E-invoicing in France: the 2026–2027 reform explained

France's e-invoicing reform took effect on 1 September 2026. Since that date every VAT-registered business established in France must be able to receive electronic invoices through an approved platform (plateforme agréée, PA), and large and mid-sized companies must issue their domestic B2B invoices through one; small, medium and micro businesses must issue from 1 September 2027. Alongside e-invoicing, an e-reporting duty sends transaction and payment data to the tax administration for B2C and cross-border sales on the same calendar. Invoices to public bodies continue to go through Chorus Pro.

Who is covered and from when

All businesses subject to French VAT are inside the reform — every size, legal form and tax regime, including franchise-en-base micro-entrepreneurs and businesses that never issue an invoice, because they still receive. Only the issuing duty is staged by size.

Company size follows article 51 of the 2008 LME law, assessed per SIREN as at 1 January 2025: a micro-enterprise has fewer than 10 staff and turnover or balance sheet of at most €2 million; an SME fewer than 250 staff and turnover of at most €50 million or balance sheet of at most €43 million; an ETI fewer than 5,000 staff and turnover of at most €1,500 million or balance sheet of at most €2,000 million; anything larger is a large company. The bracket of a given group requires professional confirmation.

This is national law — articles 289 bis, 290 and 290 A of the Code général des impôts — not the EU directive: Directive 2014/55/EU concerns invoices to public bodies, and ViDA sets 2030 for cross-border digital reporting. See EU requirements and B2B vs B2G.

Scope: which transactions are e-invoicing, which are e-reporting

E-invoicing covers sales between two VAT-taxable persons established in France for supplies taxed in France; everything else that is inside French VAT is e-reporting.

• E-invoicing (facturation électronique): domestic B2B supplies of goods and services subject to French VAT, including margin-scheme and franchise-en-base supplies. Supplies exempt under CGI articles 261 to 261 E and dispensed from invoicing — health, education, real estate, non-profit activities — are outside.
• E-reporting of transactions: sales to non-taxable persons (consumers, non-taxable associations) and transactions with businesses not established in France (exports, intra-Community supplies and acquisitions).
• E-reporting of payments: for supplies whose VAT becomes due on receipt of payment — typically services without the "TVA sur les débits" option — the date and amount received by VAT rate, carried as the invoice's "encaissée" status where an e-invoice exists.
• Foreign businesses: a company without a French establishment is not subject to e-invoicing but can be subject to e-reporting for transactions located in France on which it owes French VAT; a company with a French VAT fixed establishment is treated as established. The establishment test requires professional confirmation.
• B2G: invoices to public bodies continue to be deposited on Chorus Pro, the State's public-sector invoicing portal.

E-reporting is filed per ten-day period or monthly depending on the VAT regime; the DGFiP's frequency table lists the deadlines.

How the flows work: PA, annuaire, formats

France chose a decentralised model: invoices travel between the platforms chosen by seller and buyer, and only the data required by law reaches the administration.

1. The seller's software produces a structured invoice and hands it to the seller's approved platform.
2. The platform validates it, looks the buyer up in the State's directory (annuaire) by SIREN and SIRET, and forwards it to the buyer's platform, converting formats if needed.
3. The buyer's platform delivers it and exchanges lifecycle statuses (received, refused with a reason, paid).
4. The seller's platform extracts the data the law requires and sends it to the administration through the State's concentrator; the same channel carries e-reporting.

Accepted formats are UBL, CII and hybrid documents of structured XML plus a readable PDF; every platform must accept the common minimum set, of which Factur-X is the hybrid member. Four new mandatory mentions join the usual invoice content: the customer's SIREN, the category of the operation (goods, services or both), the "TVA sur les débits" option where used, and the delivery address when it differs from the billing address. PAs, the former PDP label, the annuaire, the concentrator and OD software are explained on approved platforms; the hybrid format on Factur-X; the contrast with an ordinary PDF on structured invoice vs PDF.

Sanctions and the September 2026 start-up guidance

The penalties exist but are not applied automatically at start-up. The DGFiP's FAQ sets a fine of €15 per invoice not issued electronically, capped at €15,000 per calendar year, the first offence unpunished; a business without a reception platform faces €500 three months after a formal notice, then €1,000 per further three-month period.

The DGFiP's practical guide of July 2026 frames the first months: the legal calendar stands; a supplier under the issuing duty must use the electronic circuit for the flows that are ready and regularise the rest; an invoice that still arrives by e-mail, PDF or paper must not be refused, left unpaid or denied VAT deduction on that ground alone if it documents a real transaction; duplicates received through several channels are reconciled, not paid twice; incidents should be documented; and sanctions will not be applied "immediately, automatically and blindly" where a difficulty is real, documented and being corrected. A client cannot force an SME to issue electronically before 2027, though the SME may opt in — through an approved platform.

How KRONENWERK handles this

Factur-X generation is SUPPORTED: French invoices are issued as PDF/A-3 with embedded CII and validated at issuance. The four French mentions listed above are invoice content that the issuing company must supply; whether a particular invoice carries everything a given platform demands is checked by that platform. Transmission through an approved platform is NOT YET READY: KRONENWERK is not a plateforme agréée and does not claim to be one; French transmission is planned through Storecove's approved-platform capability and is not yet production-ready in KRONENWERK. Until then, a French company must connect an approved platform of its own choice to send and receive, and can use KRONENWERK's files with it.

Incoming Factur-X, CII and UBL invoices are read into bills, and the free e-invoice checker validates a file without storing it. KRONENWERK does not file e-reporting data and does not provide tax advice. See the country page France and e-invoicing in KRONENWERK.