E-Invoicing in France: Complete guide

E-Invoicing & E-reporting in France

France will roll out mandatory B2B electronic invoicing and e-reporting in phases, starting on 1 September 2026. The reform introduces a Continuous Transaction Control (CTC) model whereby invoices are issued, transmitted and reported in structured electronic format through certified private platforms (Plateformes Agréées, or PAs). Throughout 2025, the French government published a package of ten simplification and tolerance measures to ease the transition, the AFNOR technical specifications and API standard were released, the DGFiP became the PEPPOL France authority, and the first 101 certified PAs — Marosa (VATify) among them — were approved. This guide consolidates the rules, the calendar, the technical framework and the most recent developments.

1. What is e-invoicing in France?

E-invoicing means issuing, sending and receiving invoices in a structured electronic format that allows the automatic processing of the invoice data. France has approved an e-invoicing mandate for B2B domestic transactions where both the supplier and the customer are taxable persons established in France (including French branches/fixed establishments of foreign entities, for the operations attached to that French establishment). ‍All in-scope businesses have to issue their invoices in one of the approved structured formats and to transmit them through a certified platform.

The French e-invoice must be issued in one of the three permitted syntax formats:

• Cross Industry Invoice (CII)
• Universal Business Language (UBL)
• Factur-X, a hybrid format combining structured XML and a PDF

A Continuous Transaction Control (CTC) layer applies: the e-invoice data must be transmitted to the tax authorities in real time, either through the e-invoice itself (for B2B domestic transactions) or via an e-reporting message (for all other in-scope transactions).

Electronic invoicing has been mandatory since January 2020 for transactions with the French public administration (B2G). The B2B mandate now extends this approach to private-sector transactions. Learn more.

2. Implementation calendar

France will not delay its e-invoicing mandate. Last year, the National Assembly rejected a deferral proposal, and this month's unveiling of the DGFiP's e-invoicing ​readiness guide has all but confirmed the French mandate will be a reality by September 2026. Don't expect any changes to the dates below:

• 1 September 2026 issuing obligation for large and intermediate-sized taxpayers. All companies — regardless of size — must be able to receive electronic invoices from this date.
• 1 September 2027 issuing obligation for small and medium-sized businesses. Obligations applicable to non-established taxable persons operating in France, or making intra-Community acquisitions, are also deferred to this date.

2.1. Soft landing: no automatic penalties at launch

France has not granted a formal grace period, but David Amiel, France's Minister of Action and Public Accounts, recently confirmed a soft-landing approach: penalties will not be applied automatically at launch to businesses acting in good faith. This softened enforcement runs to 31 December 2026 (confirmed at the 10 July 2026 meeting); standard penalties apply thereafter.

It is a soft landing, not a postponement, so the 1 September 2026 calendar holds.

Economic continuity is preserved: the reform changes how invoices are transmitted, not the underlying rules on the transaction, payment, accounting or VAT deduction. An invoice received by email, PDF or paper for a real transaction should not be rejected on that ground alone, and the right to deduct VAT is not automatically lost. In-scope issuers should still send the same invoice electronically, or regularise it promptly.

The tolerance targets genuine, documented start-up difficulties — not inertia, avoidance or refusal to comply. Businesses that fail to engage, or that use difficulties to block payments, remain exposed to penalties under CGI Articles 1737 and 1788 D.

2.2. How can I demonstrate good faith?

Soft-landing tolerance depends on showing real progress; a statement of intent is not enough. Keep concrete, dated evidence such as:

1. the choice or contract of a certified platform (PA);
2. exchanges with your software editor, accountant, bank or platform;
3. your connection, testing and roll-out calendar;
4. which flows are already electronic and which remain to be stabilised;
5. support tickets, error messages and transitional measures;
6. plans to regularise invoices or data that could not immediately follow the electronic circuit.

The same evidence protects you where the difficulty originates with a third party (provider, editor or platform), provided you took the steps within your own responsibility.

3. Which companies are impacted?

The B2B e-invoicing obligation applies to companies established in France performing domestic supplies of goods and services to other VAT taxable persons established in France. Non-taxable transactions for VAT purposes are outside the scope of e-invoicing and e-reporting.

Foreign (non-established) businesses VAT-registered in France are not subject to the e-invoicing mandate, but may be subject to e-reporting on certain transactions (see section 5).

4. What is e-reporting in France?

E-reporting is the obligation to transmit data to the tax authorities for transactions that fall outside the scope of B2B domestic e-invoicing. The implementation calendar is the same as for e-invoicing (see section 2).

The following transactions are within the scope of e-reporting for French established taxpayers:

• Exports of goods
• Imports of services
• Sales to private individuals (B2C), both domestic and to customers established abroad
• Intra-Community supplies and intra-Community acquisitions
• Domestic transactions subject to reverse charge (reported by the recipient)

Imports of goods are excluded from e-reporting, as the data is captured through Customs. The general list of transactions in scope is set out in Article 290 of the French VAT Code. The above list of transactions is different for foreign businesses with a VAT registration in France.

5. Foreign businesses and e-reporting

Foreign businesses VAT-registered in France are subject to e-reporting when they perform taxable transactions for which they must charge French VAT. The most common scenarios are summarised below.

• Domestic B2B purchases under reverse charge: for domestic reverse charge transactions, the customer is responsible for the e-reporting instead of the supplier.
• Domestic supplies B2B when not falling under reverse charge (normally, customer is also a non-established & non-VAT registered company): the foreign supplier is responsible for the e-reporting.
• B2C supplies taxable in France: the foreign supplier is responsible for the e-reporting. Intra-Community distance sales reported under one of the OSS regimes are excluded.
• Intra-Community acquisitions of goods: the foreign business acquiring goods in France must report the transaction in the French e-reporting.

Note: non-established businesses VAT-registered in France do not need to declare VAT-exempt transactions such as exports and intra-Community supplies in their e-reporting.

Key tolerance for non-established businesses: the e-reporting of domestic purchases under reverse charge and intra-Community acquisitions, are deferred to 1 September 2027, regardless of the company size. Learn more. Learn more.

6. How are e-invoices transmitted? The PA and PPF model

Electronic invoices must be sent through a certified private platform, the Plateforme Agréée (PA) — previously referred to as Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire (PDP). The PA acts as the intermediary between supplier and recipient: it issues, transmits, receives and reports the invoice on behalf of its users. PAs can convert the e-invoice format between sender and recipient, ensuring interoperability across providers.

The Public Procurement Framework (PPF) — the rebranded role of Chorus Pro for the B2B mandate — will not act as a free platform for issuing and receiving e-invoices, contrary to the original design. Following the October 2024 announcement, the PPF is now limited to two functions:

• Maintaining the national recipient directory
• Acting as the tax data hub for the administration

Sending, receiving and reporting invoices electronically is therefore the sole responsibility of the certified PAs. Upon issuance, the PA performs a pre-validation check on the e-invoice before reporting it to the PPF.

6.1. Invoice lifecycle statuses

PA operators must provide their users with information on the status of each e-invoice:

• Deposit — the invoice has been accepted by the issuer's platform.
• Rejection — the invoice has been rejected by the issuer's or recipient's platform because it is not compliant.
• Refusal — the recipient refuses the invoice.
• Collected — the invoice has been collected; this status also includes payment data.

Rejection is not refusal. A rejection is a technical or control issue (format error, missing mandatory field, routing problem) that is corrected and re-sent through the electronic circuit. A refusal is a motivated lifecycle status by which the buyer declines the invoice, usable only for the reasons set out in the standard — not for an ordinary commercial dispute. A re-issued invoice following a refusal must carry a new invoice number.

6.2. AFNOR technical specifications and the XP Z12-013 API standard

On 13 May 2025, the French tax authorities released the first technical documents prepared by the AFNOR standardisation committee (Association Française de Normalisation). These documents define the formats, profiles and business rules forming the minimum standard (socle minimal) for electronic invoices and invoice statuses.

AFNOR has also released XP Z12-013, an experimental standard defining how enterprise information systems connect to PAs via APIs. The standard is a key reference for businesses and software providers integrating their systems with the certified platforms.

AFNOR standard XP Z12-014 defines 44 specific B2B transaction scenarios that companies and platforms must be able to handle under the French reform. The scenarios fall into three broad categories: data complexity on the invoice itself (advance payments, multi-VAT-rate lines, foreign urrencies, credit notes linked to prior invoices); third parties in the billing process (factoring, selfbilling, billing on behalf of a group entity, subcontracting); and lifecycle events and edge cases (refusals, partial approvals, re-issuances, corrections).

Take a look at the latest external specifications.

6.3. PEPPOL France

Since July 2025, the DGFiP is the official PEPPOL France authority. This ensures that data flows transiting via the PEPPOL network meet French regulatory and technical standards, enabling harmonised and secure communication across platforms. PAs (and businesses planning to become one) can request PEPPOL France recognition via a dedicated webform on Démarches Simplifiées — open since 8 July 2025 — by signing the PEPPOL France contract and submitting the relevant documentation.

7. Marosa (VATify) among the first 101 certified PAs

The French administration has published the list of the first 101 certified Plateformes Agréées (PAs). Marosa, through its tax-technology platform VATify, is one of them. This certification confirms our ability to issue, transmit, receive and report French B2B e-invoices in line with the upcoming mandate, and to serve clients — both French-established and non-established — across the full e-invoicing and e-reporting scope. Check the official list.

8. Benefits of e-invoicing for companies

Beyond compliance, the reform delivers a number of operational benefits:

• Reduced administrative burden on invoice management.
• Lower invoicing costs — on average, a paper invoice costs around €12 to process, against €3 for an electronic invoice.
• More precise monitoring of invoices throughout their lifecycle.
• Reduced risk of VAT fraud.
• Easier preparation of VAT returns thanks to pre-filling.

9. Recent developments and milestones

A consolidated timeline of the main regulatory and technical milestones leading to the 1 September 2026 deadline:

• October 2024: The Public Procurement Framework (PPF) is refocused on maintaining the recipient directory and acting as the tax data hub; it no longer functions as a free platform for issuing and receiving e-invoices. Certified PAs become the sole channel.
• April 2025: The implementation calendar (1 September 2026 / 1 September 2027) is confirmed; the proposal to delay the mandate by a further year is rejected by the National Assembly.
• 13 May 2025: First AFNOR technical specifications published, defining the minimum standard (socle minimal) for invoice formats, profiles, statuses and business rules.
• 13 June 2025: AFNOR releases details of XP Z12-013, an experimental standard defining the API interface between enterprise information systems and PAs.
• 8 July 2025: The DGFiP is confirmed as the PEPPOL France authority; the dedicated registration webform opens on Démarches Simplifiées.
• September 2025: The French government announces a package of ten simplification and tolerance measures (see sections 3, 4 and 5), including the deferral to September 2027 for non-established taxable persons.
• 2025–2026: The list of the first 101 certified Plateformes Agréées (PAs) is published. Marosa (VATify) is among the certified platforms.