A practical guide to invoicing in Algeria

Overview

Algerian businesses operate under a hybrid fiscal regime informed by the French civil-law tradition. Invoicing is governed primarily by the Code du Commerce, the Code des Impôts (which sets out the TVA — value-added tax — regime), and directives from the Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI) and the Centre National du Registre du Commerce (CNRC).

This guide covers what a legally compliant Algerian invoice must contain, how the local TVA works, and the practical record-keeping rules that apply to small and medium businesses. It is a reference, not legal advice — for binding interpretations, consult the DGI or a qualified Algerian accountant.

The basics

Currency

All invoices issued for transactions taking place in Algeria must be denominated in Algerian Dinar (DZD), abbreviated DA in commercial use. Foreign-currency invoices are permitted only for export transactions and require explicit declaration.

Languages

Invoices may be issued in Arabic, French, or both. In commercial practice, French is the dominant invoicing language; Arabic appears more often in public-sector contracts and government-facing invoices. Bilingual invoices (Arabic / French side-by-side) are common in regulated sectors.

Date and number formats

Dates follow the French civil format DD/MM/YYYY. Amounts use spaces as thousand separators and a comma as the decimal mark — for example 1 234 567,89 DA.

TVA: rates and scope

TVA (Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée) is the Algerian value-added tax. There are three rates in regular use:

Some operations are TVA-exempt: banking interest, certain insurance products, and selected agricultural production. A non-exempt business must charge TVA on its invoices and remit the collected tax periodically — monthly for larger taxpayers, quarterly for smaller ones — to the DGI.

What an Algerian invoice must contain

A compliant invoice must include the following:

1. The word Facture (or فاتورة in Arabic) and a sequential invoice number.
2. The issue date.
3. The seller's full name or business name, address, and NIF (Numéro d'Identification Fiscale).
4. The seller's NIS (Numéro d'Identification Statistique).
5. The seller's RC (Registre du Commerce) number.
6. The buyer's name, address, and NIF — for B2B transactions.
7. A description of each good or service supplied.
8. The quantity and unit price hors taxes (HT) of each line.
9. The applicable TVA rate and amount per line, or a single TVA total when all lines share the same rate.
10. The total before tax (Total HT), the TVA total, and the total including tax (Total TTC).
11. The currency — DZD, written as DA.
12. Payment terms and due date.

Public-sector invoices require additional fields, including the buyer's Code MAT and the contract or *bon de commande* reference.

Understanding NIF, NIS, and RC

These three identifiers come from three different administrations:

• NIF (Numéro d'Identification Fiscale) — issued by the DGI when a business registers for tax. Required on every invoice.
• NIS (Numéro d'Identification Statistique) — issued by the Office National des Statistiques (ONS). Identifies the business for statistical and economic purposes.
• RC (Registre du Commerce) — issued by the CNRC. The commercial registration number that legally constitutes the business.

A business cannot legally invoice without these three identifiers in place. They appear together in the header of every compliant invoice.

Invoice numbering

Invoice numbers must be sequential and uninterrupted. The DGI uses gaps in the numbering as an audit signal — a missing number suggests an invoice that was issued but never declared. Common formats:

• FA-2026-0001, FA-2026-0002, …
• 2026/0001, 2026/0002, …
• 00001, 00002, … (continuous across years)

The numbering may reset annually, but the sequence within a year must be unbroken. A cancelled invoice keeps its number — the cancellation is recorded with a credit note (see below) rather than by re-using the number.

Credit notes (avoirs)

A facture d'avoir (credit note) is issued to correct, reverse, or cancel a previously issued invoice — for example, when a customer returns goods or when an invoice is voided. A compliant credit note:

• Carries its own sequential number from a series separate from regular invoices (e.g. AV-2026-0001).
• References the original invoice by number and date.
• Shows negative amounts for the lines being reversed.
• Includes the same NIF / NIS / RC identifiers as the original invoice.

Record retention

Algerian businesses are required to retain invoices and supporting accounting records for 10 years from the close of the financial year, per the Code du Commerce. Both paper and electronic copies are accepted, provided they remain legible and authentic across the retention period.

For electronic records, this means using a storage system that prevents tampering, retains the original document with its original metadata (issue date, sequential number), and can produce the original on demand during an audit.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Missing NIS. Many invoices show NIF but omit NIS. Both are required.
• Reusing a cancelled invoice number. Cancelled invoices keep their number; reverse them with a credit note.
• Mixing TVA rates without per-line breakdown. If an invoice contains lines at different TVA rates, the rate and amount must be shown per line, not as a single total.
• Issuing in foreign currency without an export declaration. DZD is mandatory for domestic transactions.
• Numbering gaps. Even an accidental gap can trigger an audit question. A good invoicing system prevents gaps automatically.
• Not keeping the original PDF. Recreating an invoice from a database is not the same as retaining the issued document — keep the original PDF as it was sent.

How SuiteFacture handles these rules

SuiteFacture is built around the rules above. Specifically:

• Invoice templates carry the seller's NIF, NIS, and RC by default — set them once in the company profile and they appear on every invoice.
• The platform enforces sequential numbering per series and prevents accidental gaps.
• The TVA rate is configurable per product and per line; multi-rate invoices are computed correctly.
• Credit notes use a separate sequence and automatically reference the original invoice.
• Original PDFs are retained with their issue date and number, suitable for the 10-year retention rule.

See SuiteFacture in action

Further reading

• Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI) — the official Algerian tax authority.
• Centre National du Registre du Commerce (CNRC) — the commercial registry.
• Office National des Statistiques (ONS) — issuer of the NIS.