Tax Alert – Preparation of the Journal Entries File
Actualités | 2 mars 2016
The journal has to be prepared following a certain form and a number of information have to be gathered to allow a systematized computer analysis of the accounting.
This file will be analyzed by the Tax Authorities thanks to a software « ALTO 2 » allowing the selection of transactions by amount, label of entries and recording dates of these entries in order to ensure that no entry was recorded after the filing of the tax return.
Constitution of the Journal Entries File (“JEF”)
Dematerialized format
It is important that the software generating the JEF is compatible with the « ALTO 2 » software.
The French Tax Administration has implemented a software to control the conformity of the JEF in advance : www.economie.gouv.fr/dgfip/outil-test-des-fichiers-des-ecritures-comptables-fec
Detailed structure
The general elements to be verified for the conformity of the JEF are the following:
- Naming the files ;
- Presence of a descriptive file ;
- Separation of the entries;
- Separation of the field zones ;
- Respecting the coding ;
- Presence of the fields (18 fields).
Accompanying descriptive file
The descriptive file must contain the following :
- Name, nature and significance of each zone;
- Significance of the coding used as values in the fields;
- Any technical information necessary to exploit the document and particularly the police, the type of structure, length of the entries.
Obligations concerning foreign companies
The JEF has to be drafted in French and entries coded pursuant to the French Accounting Principles.
Transcoding is now forbidden and foreign companies have to comply with the French Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
