Important information about electronic invoicing

Initially scheduled to come into force gradually from 1 July 2024, the timetable for companies established in France to issue and receive electronic invoices has been postponed by the French Finance Law for 2024.

This postponement also affects two other related obligations, i.e.:

  • the ‘e-reporting’ obligation, which requires companies with a B2C customer base and/or that carry out transactions abroad to transmit certain information relating to their commercial transactions electronically to the tax authorities.
  • addition of the following 4 new mandatory statements to invoices:
  • siren number: every invoice must show the issuing company’s siren number
  • Delivery address of the goods: if the delivery address of the goods is different from that of the customer, this must be indicated on the invoice
  • nature of the transactions: the invoice must specify whether the transactions concerned are exclusively deliveries of goods, supplies of services or a combination of both
  • payment of VAT on the basis of debit taxation: if the service provider has opted for payment of VAT on the basis of debit taxation, this information must be stated on the invoice

The table below summarises the new timetable for the entry into force of these obligations:

 1st September 20261st September 2027
SME (small and medium-sized enterprises: workforce < 250 employees and annual turnover ≤ €50 million or balance sheet total ≤ €43 million)  obligation to receive electronic invoices  obligation to issue and receive electronic invoices e-reporting new mandatory information on invoices  
medium-sized businesses (mid-sized companies: workforce < 5,000 employees and annual sales ≤ €1.5 billion or balance sheet total ≤ €2 billion)obligation to issue electronic invoices e-reporting new mandatory information on invoices   
large companies (companies exceeding the above thresholds)  obligation to issue and receive electronic invoices e-reporting new mandatory information on invoices   

Important: These new obligations (electronic invoicing + e-reporting) must be fulfilled via a new digital platform, which may be either the future public invoicing portal or one of the private platforms approved by the French State.

Whatever the size of your company, you will need to have chosen a digital platform by                       1 September 2026 to be able to receive electronic invoices.

Our firm will be happy to provide you with advice and support throughout this process.