NetSuite Compliance in Europe: FEC, GoBD and VAT

If your NetSuite account covers subsidiaries in France and Germany, local compliance is a configuration topic, not an afterthought. I have configured NetSuite for statutory requirements across European subsidiaries, including the French FEC, German GoBD and local VAT. This is the framework I use. It is not tax advice, so validate the detail with your local advisers.

What FEC and GoBD ask of your system

In France, the FEC (Fichier des Écritures Comptables) is the accounting entries file that you must be able to produce for a tax audit, in a prescribed structure. Practically, that means complete, consistently numbered entries with the right dates, journals and account references.

In Germany, GoBD sets out principles for keeping books electronically: records should be complete, traceable, timely and protected from undocumented change, and they must be retained and made available to auditors. For a NetSuite administrator, that is mostly about audit trails, period controls and who is allowed to change what.

Start with the audit trail and period controls

• Lock accounting periods and restrict who can reopen them.

• Limit edit and delete permissions on posted transactions, and use reversing or correcting entries rather than overwriting.

• Check that system notes capture changes you may need to evidence.

• Use clear numbering sequences and journal definitions that map to what the authorities expect.

Check the localisation before building anything custom

NetSuite provides country-specific localisation features and bundles, and the right ones depend on your edition and subsidiary countries. Review what exists for France and Germany before building custom reports, and test the output (for example the FEC export) with real data from a closed period.

VAT and SuiteTax

For VAT, I set up tax codes and registrations per subsidiary and country, then test the transactions that cause trouble: intra-EU supplies, reverse charge, zero-rated and exempt items, and credit notes. Run the same test scenarios in every country, because rules differ and defaults that work in the UK may not carry across.

Document the configuration

Statutory set-up is exactly the kind of knowledge that disappears when someone leaves. Write down which features are enabled, which reports are used for which filings, and who signs them off.

This sits within my NetSuite administration work. If you want a second pair of eyes on a multi-country set-up, see how I can help.