In addition to wasted time, managing the headache of invoicing can quickly turn into a nightmare! Discover all the reasons to choose suitable invoicing software that will save you time and therefore money.
Mandatory legal notices on your firm’s invoices
According to Article L441-3 of the French Commercial Code , the mandatory information that must appear on your invoices is:
- A unique invoice number (the sequence must be chronological and continuous)
- Name and address of the lawyer: articles 123-237 and 238 of the Commercial Code add additional recommended information (legal form) or mandatory (SIRET number if registered with the RCS)
- Customer name and address
- The date of execution of the service
- The date of issue of the invoice
- The payment due date
- The quantity and precise description of the services
- The unit price excluding tax as well as any discounts or reductions
- The rate of late penalties applicable
Since 2013, it is necessary to add the mention of the amount of the fixed compensation of €40 for recovery costs due to the creditor in the event of late payment.
Lawyers are generally subject to VAT . If this applies to you, Article 289, II of the French General Tax Code (CGI) and Article 242 nonies A of Appendix II to the CGI apply. Your invoices must therefore also include:
- The individual VAT identification number of the lawyer as well as that of the client if he is liable for VAT
- The applicable VAT rate
- The total amount excluding VAT subject to VAT and the amount not subject to VAT
- The total amount including tax to pay
In the event of VAT exemption, it is necessary to specify on the invoice “VAT not applicable, article 293 B of the CGI” (or any other appropriate provision providing for VAT exemption in the General Tax Code).
The billing of fees is governed by the law of December 31, 1971. It sets out various criteria left to the discretion of the professional: difficulty of the case, specialization of the lawyer, his experience or his reputation, etc.
In general, 4 main billing methods are used: by time spent, by fixed price, by subscription or by result (in the latter case, in addition only).
In the event of failure to invoice, or of a fraudulent or fictitious invoice , article 1737 of the CGI provides for a penalty of 50% of the sums paid or received.
Any omission or inaccuracy resulting from the missing mandatory legal information is punishable by a fine of €15. If there are multiple omissions or inaccuracies, the fine is capped at 25% of the invoice amount.
In addition, in the event of a non-compliant invoice, you also risk a criminal fine of up to €75.
Invoicing software: a real daily personal assistant!
Since the law of December 30, 2017 known as “anti-VAT fraud”, software or cash register systems must be certified.
On the other hand, there is no obligation to equip yourself! If you already use cash register software, you can ask the software publisher for a certification certificate if it is already in good standing.
All other commercial management, accounting or invoicing software is not affected by this law and is therefore not subject to the certification obligation.
To manage your practice, the best option is still to turn to hosted digital solutions like Jarvis Legal.
Invoicing and accounting software should work like your personal online assistant. This is what the Jarvis Legal platform does. Once configured, it takes care of everything for you.
Sign up for a demonstration session of Jarvis Legal's billing features.
All employee files are centralized on the platform. This facilitates internal communication and team management within the firm. Each employee can enter their hourly rate and time spent on a case and convert this directly into billable hours using the time tracking system.
Creating an invoice is now more intuitive, easier, and faster : you set your preferences once and can create reusable templates. Then, simply choose your billing type, your case, and click send! You can even invoice multiple cases simultaneously.
Obviously, all your invoices are legally perfect!
In short, opting for the Jarvis platform offers a real time saving , allowing you to focus on your files or to write a short note to send to your client with their invoice…!