Do I have to send the FEC to the tax office every year?

No. The FEC is not filed with the liasse. You keep it for at least six years and hand it to the inspector on request during an audit. What matters is being able to produce it at any time, in the article A. 47 A-1 format, with a compliant file name and balanced entries numbered without gaps.

What is the fine for not having a FEC?

A missing or non-compliant FEC is penalised with a fine of €5,000, or 10% of the reassessed tax if higher. The tax office can also reject your accounts and assess you on its own figures. For a single studio this seems excessive, but the law makes no distinction according to the size of the activity.

What should the FEC file be called?

Your SIREN number, then « FEC », then the closing date as YYYYMMDD, with a .txt or .csv extension: for example 123456789FEC20261231.txt for a year ending on 31 December 2026. The eighteen columns are mandatory, in a fixed order, separated by a tab or a semicolon.

Is an Excel spreadsheet enough as a FEC?

Not as it stands. A spreadsheet can hold your entries, but the FEC requires double-entry bookkeeping, continuously numbered entries, identified journals and the eighteen regulatory columns. Turning a list of income and expenses into a compliant FEC takes real work; that is what accounting software does for you.

The FEC for LMNP landlords: what it is, who needs one

By Juliano Majally · 30 October 2026 · 5 min read

The French ledger file (FEC) is mandatory for every LMNP landlord on the régime réel. Its 18 columns, its file name, and what happens if you don’t have one.

When I left my accountant, the first thing I asked for was the FEC for 2025. It’s a plain text file of 254 lines, and it holds my entire set of accounts for the year. If you’re on the régime réel, you have one somewhere, or you should.

What the law says

Article L. 47 A of the French tax procedures code (livre des procédures fiscales) requires every business that keeps computerised accounts to present them, if audited, as a FEC (fichier des écritures comptables, the accounting entries file), in the format set by article A. 47 A-1. A furnished-rental landlord on the réel is a business for tax purposes (with a SIRET number and a 2031 return), and their accounts are kept on a computer in practice. So it applies to you, even for a single studio, and whether you live in France or not.

What it looks like

A text file, one line per accounting movement, columns separated by a tab or a semicolon. Its name is fixed: SIREN + FEC + closing date, for example 123456789FEC20261231.txt. Eighteen columns, always in the same order (the column names stay in French):

JournalCode and JournalLib: the journal (purchases, sales, bank, miscellaneous) and its label
EcritureNum: entry number, continuous, with no gaps
EcritureDate: the posting date
CompteNum and CompteLib: the account in the French chart of accounts and its label (706100 rent, 616000 insurance, 661100 interest…)
CompAuxNum and CompAuxLib: the third-party account if there is one (Airbnb, your bank)
PieceRef and PieceDate: reference and date of the supporting document
EcritureLib: the entry description
Debit and Credit: the amounts, with a decimal comma
EcritureLet and DateLet: matching (linking an invoice to its payment)
ValidDate: the validation date
Montantdevise and Idevise: amount and currency, if the entry isn’t in euros

Every entry balances: total debits equal total credits. An €80 electricity bill makes two lines: €80 debited to account 606100 (energy), €80 credited to account 108000 (owner’s account) if you paid it from your own pocket, or to 512000 (bank) if it went through a dedicated account. Your accounts are kept in euros even if you live in the UK or the US and some bills are paid in another currency.

What happens without a FEC

In an audit, a missing or non-compliant FEC is penalised with a fine of €5,000, or 10% of the reassessed tax if higher, and can lead to your accounts being rejected and the tax office assessing you on its own figures. You don’t send it every year: you keep it, for at least six years, and hand it to the inspector on request.

An accountant’s FEC, up close

Mine for 2025: 254 lines, four journals (AC purchases, VT sales, BQ bank, OD miscellaneous), the property split into six components, year-end depreciation and the 31 December adjustment entries. Reading it line by line, I spotted five things to check, including a €297.96 repair on my own personal car that had slipped into the flat’s expenses among the invoices I had sent. That isn’t a criticism of the firm: it’s what happens when invoices are entered quickly by someone who doesn’t know your life. It’s also why Meublé asks you to review each entry before validating it.

What Meublé does

The app keeps double-entry accounts, numbers entries with no gaps, attaches each uploaded document to its entry, and exports a compliant FEC at any time, not only at year-end. It can also read an existing FEC to take over a file kept elsewhere: that’s how my 2025 year came into the tool, and how the 18 lines of the liasse were recalculated identically.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to send the FEC to the tax office every year?: No. The FEC is not filed with the liasse. You keep it for at least six years and hand it to the inspector on request during an audit. What matters is being able to produce it at any time, in the article A. 47 A-1 format, with a compliant file name and balanced entries numbered without gaps.
What is the fine for not having a FEC?: A missing or non-compliant FEC is penalised with a fine of €5,000, or 10% of the reassessed tax if higher. The tax office can also reject your accounts and assess you on its own figures. For a single studio this seems excessive, but the law makes no distinction according to the size of the activity.
What should the FEC file be called?: Your SIREN number, then « FEC », then the closing date as YYYYMMDD, with a .txt or .csv extension: for example 123456789FEC20261231.txt for a year ending on 31 December 2026. The eighteen columns are mandatory, in a fixed order, separated by a tab or a semicolon.
Is an Excel spreadsheet enough as a FEC?: Not as it stands. A spreadsheet can hold your entries, but the FEC requires double-entry bookkeeping, continuously numbered entries, identified journals and the eighteen regulatory columns. Turning a list of income and expenses into a compliant FEC takes real work; that is what accounting software does for you.