France Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T)

France introduced a local version of the OECD’s SAF-T harmonised tax data reporting schema. The French version, FEC (Fichier des Écritures Comptable). The new regime comes into effect from 1 January 2014.

France e-invoicing will be introduced from 2024 following a 1-year delay. Learn more about French VAT in our country guide.

French FEC diverges

The French SAF-T follows the Code Général des Impôt – CGI – the French Tax Code. It must be produced in a .txt format on request. This typically happens prior to an audit to ensure an efficient targeting of the tax inspectors queries and time. However, this proprietary format is a significant variation from the original OECD format.

OECD Standard Audit File for Tax SAF-T

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development created the first version of SAF-T in 2005. Its aim was for a five-ledger structure for supporting accounting and VAT data to be exchange between corporate taxpayers and the tax authorities. The aim is to improve the efficiency of communications and tax collections. It was intended to be harmonised, but many of the countries that have adopted it have varied significantly from the OECD format.

The OECD is now on version II of its SAF-T. The five ledgers are:

1. General ledger and supporting journals
2. Accounts receivable, with customer master data and invoices
3. Accounts payable, including vendor master data and invoices
4. Warehouse stock inventories, and master data
5. Fixed assets ledger, including depreciation / amortisation

Check which countries have implemented SAF-T. For SAF-T and other transactional-level reporting, calculate or verify global VAT / GST calculations on individual or batch transactions with our Advisor and Auditor services.

Standard Audit File for Tax SAF-T countries