Closing the year as an auto-entrepreneur: invoices, IFU, numbering and archives

For an auto-entrepreneur, the calendar year is the unit that measures everything: the revenue ceiling, the IFU and the numbering series all run from 1 January to 31 December. This guide gives you a checklist for closing the year without gaps, a worked example of an annual statement, and the steps to take on 1 January to start again on a clean footing.

Why 31 December is a real boundary

Three counters reset on 1 January:

• The ceiling. It is assessed over the calendar year: 5,000,000 DZD for the seven service domains, 10,000,000 DZD for micro-importation. An invoice dated 28 December counts towards the year that is ending; dated 3 January, it counts towards the next one. See the guide on the auto-entrepreneur ceiling.
• The IFU. The single flat tax of 0.5% is calculated on revenue, not on profit. You must be able to state, with figures to back it up, what you invoiced and what you collected during the year. See the IFU 0.5% guide.
• Numbering. If the year appears in your numbers (FAC-2026-0149), a new series starts in January.

Closing the year requires no accounting skill, only method, and starting in the first half of December rather than on the evening of the 31st.

The checklist, in order

1. Invoice everything that has been delivered. Go through your accepted quotes and delivery notes: every job completed in 2026 must have its invoice dated 2026. A quote that was never converted does not count as revenue.
2. Check the dates. An invoice is dated the day you issue it: never backdated, never artificially postponed.
3. Chase unpaid invoices. Your clients' accounting departments are closing too: an invoice forgotten in December often stays forgotten until February. The method is in the guide on unpaid invoices.
4. Reconcile payments with your statements. For each recorded payment, find the matching line on the bank or CCP statement, the deposit receipt or the cheque. For cash, check that the stamp duty was recorded separately.
5. Check your credit notes. An issued invoice is never edited: any correction must exist as a numbered credit note, deducted from revenue.
6. Close the year's revenue, invoiced and collected, with the amount still to collect.
7. Calculate the estimated IFU at 0.5%.
8. Prepare the documents for the return and archive the PDFs.
9. Make a full backup.
10. Review your rates for the new year, while the figures are in front of you.

What to check, where, and why

Closing the year's revenue: an example

Amine Kaci, a developer in Algiers (card 16-00123-24), does his accounts on 20 December 2026. His invoices for the year run from FAC-2026-0001 to FAC-2026-0149.

The amount still to collect comes from two invoices: FAC-2026-0141, 180,000 DZD, due on 20 November, to chase immediately; and FAC-2026-0149, 65,000 DZD, issued on 18 December and due on 17 January, which will normally be paid next year.

What these figures tell him:

• Ceiling. 3,225,000 DZD invoiced out of 5,000,000 DZD, or 64.5%: the status is still suitable, with room to grow in 2027.
• Estimated IFU on collected revenue. 2,980,000 × 0.5% = 14,900 DZD. On net invoiced revenue, the calculation would give 16,125 DZD. Amine keeps both figures: collected revenue is the practical basis, but the basis and the procedure used for the return are set by the DGI, the only reliable source.
• Cash position. If FAC-2026-0141 is paid on 29 December, collected revenue for 2026 rises to 3,160,000 DZD and the estimated IFU to 15,800 DZD: chasing comes before closing.

In MyHissab, the Dashboard shows these amounts for the current year, and an annual summary can be downloaded as a PDF with collected revenue month by month and the estimated IFU: it is the core document of your file.

Preparing the documents and archiving

The year's file consists of three groups of documents:

• every invoice, numbered without gaps, together with credit notes and cancelled invoices: a cancellation explains a number with no amount, it does not make it disappear;
• proof of payment: bank or CCP statements, deposit receipts, copies of cheques, and for cash the amount of stamp duty;
• the annual summary of revenue, month by month, invoiced and collected.

The procedure for declaring and paying the IFU (frequency, form, channel) is set by the Directorate General of Taxes and may change from one year to the next: do not rely on a calendar found on a forum; check the DGI's official channels or ask your tax office.

For archiving, export the year's PDFs into a plainly named folder (2026-invoices), keep a copy away from your computer, and keep them durably, for several years: an invoice may be requested long after it was paid. A full backup from the Backups menu produces a ZIP archive with a manifest.json, your data in JSON (clients, quotes, invoices with their paid amount, products, numbering series), the invoice PDFs and a PDF summary; the archive is kept for 30 days after the request (the link received by email is valid for 12 hours; a fresh link stays available on the Backups page). See the guide on backing up and exporting your data.

1 January: starting cleanly

Numbering

One rule with no exceptions: the counter never goes backwards. What changes on 1 January depends on whether the year appears in the number.

If the year appears in the number, a new series starts at 1; otherwise the counter continues. Both are consistent with established practice, provided you never reuse a number and never mix years: an invoice issued on 2 January for a job done in December is dated the day it is issued and takes a number from the 2027 series. In MyHissab, the 2027 series is created automatically, inheriting the format, prefix and number of digits from 2026; the counter restarts at 1 only if the year is present. Details are in the guide on custom numbering.

Ceiling tracking

The gauge starts again from zero: 0 DZD out of 5,000,000 or 10,000,000 DZD, and the alerts at 80% then 100% will re-arm as 2027 invoices come in. 2026 invoices collected in January remain 2026 invoiced revenue; only the collected figure changes year.

Backup and rates

Make a backup after the last invoice of the year, before any 2027 entry: you then hold an exact snapshot of the closed year. Then review your rates. If revenue is approaching the ceiling, raising the unit price rather than the number of jobs is often the only room left under the status; if you are far from it, compare your real margin (collected minus expenses) with the time spent.

Common mistakes

• Waiting until 31 December to chase. The client has already closed; the invoice will be paid in 2027 and your 2026 collected revenue will be lower.
• Backdating a January invoice. If the job was delivered, issue the invoice before 31 December; otherwise it will be dated January and numbered in the 2027 series.
• Confusing invoiced and collected. Invoiced revenue is the reference for the ceiling; collected revenue measures cash and is the practical basis for the IFU. A statement that gives only one of the two is incomplete.
• Deducting expenses from the IFU. The regime is flat-rate: 0.5% of revenue, no deductions. Expenses are for calculating your margin, not your tax.
• Leaving drafts lying around. A draft uses a number without being an invoice. Issue it or cancel it before closing.
• Resetting the counter to 1 "to keep things tidy". If the format has no year, the counter continues; moving it backwards would create duplicates, and the application refuses it.
• Keeping only the PDFs. A PDF alone does not prove payment. Archive the invoice, the proof of payment and the summary together.

Frequently asked questions

An invoice issued on 28 December and paid on 10 January: which year does it belong to? For invoiced revenue, the year of issue: 2026, and it counts towards the 2026 ceiling. For collected revenue, the payment date: 2027. For the basis used in the IFU return, ask the DGI.

Do I have to restart numbering at 0001 in January? No. What is required is a chronological sequence with no gaps and no duplicates. If the year is part of the number, a new series at 0001 is logical; otherwise the counter simply continues. In both cases, you never go back below a number already issued.

How long should I keep invoices and proof of payment? Keep them durably, for several years, in two separate places and in a form that can be read without the application (PDF, CSV or JSON export). For the exact period required by the tax administration, the DGI is the only source to consult.