Which invoicing software works for French Polynesia?
The right software is the one that never makes you convert or fix anything by hand. It calculates in CFP francs, rounded to the franc, offers the territory’s VAT rates on every line and produces a PDF the customer can pay without calling you. A tool designed for the euro and another territory’s VAT will have you touching up every document.
The rest depends on your business: a one-off service invoice has different needs from a sale that leaves the stockroom, is collected by direct debit and has to show up in the month’s accounts.
Sole trader or company: do you need an ERP?
If you are a sole trader billing a few jobs a month on your own, a simple invoicing tool is enough in most cases: quotes, numbered invoices, a view of what is still unpaid and an export for your accountant. There is no point paying for an ERP to do that.
A company that manages stock, several bank accounts and accounts kept in-house or by a firm has a different problem: linking the invoice to everything around it. There, an ERP turns the quote into an order, the order into a stock movement, the invoice into a payment and the payment into an entry, with no re-keying.
What must invoicing software handle in French Polynesia?
Before choosing, check each point on a test document rather than on a feature list. Software that ticks half the boxes leaves the other half to a spreadsheet.
Amounts in CFP francs, with no conversion from another currency.
The territory’s VAT rate on each line, and the exemption wording if it applies to you.
Continuous invoice numbering, with no gaps or duplicates.
Invoices locked once sent, corrected by credit note.
Deposits and payment schedules taken from the quote lines.
Reminders for overdue payments, prepared from payment follow-up.
Export to accounting or, better, entries booked directly.
Local VAT: rates and the small-business exemption
According to the DICP, the reduced 5% rate applies in particular to food products, the 13% rate to services that fall under neither the reduced rate nor an exemption, and the standard 16% rate to other goods, imports included. A single invoice can therefore carry several rates.
The DICP also states that the franchise en base applies to businesses whose annual turnover is below 10 million CFP francs. They do not charge VAT, cannot deduct their suppliers’ VAT and must print « TVA non applicable, franchise en base ». Once the threshold is passed, VAT is charged from the first day of the following month. Your accountant confirms which regime applies to you.
From quote to accounting entry: what an ERP changes
In an ERP the invoice is just one step. With Vaka, an accepted quote becomes an order or an invoice; deposits, payment schedules and subscriptions reuse its lines, prices, quantities and rates included. The invoice goes out by email with its PDF and a viewing link that gives the customer the payment details.
Transfers, cheques and direct debits are recorded against invoices, the bank statement is reconciled, and the accounts receive the entries without re-keying. The month’s VAT is then prepared from those entries, rate by rate, for the accountant.
Where does Vaka fit?
Vaka Pro, the business edition of the ERP published by Devlab in Tahiti, covers invoicing in CFP francs with gap-free numbering, credit notes, deposits, subscriptions and reminders, then banking, accounting and French Polynesian tax. Devlab invoices and collects payments on Vaka for its own company. Its entry price is published on its page.
There is no point taking it for a handful of monthly invoices with no stock and no in-house accounting: a simple tool costs less and does the job. It earns its place when the invoice has to reach stock, the bank and the balance sheet without going through a spreadsheet.
How do you test invoicing software before adopting it?
Run a full trial on fictitious data: a quote with one line at 13% and one at 16%, a deposit, the final invoice, then a partial credit note. Check the numbering, the totals per rate, rounding to the franc and what the customer receives.
Finish with the export or the accounting entries: your accountant should find every amount without reworking it. If the trial needs a conversion, a VAT rate typed by hand or an invoice edited after sending, look elsewhere.