Contribution by Nathalie Habibou, Partner – Arsene Taxand
Under French law, there is no recognition of the validity of the scanned copy of a paper invoice, nor of a simple PDF invoice, unless proper reliable audit trail is put in place. For an invoice to be an electronic invoice, the entire invoicing process must be electronic. Moreover, an electronic invoice is valid only in the case of (i) a certified electronic signature or (ii) the implementation of an electronic information exchange (i.e. EDI).
However, the French tax authorities has just specified in a note dated 30 March 2020 that, during the COVID-19 period only: “it is allowed, including for the purpose of the recovery of input VAT, that invoice issued in paper form and then scanned, is sent by mail by any supplier to its customer without the need to send the by post corresponding paper invoice”.
In addition, this note also allows the customer, during the containment period only, to store under PDF format the scanned invoice received by email. At the end of this period, it will be liable to store the said invoice by printing it, or scanning it in accordance with the specific provisions of article A. 102 B-2 of the LPF (i.e. PDF format accompanied by a server stamp, a digital fingerprint, an electronic signature or any equivalent secure device).
In other words:
- For the containment period, the scanned paper invoice is now accepted.
- At the end of the containment period, the scanner invoice received during the containment should be stored under printed version, or under electronic format provided that specifics requirement are met.
In practice, it seems useful to take into account the following elements:
- Be particularly vigilant about the risk of duplication, especially if suppliers decide to subsequently send the paper invoice by post;
- Be careful about the storage duty that should be respected at the end of the containment;
- It is still mandatory to draft a procedural note that would serve as a “reliable audit trail” to cover this period (in case of a future tax audit).
In addition, it will be advisable to set up a very strict procedure of follow-up of the suppliers, in particular by updating the data of the file suppliers such as:
- updated KBIS
- up to date Bank account data
Source: Nathalie Habibou, Partner – Arsene Taxand
