French General Tax Code
In forceI.-Any person liable for value added tax must:
1° Within fifteen days of commencing its operations, submit to the office designated by an order a declaration in accordance with the model provided by the administration. A declaration is also compulsory in the event of cessation of business;
2° Provide, on a form supplied by the administration, all information relating to its professional activity;
3° If it does not usually keep accounts enabling its turnover as defined by this chapter to be determined, have a book with numbered pages in which it enters, day by day, without blank or erasure, the amount of each of its operations, distinguishing, if necessary, between its taxable operations and those that are not.
Each entry must show the date, a brief description of the items sold, the service rendered or the taxable transaction, as well as the price of the sale or purchase, or the amount of brokerage, commission, rebates, wages, rental prices, interest, discounts, agios or other profits. However, cash transactions may be recorded as a whole in the accounts at the end of each day when they are less than €76 for retail sales and services rendered to private individuals. The amount of transactions entered in the book is totalled at the end of the month.
The book prescribed above or the accounts in lieu thereof, as well as the supporting documents for transactions carried out by taxpayers, in particular purchase invoices, must be kept in accordance with the procedures set out in I and I bis of l'article L. 102 B of the tax procedures book ;
3° bis If it carries out supplies of goods and services not giving rise to invoicing in accordance with Article 289 of this Code and records these transactions by means of software or a cash register system, use software or a system that satisfies the conditions of inalterability, security, conservation and archiving of data with a view to control by the tax authorities, attested by a certificate issued by an accredited body under the conditions provided for in Article L. 433-4 of the Consumer Code or by an individual certificate from the publisher, conforming to a model laid down by the administration;
4° Provide tax agents, as well as those of other financial services designated by decree, for each category of taxable person, both at the main establishment and at branches or agencies, with all the evidence necessary to determine taxable transactions, without prejudice to the provisions of Article L. 85 of the Book of Tax Procedures.
II.-1.. Taxable persons benefiting from a tax exemption mentioned in Article 293 B are exempt from the obligations mentioned in 3° of I. They must, however, keep and, at the request of the tax department, submit a register summarised by year, showing details of their purchases, as well as a daybook used on a daily basis and showing details of their professional receipts relating to these operations, supported by invoices and any other supporting documents.
2. Taxable persons benefiting from the tax exemption referred to in article 293 B, those placed under the flat-rate reimbursement scheme provided for in articles 298 quater and 298 quinquies and those carrying out exclusively transactions or services that are exempt from value added tax are exempt from the obligation referred to in 3° bis of I.
III.-.The option formulated under III of article 256 C is equivalent to a declaration within the meaning of 1° and 2° of I of this article for the single taxable person constituted pursuant to article 256 C. It specifies the name, registered office and representative of the single taxable person and the nature of the activities of each of its members. The declaration includes the list of members and the individual value added tax identification numbers allocated to them before they joined the single taxable entity.
Each member of the single taxable entity is subject to the same rules. Each member of the single taxable entity set up under the same Article 256 C is required to fulfil the obligations mentioned in 3°, 3° bis and 4° of I of this Article.
