second hand when bought are excluded, with a tolerance for equipment rebuilt by the maker to near new specification. Where the accounting depreciation is straight line, the excess is recorded as amortissements dérogatoires.

Section 6: P&L Format (Compte de Résultat)

The compte de résultat gathers the income and expenses of the year and shows the profit or loss after depreciation and provisions. Règlement 2022-06 of 4 November 2022 moved accounts that fed the exceptional result into the operating result, and binds financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025. What stays in the exceptional result is income and expenses directly linked to a major and unusual event, entries of purely tax origin such as amortissements dérogatoires and provisions réglementées, a change of accounting method taken through profit because of a tax rule, and corrections of errors other than those taken straight to equity. An event is unusual when it is not tied to the entity's normal and current activity. An event is presumed unusual when it has not happened in recent years and is unlikely to happen again. See https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/13223-PGP.html and https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21852

The layout below follows the système de base model of the Plan Comptable Général, article 821-2. See https://www.anc.gouv.fr/files/anc/files/1_Normes_fran%C3%A7aises/Plans%20comptables/2026/PCG--1er-janvier-2026.pdf A small business, and for the compte de résultat a medium one, may use a simplified presentation; a trader in the simplified real regime need not draw up the annexe.

COMPTE DE RÉSULTAT

PRODUITS D'EXPLOITATION
  Chiffre d'affaires net
  Production stockée (variation)
  Production immobilisée
  Subventions
  Reprises sur amortissements, dépréciations et provisions
  Produits des cessions d'immobilisations incorporelles et corporelles
  Autres produits
  TOTAL PRODUITS D'EXPLOITATION

CHARGES D'EXPLOITATION
  Achats de marchandises et de matières
  Variation de stocks
  Autres achats et charges externes
  Impôts, taxes et versements assimilés
  Salaires et charges sociales
  Dotations aux amortissements et provisions
  Valeurs comptables des immobilisations incorporelles et corporelles cédées
  Autres charges
  TOTAL CHARGES D'EXPLOITATION

  RÉSULTAT D'EXPLOITATION

Quote-part de résultat sur opérations faites en commun
  Bénéfice attribué ou perte transférée
  Perte supportée ou bénéfice transféré

PRODUITS FINANCIERS
CHARGES FINANCIÈRES
  RÉSULTAT FINANCIER
  RÉSULTAT COURANT AVANT IMPÔTS

PRODUITS EXCEPTIONNELS
CHARGES EXCEPTIONNELLES
  RÉSULTAT EXCEPTIONNEL

Participation des salariés
Impôts sur les bénéfices

  RÉSULTAT NET

Section 7: Balance Sheet Format (Bilan)

The bilan shows the assets and liabilities and sets out the equity separately. The layout below follows the système de base model of the Plan Comptable Général, article 821-1. See https://www.anc.gouv.fr/files/anc/files/1_Normes_fran%C3%A7aises/Plans%20comptables/2026/PCG--1er-janvier-2026.pdf and https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21852

ACTIF

Actif immobilisé
  Immobilisations incorporelles
  Immobilisations corporelles
  Immobilisations financières

Actif circulant
  Stocks et en-cours
  Avances et acomptes versés
  Créances clients et comptes rattachés
  Autres créances
  Charges constatées d'avance
  Valeurs mobilières de placement
  Instruments financiers à terme et jetons détenus
  Disponibilités

Frais d'émission des emprunts
Primes de remboursement des emprunts

Écarts de conversion et différences d'évaluation - Actif

PASSIF

Capitaux propres
  Capital, primes d'émission, de fusion, d'apport, réserves
  Report à nouveau, résultat de l'exercice
  Subventions d'investissement
  Provisions réglementées

Autres fonds propres

Provisions pour risques et charges

Dettes
  Emprunts et dettes auprès des établissements de crédit
  Avances et acomptes reçus
  Dettes fournisseurs et comptes rattachés
  Dettes fiscales et sociales
  Autres dettes
  Produits constatés d'avance

Écarts de conversion et différences d'évaluation - Passif

Section 8: Bank Reconciliation Patterns

Legacy reference content. No allowed page carries it: bank file layouts are a commercial matter for each bank, not a rule of French law. Confirm the columns against the file the client actually exports.

French Bank Statement Formats

Bank	Format	Key fields
BNP Paribas	QIF, CSV, OFX	Date, Libellé, Débit, Crédit, Solde
Crédit Agricole	CSV, OFX	Date opération, Date valeur, Libellé, Montant
Société Générale	CSV, QIF	Date, Libellé, Montant, Devise
La Banque Postale	CSV, PDF	Date, Nature, Libellé, Débit, Crédit
Crédit Mutuel and CIC	CSV, OFX	Date, Libellé, Débit, Crédit
Qonto and Shine	CSV, bank feed	Date, Tiers, Catégorie, Montant

Common French Transaction Descriptions

Pattern	Likely classification
VIR or VIREMENT	Bank transfer. Income or expense, check
PRLV or PRELEVEMENT	Direct debit: utility, insurance, social charges
CB or CARTE	Card payment. Check the merchant
CHQ or CHEQUE	Cheque payment
REM CHQ	Cheque deposit, likely income
COTISATION	Social contribution (645)
URSSAF	Social charges, employer or self-employed (645)
TRESOR PUBLIC or DGFIP	Tax payment: corporation tax, VAT, CFE
LOYER	Rent (613)
ECHEANCE PRET	Loan repayment. Split principal (164) from interest (6611)

Section 9: Micro-Entity / Small Business Simplifications

Size Categories (Code de Commerce)

A business falls in an accounting size class when it meets two of the three criteria of that class: a balance sheet total, a net turnover excluding VAT and an average headcount. These classes are not the micro tax regime. The bookkeeping page carries the two classes that decide a simplified presentation.

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21852
Petite entreprise, balance sheet total not more than	EUR 7,500,000	"Bilan total inférieur ou égal à 7 500 000 €"
Petite entreprise, net turnover excluding VAT not more than	EUR 15,000,000	"Montant net HT du chiffre d'affaires inférieur ou égal à 15 000 000 €"
Moyenne entreprise, balance sheet total not more than	EUR 25,000,000	"Bilan total inférieur ou égal à 25 000 000 €"
Moyenne entreprise, net turnover excluding VAT not more than	EUR 50,000,000	"Montant net HT du chiffre d'affaires inférieur ou égal à 50 000 000 €"

The headcount tests are fifty employees on average for a petite entreprise and two hundred and fifty for a moyenne entreprise, and two of the three criteria decide the class. See https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21852 The full set of limits, including the accounting micro class, and what each class must produce and file, is in france-financial-statements.

Simplifications by Regime

Requirement	Micro-entreprise	Réel simplifié	Réel normal
Bookkeeping	Livre des recettes, plus a registre des achats for traders and accommodation providers. No double entry	Livre-journal, grand-livre, manuel des procédures, with the super-simplified option on election	Livre-journal, grand-livre, manuel des procédures. Every movement day by day
Centralisation	Not applicable	Every three months under the option	See france-financial-statements
Annual accounts	None	Bilan and compte de résultat, simplified presentation allowed, no annexe required	Bilan, compte de résultat and annexe
VAT	Franchise en base until the limits below	Annual CA12 return plus two instalments	CA3 return
Income tax	Flat-rate allowance on turnover, Section 3	Actual expenses	Actual expenses
Tax return package	Not required	Return 2031 for a sole trader, or return 2065 for a company, with the 2033 series	Return 2031 or 2065 with the 2050 series

TVA Franchise en Base Thresholds

The single franchise threshold announced in the 2025 finance law was abandoned. These are the limits in force for 2026.

Activity	Basic threshold	Tolerance threshold
Source	all figures below	https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21746
Goods and accommodation	EUR 85,000	EUR 93,500
Services	EUR 37,500	EUR 41,250
Lawyers' regulated work, authors' and performers' works and copyright	EUR 50,000	EUR 55,000
Their other activities	EUR 35,000	EUR 38,500

The franchise applies where the previous calendar year's turnover was at or below the basic threshold, or where the current year's turnover is at or below the tolerance threshold. Passing the basic threshold brings VAT from the first day of January of the following year. Passing the tolerance threshold brings VAT from the first day of the overrun. An invoice issued under the franchise must state "TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du code général des impôts".

VAT bookkeeping by regime

The simplified VAT regime starts at the franchise thresholds above and runs to the turnover limits in the first table of this Guide, with the same limit on the VAT owed. Above the tolerance turnover below, the business moves to the normal regime retroactively, from the first day of January of the year in which the turnover was passed, and files a CA3 for the whole of that period. Passing the ordinary turnover limit or the limit on the VAT owed instead moves it on the first day of January of the following year.

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23575
Turnover above which the simplified regime is undone back to 1 January of that year, goods and accommodation	EUR 1,040,000	"1 040 000 €"
Turnover above which the simplified regime is undone back to 1 January of that year, services	EUR 323,000	"323 000 €"

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23566
July instalment, share of the VAT of the previous year	55%	"55 %"
December instalment, share of the VAT of the previous year	40%	"40 %"
VAT of the previous year below which no instalment is due	EUR 1,000	"1 000 €"

Output VAT sits in 44571, input VAT on expenses in 44566 and on capital assets in 44562, the balance payable in 44551. Reconcile them to the return every period and clear 44551 when the payment leaves the bank. The normal regime files a CA3 return, the simplified regime one annual CA12 return with the two instalments above; boxes and mechanics are in france-vat-return. A franchised business has no output VAT and nothing to reclaim, which is why its bookkeeping is a purchases register and a receipts journal rather than VAT accounts.

Invoices: the particulars every invoice must carry

An invoice is valid only if it carries the compulsory particulars, whoever the client is. See https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F31808

• Date of issue; a unique number from a chronological and continuous sequence; the date of the sale, of the end of the service, or of an instalment paid.
• Seller: for an individual business the name and first name with "Entrepreneur individuel" or "EI", the address and the Siren number; for a company the name, the Siren number, the registered office address, the legal form and the share capital.
• Buyer: the name, the address, the billing address if different, and the purchase order number where one was issued.
• Each product or service: nature, quantity, precise name, unit price excluding VAT and the VAT rate, or the exemption wording.
• The total excluding VAT and the total including VAT; any increase such as carriage or packing; any rebate or discount linked to the operation.
• The payment date, the early payment discount terms or the words that there are none, and the rate of late payment penalties.

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F31808
Total excluding VAT at or below which the VAT identification numbers need not appear	EUR 150	"inférieur ou égal à 150 €"
Fixed recovery indemnity to be mentioned on an invoice between businesses	EUR 40	"indemnité forfaitaire de 40 €"

Four more particulars arrive with electronic invoicing: the client's Siren number when the client is a business, the delivery address when it differs, the nature of the operations (goods, services or both), and the wording for the option to pay the tax on the debits. Every business established in France and liable to VAT must be able to receive electronic invoices since 1 September 2026; issuing starts then for large and intermediate companies and on 1 September 2027 for small, medium and micro businesses. See france-einvoice. Special wordings cover membership of an approved management body, the VAT franchise, "Auto-liquidation" where the customer is liable for the VAT, the electrical waste contribution, the private copying levy, "Auto-facturation" where the client raises the invoice, and a craft business's professional insurance references.

The fichier des écritures comptables

A business that keeps its books on a computer hands the inspector a copy of the accounting entries file at the start of a tax audit, in the format set by article A. 47 A-1 of the livre des procédures fiscales. It concerns taxpayers who keep computerised accounts, must hold and produce accounting documents under the CGI, and are audited: corporation tax payers, and income tax payers under a real regime for industrial and commercial, non-commercial or agricultural profits. A property company is released only where it is taxed exclusively on rental income and all of its members are individuals. Any other property company must produce the file. A micro-entrepreneur who keeps the registers on a computer is also released. See https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/9026-PGP.html and https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/9028-PGP.html

#	Field	Note
1	Code journal	The code referencing each journal in the software
2	Libellé journal	The journal's full name
3	Numéro d'écriture	One number per double-entry item, the same on each of its lines, rising in time without a gap
4	Date de comptabilisation	When the operation was posted
5	Numéro de compte	To the standard of the Plan Comptable Général, with the business's subdivisions
6	Libellé de compte	The account name
7	Numéro de compte auxiliaire	Third-party account coding. Blank if not used
8	Libellé de compte auxiliaire	The third party's name. Blank if not used
9	Référence de la pièce justificative	Reference of the document behind the entry
10	Date de la pièce justificative	The date on that document
11	Libellé de l'écriture	The literal reason for the entry
12	Montant au débit	A signed amount in euros
13	Montant au crédit	A signed amount in euros
14	Sens	Where a direction replaces debit and credit, only "D" and "C", or "+1" and "-1"
15	Lettrage	The mark matching two entries. Blank if not used
16	Date de lettrage	When the matching was validated. Blank if not used
17	Date de validation	When a draft entry became final by receiving a unique identifier. Equals the posting date where there is no draft mode
18	Montant en devise and identifiant de la devise	The foreign currency amount on the document, and the currency. Blank if not used

Where the doctrine says "à blanc si non utilisé" the column must be present; the cell may be empty if the software does not hold the data, and must never be filled with a zero or with spaces. The débit and crédit columns are not among them: both must always carry a figure, and the side not used carries a zero. Two file shapes are accepted: a flat sequential file meeting the criteria of the article, or a structured file in the markup language whose schema is published at https://www.impots.gouv.fr/fichiers-standards-des-ecritures-comptables

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/9026-PGP.html
Fine for not producing the accounting file in the required form	EUR 5,000	"une amende égale à 5 000 €"
Increase of the duties charged, applied instead where an adjustment is made and it is higher	10%	"majoration de 10 % des droits"

Record retention

Keep the accounting books and the supporting documents for ten years from the close. The tax documents the administration may call for are kept for six years, counted from the last operation entered in a book or register or from the date the document was drawn up, and the period rises to ten years where the activity is undeclared. See https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F10029

Document	Period	Counted from
Livre-journal, grand-livre, livre d'inventaire and other books and registers	Ten years	The close of the financial year
Supporting documents: purchase orders, delivery notes, customer and supplier invoices	Ten years	The close of the financial year
Annual accounts: bilan, compte de résultat, annexe	Ten years	The close of the financial year
Tax documents for income tax, corporation tax, profits under a real regime, local business taxes and turnover taxes	Six years	The last operation entered, or the date the document was drawn up
Commercial contracts and correspondence, bank documents	Five years
Customs declarations	Three years
Contracts for the purchase or sale of land and buildings	Thirty years

The micro-entrepreneur is on the same ten years for the receipts book, the purchases register and the supporting documents. Not keeping the documents is fined: see the first table of this Guide.

Section 10: How this Guide connects to the other France Guides

The close, the size classes, approval of the accounts, filing at the greffe, confidentiality, the penalties and the statutory auditor thresholds are all in france-financial-statements. This Guide stops at the books and the entries that feed them.

Guide	How bookkeeping connects
france-financial-statements	The trial balance from the grand-livre produces the bilan and the compte de résultat, which start the tax return package
france-vat-return	Accounts 44551, 44562, 44566 and 44571 feed the CA3 or CA12 return
france-einvoice	Invoice format, the dates receiving and issuing become compulsory, the extra particulars
france-payroll and fr-social-contributions	Payroll postings to 641 and 645, and the contribution rates, which are not in this Guide
fr-cfe and france-tax-optimization	Local business taxes in 63511, inside 635 Autres impôts, taxes et versements assimilés. The value added for the CVAE is built from the accounts of the Plan Comptable Général
fr-tax-audit	The accounting file above is what an audit opens with

Item	Value	Note
Source	all figures below	https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/839-PGP.html
Turnover above which the value added contribution is due	EUR 152,500	"152 500 €"

The method, step by step

1. Fix the regime first: the micro limits for the year of the income, then the simplified real regime conditions, turnover and VAT owed together: https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23267 and https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21852
2. Open the right books. Micro: a livre des recettes, plus a registre des achats for goods and accommodation: https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23266 Real regime: livre-journal, grand-livre and manuel des procédures, numbered by the greffier, with the super-simplified option elected on results return 2031: https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21852
3. Post from documents, not the bank alone. Every entry carries its origin, content, account and document reference, and every invoice the particulars above: https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F31808
4. Test an asset against the low-value tolerance before capitalising, then set the method and rate: https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/2109-PGP.html and https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/4520-PGP.html
5. Reconcile the VAT accounts to the return filed for the period: https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23566
6. Inventory at least every twelve months, post the closing adjustments, then hand the trial balance to france-financial-statements, check the accounting file exports in the required format, and archive for the retention periods above: https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/9028-PGP.html and https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F10029

Ask the client first

• Which regime this year, micro, simplified real or normal real, and did either of the last two years cross a limit? That decides whether there are registers or double-entry books at all.
• How much VAT did it owe last year? Inside both turnover limits it is still in the normal real regime if it owed more than the VAT limit.
• Has it elected for super-simplified accounting on its results return this year? Without the election the full simplified rules apply.
• Is it under the VAT franchise, and does every invoice carry the exemption wording?
• Can its software export the accounting entries file with every required column? A package that cannot is a problem found during an audit, not before one.
• Does it sell goods or accommodation, or services? Almost every limit here splits on that line, and a mixed business needs both tested.

When to refuse or refer

• The text of a particular line of the Plan Comptable Général that this Guide does not carry, or the posting of an unusual transaction. Read the standard at https://www.anc.gouv.fr/files/anc/files/1_Normes_fran%C3%A7aises/Plans%20comptables/2026/PCG--1er-janvier-2026.pdf
• Drawing up, approving, filing or auditing the annual accounts. Use france-financial-statements.
• The VAT return itself, its boxes, rates and deduction rules. Use france-vat-return.
• Payroll postings, contribution rates and the treatment of the CSG and the CRDS. Use france-payroll and fr-social-contributions.
• Consolidated accounts and groups, banks, insurers and listed companies. Farming, property companies and non-profit bodies: the pages used here cover traders, service providers and liberal professions.
• An audit under way, a proposed adjustment or a penalty notice. Use fr-tax-audit.
• Whether a given professional may sign the work. An expert-comptable must be on the roll of the Ordre des experts-comptables, and this Guide does not replace one.

Sources

• https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21852
• https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23266
• https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23267
• https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F21746
• https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23575
• https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F23566
• https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F31808
• https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F10029
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/3412-PGP.html
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/2109-PGP.html
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/4520-PGP.html
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/4682-PGP.html
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/4684-PGP.html
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/4699-PGP.html
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/9026-PGP.html
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/9028-PGP.html
• https://www.impots.gouv.fr/fichiers-standards-des-ecritures-comptables
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/13223-PGP.html
• https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/839-PGP.html
• https://www.anc.gouv.fr/files/anc/files/1_Normes_fran%C3%A7aises/Plans%20comptables/2026/PCG--1er-janvier-2026.pdf

Disclaimer

This Guide and its outputs are provided for informational and computational purposes only and do not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Open Accountants and its contributors accept no liability for any errors, omissions, or outcomes arising from the use of this Guide. All outputs must be reviewed and signed off by a qualified professional (such as an expert-comptable) before filing or acting upon.

Contributed by OpenAccountants.