France is making e-invoicing mandatory. Here’s what you need to know.
The deadlines, simply explained
France is rolling out the obligation in two phases, based on company size.
| Your situation | Receive | Issue |
| Large company or mid-sized company
(> 250 employees or turnover > €50M or balance sheet > €43M) |
1 Sept 2026 | 1 Sept 2026 |
| SME or micro-company | 1 Sept 2026 | 1 Sept 2027 |
| Non-established, VAT-registered in France | 1 Sept 2026 | 1 Sept 2027 |
How does it work: the platform
In France, all e-invoices must be processed through a certified platform, a Plateforme Agrée (PA) You can’t simply email an invoice to someone or directly to your customer. Each invoice must go through a PA that checks, transmits and reports the necessary data to the French tax authority (DGFiP).
Amista connects your French entity to the French e-invoicing ecosystem. We take care of the technical setup, registration in the French Annuaire (the central directory) and the link to your invoicing process.
There is no need to find or set up a platform yourself. That’s what we do.
How does it affect your business?
- Master data: Your customer records need to be clean before you go live. You must attach the right identifiers on all your invoices for your French customers (SIREN/SIRET/Routing code). Invoices with missing or incorrect data will be rejected.
- Customer segmentation: Not all your customers are subject to the same rules. You need to distinguish between:
- French B2B customers (subject to e-invoicing)
- B2C customers and cross-border customers (subject to e-reporting)
Your invoicing process needs to route invoices correctly depending on the customer type.
- E-reporting: For transactions other than B2B domestic e-invoicing, e.g., B2C sales or cross-border invoices, you are not required to send a structured e-invoice but you do have to report the transaction data to the DGFiP. This is called e-reporting . It is a different, but related, obligation (see below).
- Payment reporting: For certain transaction types, you must also report when payment is received. This closes the loop for the tax authority.
- Refusal reporting: When you receive an e-invoice that does not meet the required format or content rules, you can formally reject it using a government-defined reason code (code de refus). This rejection is transmitted back to the supplier through the platform. Importantly: a formal refusal replaces the need for the supplier to issue a credit note. The invoice is simply cancelled in the system.
E-invoicing vs. e-reporting: what’s the difference?
These two obligations are often confused. They are related but not the same.
In short: e-invoicing is about how you exchange invoices with French B2B customers. E-reporting is about how you keep the tax authority informed of everything else.
covers structured electronic invoices exchanged between two French VAT-registered businesses (domestic B2B). The invoice flows from supplier to customer via certified platforms, and the platform reports the data to the DGFiP automatically.
covers everything else: B2C transactions, cross-border invoices, and in some cases payment data. For these transactions, you do not exchange a structured e-invoice but you do have to transmit the transaction data to the DGFiP through your PA.
Who does this apply to?
The mandate applies to any company with a VAT registration in France, including:
- French-incorporated companies of any size
- Foreign companies with a French VAT number (with some timeline differences as noted above)
- Businesses operating through a French fixed establishment
What should you do now?
The September 2026 deadline is close. The receiving obligation alone requires platform registration, Annuaire setup, and testing before go-live.
Contact Amista if you want to understand what this means for your specific situation, or if you are ready to start the onboarding process. We will assess your setup, handle the registration, and make sure you are compliant on time.