[News brief] nf525 certification: what does this mean for retailers?

The 2016 Finance Act affects all companies that are required to pay sales tax/VAT in France. All companies have until January 2018 to update their systems in order to comply with the law. Compliance means that all POS software must ensure stringent data conservation, inalterability, and integrity, as well as an archive of all cash register data, all in a fight against sales tax (VAT) fraud.

How can retailers comply with the new law?

Retailers need to make sure that every single sale cannot be modified once it has been entered into the system. While this sounds quite simple, it really means that the POS software that they use needs to be updated to ensure that entries cannot be modified or removed. This also means that any change to a sale, whether it is an error or a return, must be entered as a new transaction into the system. Basically, it must be impossible for anyone to modify a transaction that has already been saved.

How can a retailer prove that their software is compliant?

There are two ways for a retailer to show that their POS software is compliant with the new law. They can show the tax authorities that they have a certificate of conformity administered by their software provider, or a certificate provided by a third party certification body.

There are two certification organizations in France that can provide the certificates needed to comply with this law: INFOCERT with the quality label NF525, and LNE with the quality label Cash Management System.