E-Invoicing in France 2026: Dates, Platforms and E-Reporting

Short answer: France’s e-invoicing reform started on schedule on 1 September 2026. Every VAT-registered business established in France must now be able to receive e-invoices through an approved platform. Large and mid-sized companies must also issue them. Small businesses, micro-businesses and sole traders issue from 1 September 2027. Alongside e-invoicing, businesses must e-report data on consumer sales and international sales. Foreign businesses with no establishment in France are not in the e-invoicing system, but some of them must e-report.

Not sure which part applies to you? Answer a few questions in our free France e-invoicing checker and get your obligations and dates in about a minute.

This guide is for small online sellers: a French Shopify brand, a UK or US business with a French VAT number, or an EU seller shipping into France. For how the EU rules fit together, start with the EU e-invoicing overview.

France e-invoicing at a glance

Mandate status	In force since 1 September 2026. Calendar maintained, no postponement
Who’s in scope	Every VAT-registered business established in France, of any size, including micro-entrepreneurs under the VAT franchise
Receive e-invoices	All in-scope businesses from 1 September 2026
Issue e-invoices + e-report	Large companies (GE) and mid-sized companies (ETI): 1 September 2026. SMEs (PME) and micro-businesses: 1 September 2027
Transactions covered	E-invoicing: domestic B2B between French-established businesses. E-reporting: B2C sales, international B2B sales and purchases, and payment data for services
Formats	UBL, UN/CEFACT CII, Factur-X (PDF with embedded CII)
Platform	A Plateforme Agréée (PA, formerly PDP) chosen by the business. The public portal (PPF) runs the directory and data concentrator only
Penalties	€50 per invoice not issued electronically (cap €15,000 a year). €500 per missing e-reporting transmission (cap €15,000 a year). €500 then €1,000 for having no receiving platform after a formal notice
Non-resident scope	No e-invoicing obligation without a French establishment. E-reporting for sales where you owe French VAT, unless declared through OSS or IOSS

Sources: the DGFiP’s start-up guide for 1 September 2026 (July 2026), its e-invoicing FAQ (version of 1 September 2026) and its February 2026 presentation for foreign businesses.

What actually changed on 1 September 2026

Before the reform, a French business could email a PDF invoice to another French business. That is no longer a compliant invoice for anyone subject to the issuance obligation. A French e-invoice now has to meet three conditions:

1. It uses a structured electronic format that software can read field by field.
2. It carries certain mandatory details in a defined format, including four new mentions (see below).
3. It is sent through a Plateforme Agréée, not directly from supplier to customer.

The platform also extracts the invoice data and passes it to the tax authority. Over time the DGFiP plans to use that data to pre-fill VAT returns.

The reform has three parts, and most small sellers deal with all three:

Part	What it covers	Who sends it
E-invoicing	Domestic sales between two businesses established in France	The supplier’s platform sends the invoice to the customer’s platform
E-reporting of transactions	Sales to consumers (B2C), and sales and purchases with businesses outside France (international B2B)	Your platform sends the data to the tax authority
E-reporting of payments	Payment dates and amounts for services, where VAT is due on receipt of payment	Your platform sends the data to the tax authority

The calendar: who must do what, and when

Date	Receive e-invoices	Issue e-invoices and e-report
1 September 2026	Every VAT-registered business established in France	Large companies (GE) and mid-sized companies (ETI)
1 September 2027	(already required)	SMEs (PME), micro-businesses and micro-entrepreneurs, including those under the VAT franchise (franchise en base)

Company size uses the EU definitions applied by the DGFiP:

Category	Rule of thumb
Micro-business	Fewer than 10 staff and turnover or balance sheet under €2m
SME (PME)	Fewer than 250 staff and turnover under €50m or balance sheet under €43m
Mid-sized (ETI)	Not an SME, fewer than 5,000 staff and turnover under €1.5bn or balance sheet under €2bn
Large (GE)	Everyone else

Size is measured on 1 January 2025, based on the last financial year closed before that date, at the level of the legal entity (the SIREN), not the group.

Did anything slip? No. The DGFiP’s July 2026 start-up guide opens with the “maintenance of the legal calendar”, and the reform went live on 1 September 2026. The one later date to know is for foreign businesses: e-reporting of purchases on which they self-account for French VAT starts on 1 September 2027, whatever their size (see foreign sellers).

The soft launch: penalties in the start-up phase

The DGFiP has published a start-up guide for the first months. Its main points:

• No penalties for businesses on a serious compliance path. If you hit real, documented difficulties and you are fixing them, you will not be fined during the start-up phase. The administration says it will separate these cases from inertia, avoidance or refusal.
• It is not a postponement. The guide says plainly that this approach is “neither a postponement nor a suspension of the obligation”.
• Old-style invoices aren’t void. An invoice received by email, as a PDF or on paper for a real transaction must not be rejected for that reason alone. It can be processed, paid and its VAT deducted. The supplier may be asked to send it again through the electronic channel.
• Keep records. Being able to show an “active compliance trajectory” (platform chosen, testing done, incidents logged and fixed) is what protects you.

We break the guide down in what “no fines if you’re trying” really means.

For small French businesses: what to do now

If you run a small French business (an SME, a micro-business or a micro-entrepreneur), here is the 90% case.

Already required (since 1 September 2026):

1. Choose a Plateforme Agréée to receive invoices. Your suppliers that are large or mid-sized companies (your energy supplier, telecoms provider, wholesalers, marketplaces’ French entities) now send e-invoices. You need a platform to receive them. Many invoicing and accounting tools are connected to one, so ask your current software provider first.
2. Check your entry in the directory. The central directory (annuaire) lists each business, its platform and its invoicing address. Suppliers’ platforms use it to route invoices to you.

From 1 September 2027:

3. Issue every invoice to a French business through your platform, in a structured format.
4. E-report your consumer sales as daily totals by VAT rate.
5. E-report your international B2B sales (to EU and non-EU businesses) invoice by invoice.
6. E-report payment data if you sell services, unless you’ve opted to pay VAT on invoicing (TVA sur les débits).

If you sell only to consumers through Shopify or Etsy and never invoice French businesses, the e-invoicing part barely touches your sales. You still need a receiving platform for your own purchases, and from 2027 you must e-report your B2C totals.

Worked example: a candle maker in Lyon

Atelier Lumière is a French company with 8 staff and €900,000 in turnover, so it’s an SME. It files monthly VAT returns under the normal regime (réel normal mensuel). It sells through Shopify and wholesales to boutiques.

Since September 2026: its packaging supplier, a mid-sized company, sends e-invoices. Atelier Lumière signed up with a Plateforme Agréée in August 2026, so they arrive there instead of by email.

From September 2027, wholesale: a Paris concept store orders 200 candles at €12.00 each.

• Net amount: 200 × €12.00 = €2,400.00
• TVA at 20%: €480.00
• Total: €2,880.00

Atelier Lumière issues the invoice as Factur-X through its platform, with both companies’ SIREN numbers, the category “delivery of goods”, and the shop’s delivery address because it differs from the billing address. The platform sends it to the shop’s platform and passes the data to the tax authority.

From September 2027, Shopify sales: on 14 October 2027 it sells 35 orders worth €1,680.00 including VAT, all at 20%, plus three gift books at 5.5% worth €63.30 including VAT. Its platform e-reports that day as:

VAT rate	Net amount	VAT
20%	€1,400.00	€280.00
5.5%	€60.00	€3.30

As a monthly filer, it transmits these daily totals three times a month. A small business under the simplified regime reports less often.

If it ignored the rules: if it kept emailing PDFs for 40 wholesale invoices in 2028, the fine would be 40 × €50 = €2,000. A first offence fixed promptly is not fined.

Plateformes Agréées (PA), formerly PDPs

Under article 289 bis of the French tax code, e-invoices must be issued, sent and received through a Plateforme Agréée. These are private companies registered by the DGFiP after testing. They were first called Plateformes de Dématérialisation Partenaires (PDP). The law and the DGFiP now call them Plateformes Agréées (PA), and there is an official “Plateforme agréée” quality mark for them. You’ll still see “PDP” in older articles and software marketing.

What a PA does:

• Issues, transmits and receives e-invoices between suppliers and customers
• Converts invoices between formats where needed
• Extracts invoice, e-reporting and payment data and sends it to the tax authority
• Tracks each invoice’s status (received, approved, rejected, paid)
• Keeps the directory up to date for its customers

The official list is on impots.gouv.fr: je consulte la liste des plateformes agréées. It’s updated regularly. The version updated on 13 October 2026 lists 155 approved platforms, plus 11 more awaiting final registration. Comparing providers? See our guide to France’s approved platforms.

Compatible solutions are a different thing. Invoicing or accounting software that isn’t itself a PA can carry the DGFiP’s “Solution compatible” logo if it is connected to at least one PA. You can keep your current software if it’s connected to a platform.

Your supplier can’t force a format or platform on you. You choose your own receiving platform, which may be the same one you use for issuing.

The public portal (PPF): what it does and doesn’t do

The original plan included a free public invoicing platform, the Portail Public de Facturation (PPF), that small businesses could use instead of a private provider. That plan was dropped in October 2024. The PPF does not issue or receive invoices for you.

What the public system still does:

• The directory (annuaire). Open for consultation since 18 September 2025, it lists every business in scope, the platform that handles its invoices and its electronic invoicing addresses. You can use it to check whether a customer is in scope and where to send invoices.
• The data concentrator. It receives invoice and transaction data from the platforms and forwards it to the tax authority.

Public sector customers are separate. Invoices to French public bodies (B2G) still go through Chorus Pro, which has been mandatory for B2G invoices since 2020.

Formats: Factur-X, UBL and CII

Every PA must be able to send and receive these three formats, defined in article 41 septies C of annex IV of the tax code and the AFNOR standard XP Z12-012:

Format	What it is	Good for
Factur-X	A PDF/A-3 that people can read, with a CII XML file embedded inside it	Small businesses: the customer sees a normal-looking PDF, and software reads the data
UBL	Pure XML (Universal Business Language), also used by Peppol	Businesses whose systems already use UBL, and cross-border flows
UN/CEFACT CII	Pure XML (Cross Industry Invoice)	ERP-to-ERP exchanges

All three follow the European standard EN 16931, with a French extension for data the reform needs. The “Minimum” profile of Factur-X is not enough, because it doesn’t carry the required data. Which profiles work: see Factur-X explained. A PDF generated by your invoicing tool and attached to an email is not an e-invoice, even if it looks identical.

New mandatory invoice mentions

French invoices already had a long list of mandatory details. The reform adds four, set by article 242 nonies A of annex II of the tax code:

New mention	When it applies
Customer’s SIREN number	On invoices to French businesses. The seller’s SIREN was already required
Delivery address	When goods are delivered somewhere other than the customer’s address
Category of the transaction	Delivery of goods, provision of services, or both
”Option pour le paiement de la taxe d’après les débits”	Only if you have opted to pay VAT on services when you invoice rather than when you’re paid

Most practitioners read these mentions as applying in step with the issuance calendar: September 2026 for large and mid-sized companies, September 2027 for small businesses. Adding them earlier does no harm, so update your invoice template now.

E-reporting: consumer and international sales

E-invoicing only covers domestic sales between French businesses. Everything else that the tax authority wants to see goes through e-reporting, sent by your platform:

Transaction	What you report	Detail
Sales to consumers (B2C)	Daily totals: net amount and VAT, split by VAT rate	Not invoice by invoice
International B2B sales and purchases	The same data as an e-invoice	Invoice by invoice. A foreign customer’s VAT number or foreign ID replaces the SIREN
Payments for services	Date received, amount by VAT rate, invoice number	Not needed for reverse-charge international services, or if you opted to pay VAT on invoicing

How often you send depends on your VAT regime. A business under the VAT franchise reports every two months. A monthly filer under the normal regime sends transaction data three times a month and payment data monthly.

Not covered by e-reporting: imports, and certain exempt transactions that don’t need an invoice. For non-established businesses, exports and intra-EU supplies of goods are excluded too.

Foreign sellers: UK, US and non-established businesses

This is the question most of our readers have. The answer depends on whether you are established in France for VAT, not on whether you have a French VAT number.

If you have no establishment in France

A business with no French seat and no French VAT fixed establishment is a non-established taxable person. The DGFiP’s FAQ (question 1.6) is direct: non-established businesses are not subject to e-invoicing. You don’t have to issue French e-invoices, and you don’t have to be able to receive them.

You may have to e-report, if you make sales located in France on which you owe French VAT. In practice:

Your situation	E-invoicing	E-reporting
No French VAT number	No	No
EU seller shipping to French consumers, declared through Union OSS	No	No, for OSS sales
Non-EU seller of digital services to French consumers, declared through non-Union OSS	No	No, for OSS sales
Non-EU seller shipping parcels of €150 or less through IOSS	No	No, for IOSS sales
Registered for French VAT and selling from stock in France (a French 3PL or warehouse) to consumers	No	Yes: daily B2C totals
Registered for French VAT and selling to consumers without using OSS	No	Yes
Selling goods or services to a French VAT-registered business under the reverse charge	No	No for you. Your French customer reports the purchase
Making French-VAT sales to another non-French business that has no French VAT number	No	Yes: invoice-level data
Buying from suppliers where you self-account for French VAT (e.g. intra-EU acquisitions in France)	No	Yes, from 1 September 2027, whatever your size

The OSS point comes straight from the DGFiP: e-reporting of consumer sales applies to non-established businesses “to the extent that they do not use a European VAT one-stop shop (non-Union OSS, Union OSS and IOSS)”. If everything you sell to France goes through OSS or IOSS, the French reform doesn’t add anything for you.

When foreign businesses start

Non-established businesses follow the same size calendar as French ones, with size measured on the whole foreign legal entity: worldwide turnover, balance sheet and headcount.

Foreign business	E-reporting of sales	E-reporting of purchases where you owe the VAT
Large or mid-sized	1 September 2026	1 September 2027
SME or micro-business	1 September 2027	1 September 2027

Most small UK and US online sellers are SMEs or micro-businesses, so 1 September 2027 is your date.

You still need a platform, but not the directory

E-reporting data can only reach the tax authority through a Plateforme Agréée. If you are in scope for e-reporting, you need one. You do not need to be listed in the directory to e-report. You only need a directory entry if you want to receive e-invoices from French suppliers.

If you have a French branch or establishment

A French subsidiary is a French company and follows the full domestic rules. A foreign company with a VAT fixed establishment in France is treated as established too. In both cases you receive e-invoices from September 2026 and issue them on the calendar for your size.

Worked example: a UK knitwear brand with stock in France

Northern Thread Ltd is a UK company with 6 staff. It keeps stock at a French 3PL so French customers get next-day delivery, and it’s registered for French VAT. It sells through its own Shopify store.

• A French consumer buys a jumper for €96.00 including VAT. French VAT at 20% is €96.00 × 20 ÷ 120 = €16.00. Northern Thread declares it on its French VAT return. These are domestic French sales, so OSS doesn’t cover them.
• E-invoicing: none. Northern Thread is not established in France.
• E-reporting: from 1 September 2027 (it’s an SME, measured on its whole UK business), its platform sends daily totals of its French consumer sales by VAT rate.
• Wholesale to a Bordeaux shop: the shop is registered for French VAT, so the reverse charge applies. Northern Thread invoices €1,500.00 with no French VAT, and the shop accounts for the €300.00 itself. The shop reports the purchase in its own e-reporting.

If Northern Thread shipped every order from the UK under IOSS instead, it wouldn’t need a French VAT number and the French reform wouldn’t apply to it at all.

What your French business customers will ask for

Even when you’re outside the reform, your French customers are inside it. Expect them to:

• Ask for your VAT number and full legal details, because their platform reports your invoice data
• Ask whether you can send invoices through their platform. You can, voluntarily, but you don’t have to
• Pay a normal PDF invoice from you. Invoices from non-established suppliers are outside e-invoicing, so a PDF is fine

For every situation in detail, with worked examples, see France e-invoicing for foreign companies.

Penalties

The 2026 Finance Law raised the original fines. The current amounts, confirmed in the DGFiP’s FAQ and article 1788 D of the tax code:

Failure	Fine	Annual cap
Invoice not issued as an e-invoice (art. 1737 CGI)	€50 per invoice (was €15)	€15,000 per calendar year
E-reporting transmission missing (art. 1788 D CGI)	€500 per transmission (was €250)	€15,000 per calendar year
No platform to receive e-invoices (art. 1737 IV bis CGI)	Formal notice, then €500 after three months, then €1,000 for each further three months	None stated

A first offence is not fined if you correct it on your own or within 30 days of the tax authority’s first request. And during the start-up phase, businesses with a genuine compliance plan won’t be fined at all (see the soft launch).

How GoodVat helps

GoodVat is not a Plateforme Agréée. If you’re in scope, you’ll still need a registered platform to send e-invoices and e-reporting data. What we do is the VAT work around it, through GoodVat Global Tax Compliance:

• Work out what applies to you: established or not, OSS or French registration, which e-reporting flows you have and from which date
• Register you for French VAT, OSS or IOSS where you need it
• Calculate the right rate for every product and destination at checkout
• File your returns and keep your invoices compliant with the EU rules

Selling into France?

Tell us where your business is established, where you hold stock and who you sell to. We'll map which French VAT, e-invoicing and e-reporting obligations apply to you and from which date, then handle the VAT registrations and filings for you.

Ask a tax expertor email hello@goodvat.com

A real person replies within one business day

Checklist

1. Work out whether you’re established in France. A French company or VAT fixed establishment means full e-invoicing. A foreign business without one means e-reporting at most.
2. Find your size category (micro, SME, ETI, large) to know your date: 2026 or 2027.
3. French businesses: choose a Plateforme Agréée now, if you haven’t. Receiving has been mandatory since 1 September 2026.
4. Check the directory to confirm your entry and your platform.
5. Update your invoice template with the customer’s SIREN, delivery address, transaction category and, if relevant, the VAT-on-debits mention.
6. Map your sales into the three flows: domestic B2B (e-invoice), B2C and international B2B (e-reporting), and service payments (payment data).
7. Foreign sellers: list which French sales go through OSS or IOSS (out of e-reporting) and which go on a French VAT return (in scope from 1 September 2027 for most small businesses).
8. Keep a log of your setup and any incidents. It’s your evidence of a “serious compliance trajectory” if something goes wrong.

FAQ

When does e-invoicing become mandatory in France?

In two steps. Since 1 September 2026, every VAT-registered business established in France must be able to receive e-invoices, and large and mid-sized companies must issue them. Small and medium-sized businesses and micro-businesses must issue e-invoices from 1 September 2027. The 2026 date was not postponed.

Is a PDF invoice still valid in France after September 2026?

A PDF sent by email is no longer a compliant invoice for a business that is subject to the issuance obligation. During the start-up phase, though, the tax authority says a PDF or paper invoice for a real transaction must not be rejected for that reason alone: it can still be paid and its VAT deducted. Small businesses can keep issuing PDFs to French business customers until 1 September 2027.

What is a Plateforme Agréée (PA)?

A Plateforme Agréée is a private e-invoicing provider registered by the French tax authority (DGFiP). It is the only channel allowed to send and receive e-invoices between French businesses and to pass invoice and e-reporting data to the tax authority. The platforms were previously called PDPs. The official list is published on impots.gouv.fr.

Do foreign companies have to use e-invoicing in France?

No, not if they have no establishment in France. A foreign business registered for French VAT is outside the e-invoicing obligation, but it may have to e-report transaction data for sales on which it owes French VAT. A French branch or VAT permanent establishment counts as established and follows the full domestic rules.

Do I have to do French e-reporting if I use OSS?

Not for the sales you declare through OSS. The tax authority’s FAQ says e-reporting of consumer sales applies to non-established businesses only where they do not use an EU one-stop shop (Union OSS, non-Union OSS or IOSS). Sales you declare on a French VAT return, such as sales from stock held in France, are in scope.

What are the penalties for not using e-invoicing in France?

€50 per invoice not issued electronically, capped at €15,000 per calendar year, and €500 per missing e-reporting transmission, capped at €15,000 per year. A business without a platform to receive invoices gets a formal notice, then a €500 fine after three months. A first offence corrected quickly is not fined, and the tax authority says it will not penalise businesses with a serious compliance plan during the start-up phase.

Which formats are accepted for French e-invoices?

Three formats: UBL, UN/CEFACT CII and Factur-X, a PDF with CII data embedded inside it. Every Plateforme Agréée must handle all three. A plain PDF, a scanned paper invoice or a Word document does not count as an e-invoice.

Do I need a SIREN number to send e-invoices in France?

French-established businesses identify themselves and their customers by SIREN on e-invoices, and the buyer’s SIREN becomes a mandatory invoice mention. Foreign businesses without a SIREN are not in the e-invoicing system. Where they have to e-report, their EU VAT number or foreign identifier replaces the SIREN.

Related guides

• France e-invoicing for foreign companies: who must e-report, from when, with worked examples
• France’s approved platforms compared: how to choose a Plateforme Agréée
• E-invoicing in the EU: every country’s mandate and timeline in one place
• E-invoicing in Germany: the B2B mandate that started with receiving in 2025
• E-invoicing in Belgium: Peppol B2B e-invoicing since January 2026
• E-invoicing in Spain: the B2B mandate and Verifactu, two separate rules
• E-invoicing in Italy: SdI and FatturaPA, mandatory since 2019
• E-invoicing in the Netherlands: where the Dutch plans stand
• Selling to France: VAT rates and rules: French TVA rates, registration and invoicing
• UK sellers: selling to French customers: customs, carriers and TVA after Brexit
• The EU One-Stop Shop (OSS): the scheme that keeps most cross-border consumer sales out of French e-reporting