ALC

Allowance or Charge. The EDIFACT segment that carries a discount (A) or a charge (C) — at line or document level.

Definition

The ALC segment, per UN/EDIFACT D.96A, is used "to identify allowance or charge details". Five elements:

1. 010 — 5463 Allowance or charge qualifier (an..3, M) — UNCL 5463: A Allowance, C Charge.
2. 020 — C552 (ALLOWANCE/CHARGE INFORMATION), conditional: 1230 allowance/charge number, 5189 coded description.
3. 030 — 4471 Settlement, coded (an..3, C) — UNCL 4471 distinguishes an already-deducted allowance from one yet to apply.
4. 040 — 1227 Calculation sequence indicator, coded (an..3, C) — order of cascading allowances/charges.
5. 050 — C214 (SPECIAL SERVICES IDENTIFICATION), conditional: 7161 coded special services, 7160 literal description.

ALC is typically followed by PCD (percentage), MOA (fixed amount) or QTY (offered quantity) to quantify the allowance.

Origin

ALC is one of the most used segments in INVOIC and ORDERS. Its structure dates back to D.93A. ediverse.io archives D.96A at trsdalc.htm. The GS1 EANCOM and EN 16931 subsets impose a precise framework for commercial and logistics allowances.

Example in context

Commercial 5% line allowance:

Reads as: A Allowance (discount), sequence 1, special services TD (Trade discount). The following PCD applies 5%.

Related terms

• MOA — segment that carries the absolute amount of the allowance/charge.
• TAX — VAT calculation on the post-ALC net.
• Qualifier — UNCL 5463.
• INVOIC — primary message of use.