France: New important compliance burden for companies in France

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

France: New important compliance burden for companies in France

rives.jpg

tuleau.jpg

Hélène Rives


Yves Tuleau

At the moment, companies in France may present computerised or paper accounting records for the purposes of a tax audit, at their own discretion. Under the third amended Finance Act for 2012, companies will be required to keep their accounting records in computerised form and to provide them to the tax authorities in the same format, under the technical norms and with the mandatory information as requested by tax provisions. Printed records will no longer be accepted.

Taxpayers failing to comply with this new rule will be liable for penalties as high as five per 1000 of the declared or reassessed gross revenue, that is as high as €500,000 ($658,000) penalties for a € 100 million company.

More importantly, a company's failure to present computerised accounting records could be considered willful opposition to the French tax authorities (FTA), which then could determine the taxable basis of the company unilaterally.

This new provision will apply to tax audits for which an audit notification is sent to the company after January 1 2014. Because tax audits launched in 2014 will cover previous financial years (in particular 2011 and 2012), this measure is effectively retroactive and requires that companies get prepared to provide appropriate accounting files upon the first visit of the tax inspector in case of tax audit.

Hélène Rives (helene.rives@fr.landwellglobal.com) and Yves Tuleau (yves.tuleau@fr.landwellglobal.com)
Landwell & Associés – member of the PwC network, Paris

Tel: +33 (0) 1 56 57 42 20 and +33 (0) 1 56 57 40 31

Website: www.landwell.fr

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Kingsley Napley’s claimants are arguing that taxing the provision of education breaches the European Convention on Human Rights
While pillar two can progress without the US, it won’t reach the same heights without American involvement, argues Renáta Bláhová, founding partner of BMB Partners Taxand
There are unanswered questions as to how foreign investors could reclaim money via tax credits, advisers suggested
Amid an ever-changing tax environment, India’s advisory market is bustling with competition ahead of the 2025 World Tax rankings and ITR Awards
The deal comes after PwC had accused Paul McNab of using confidential information; in other news, McDermott hired a new London tax head from a US rival
Looking at transfer pricing simplification is “obviously helpful”, but it should be done in line with current standards, a senior government figure reportedly said
The UK Government’s plans to close the tax gap via increased HM Revenue and Customs investment have failed to impress local tax advisers
Under the merged scheme for R&D tax relief introduced last year, rules on contracted out R&D have changed. James Dudbridge argues for a proactive approach when reviewing companies’ commercial arrangements
Cultural nuances could account for tax advisers’ perceived poor cost management, a local partner told ITR
Updated rules represent a significant shift in the Luxembourg TP landscape and emphasise the need for robust arm’s-length calculations, says Vanessa Ramos Ferrin of TransFair Pricing Solutions
Gift this article