Question 24723 — businesses

Summary

Mr. Mohamed Laqhila draws the attention of the Minister of the Economy and Finance to the regulations relating to electronic invoicing, and to a possible tax security risk for businesses, due to a discrepancy between the current regulations and old texts which have not been modified to date. Indeed, while France has embarked on a process of generalization of electronic invoicing. The first step will be reached in January 2020 for all companies with the implementation of the order of June 26, 2014 which imposes an electronic invoicing obligation for issuers of invoices intended for the State or any public establishment. Article 56 of the PLF for 2020 provides for an obligation also for the private sector on dates planned between January 2023 and January 2025. These stages are carried out in parallel with other countries of the European Union, a number of countries of which have already implemented these obligations for the private sector. However, French legislation is currently out of step and this creates doubt and tax risk for companies following the adoption of several old texts which have not been modified to date. Regulations relating to electronic invoicing, particularly for the part governing invoices transmitted electronically and secured by means of an electronic signature codified in VII of article 289-2 of the CGI was adopted according to article 62 of the amending finance law for 2012 of December 29, 2012. The various clarifications were provided by BOI-BIC-DECLA-30-10-20-30 of October 18, 2013. This BOI refers to the need to seal the invoice with a certificate of signature or qualified stamp Reference General Security (RGS) at level **, with the objective of “guaranteeing the authenticity of the origin and the integrity of the content of the electronic invoice” (paragraph 220). It is also indicated in paragraph 230 that: "To be exempt from an audit trail, the signature creation device or the server stamp creation device must also be qualified within the meaning of Chapter III of Decree No. 2010-12 of February 2, 2010 in order to attest to its compliance with a level of the RGS”. The European eIDAS regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014) has been directly applicable in Europe since July 1, 2016. This evokes the principle of electronic sealing according to an advanced signature carried out by means of a qualified certificate. This definition is also the same as that of the European directive on electronic invoices (directive no. 2010/45/EU of July 13, 2010) which made the subject of its transposition into French law by article 62 of the amending finance law for 2012 of December 29, 2012 (cited above). The eIDAS regulation is therefore implemented by many French companies and their advisors, in particular accountants. It now allows them to move towards document authentication, signing or sealing processes that are simpler to implement. Regarding French texts on electronic invoices, VII of article 289-2 of the CGI today poses a difficulty because it refers to the RGS regulations which had to be adapted before the end of June 2017 (12 months of adaptation provided for by the eIDAS regulation). Thus the RGS does not define equivalence with the eIDAS regulation currently in force. The DGFiP indicated that it should modify the terms of BOI-BIC-DECLA-30-10-20-30. But, at the time of generalize electronic invoicing for the public sector, this is still not the case, which puts French companies in a situation of tax insecurity. The purpose of this question is therefore to question it so that the tax administration positions itself on an equivalence between the “RGS” practices imposed by the CGI and the advanced signature level on the basis of a qualified stamp of the eIDAS regulation. This would allow to adapt the signing processes for “invoices transmitted electronically and secured by means of an electronic signature” codified in VII of article 289-2 of the CGI and thus to further secure the practice of signing electronic invoices. This would also bring the CGI into harmony with the civil code which was adapted by the order of February 10, 2016 which notably redefines the probative force of the written document. digital (article 1366: “Electronic writing has the same probative force as writing on paper, provided that the person from whom it emanates can be duly identified and that it is established and stored in conditions likely to guarantee its integrity”).

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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