E-invoicing
What is a Peppol Access Point?
A Peppol Access Point is the gateway through which invoices and other business documents are sent into the Peppol network and delivered from it.
KNOWLEDGE · FACTSHEET
E-invoicing in France
Deadlines at a glance
| Date | Who is affected | What applies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2017 | The State, local authorities and public bodies | Receipt of e-invoices via Chorus Pro |
| 1 September 2026 | All taxable persons established in France | Obligation to receive via a plateforme agréée |
| 1 September 2026 | Large companies and mid-caps (ETI) | Obligation to send and e-reporting |
| 1 September 2027 | Small and medium-sized enterprises (PME) including micro-enterprises | Obligation to send and e-reporting |
| 1 July 2030 | Cross-border B2B transactions within the EU | Mandatory e-invoicing under the ViDA reporting requirements |
E-invoicing in B2B
Obligation to receive
Since 1 September 2026, all taxable persons established in France must be able to receive e-invoices via a plateforme agréée, regardless of their size. The obligation covers transactions between taxable persons established in France that are subject to VAT in France (Article 289 bis of the Code général des impôts, CGI). Businesses that carry out exclusively exempt transactions must also be able to receive their suppliers’ e-invoices and choose a platform for this purpose. If a supplier voluntarily sends an e-invoice earlier than required, the recipient must accept it (DGFiP FAQ on e-invoicing).
Obligation to send
Since 1 September 2026, large companies and mid-caps have been issuing all invoices within the scope as e-invoices. Mid-caps sit between small and medium-sized enterprises (PME) and large companies. In France they are called entreprises de taille intermédiaire (ETI). PME, including micro-enterprises, are obliged from 1 September 2027 and may start earlier on a voluntary basis. What counts is the size of the individual company with its own SIREN number, not that of the group (DGFiP FAQ). The size categories are defined in Article 3 of Decree No. 2008-1354. For the reform, the decisive figures are headcount, annual turnover and balance sheet total for the last financial year closed before 1 January 2025 (INSEE).
E-reporting
The business reports transactions with private customers and with foreign business partners as transaction data via its platform. How often it reports depends on its VAT regime. Under the standard regime with monthly returns, the business transmits the transaction data three times a month. Payment data only has to be reported for transactions where VAT becomes due on payment. For e-invoices, this is done via the “Encaissée” status with the payment date and the amount per VAT rate.
Formats
Every plateforme agréée must be able to process three core formats, UBL, CII and Factur-X. A PDF sent by email does not meet the requirements for an e-invoice. Since 1 September 2026, four additional mandatory particulars have applied under Article 242 nonies A of Annex II to the CGI. These are the customer’s SIREN number, the category of the transaction (supply of goods, supply of services or both), where applicable the option to pay VAT on an accruals basis (TVA sur les débits), and the delivery address if it differs from the billing address. The number of mandatory data fields in the structured part rises from 26 in 2026 to 34 from 1 September 2027.
Transmission methods
Invoices within the scope of the reform are transmitted exclusively via a plateforme agréée. The Service d’Immatriculation of the DGFiP tax authority registers each platform for three years, and the registration can be renewed. The platform sends and receives invoices, can convert them into the format the customer requires, and transmits invoice, transaction and payment data to the tax authority. The current list of platforms is published by the DGFiP on impots.gouv.fr. Each business records its receiving platform in a directory kept by the tax authority (annuaire). Invoices are addressed to the recipient’s platform via the SIREN or SIRET number. The platforms report the processing status of each invoice through status messages. A rejection by a platform (rejet) indicates a technical error, such as a wrong format or a missing mandatory particular. A refusal by the buyer (refus) must be justified with one of the predefined reasons for refusal. An ordinary commercial dispute is not one of them. If the sender then issues a new invoice, it must be given a new invoice number.
Retention
Invoices must be retained for ten years for both tax and commercial law purposes. Law No. 2026-534 of 25 June 2026 (Article 36) extended the tax retention period in Article L102 B of the Livre des procédures fiscales from six to ten years. The new period applies to all documents whose previous period expires after 1 January 2027, and therefore to every invoice within the scope of the reform. Under commercial law, ten years already applied (Article L123-22 of the Code de commerce). During the three-year limitation period for tax assessments, an e-invoice must be retained in its original format. An XML invoice therefore stays in the archive as XML. An additional PDF version for internal purposes is permitted.
Penalties
Since the 2026 Finance Act (Law No. 2026-103 of 19 February 2026), a fine of 50 euros is due for each invoice that is not issued as an e-invoice contrary to the obligation, up to a maximum of 15,000 euros per calendar year (Article 1737 III CGI). Each missing e-reporting transmission incurs 500 euros, likewise capped at 15,000 euros per year (Article 1788 D CGI). A business that does not choose a receiving platform first receives a formal notice with a three-month deadline. If the business does not meet this deadline, a fine of 500 euros becomes due, followed by 1,000 euros for each further three-month period without remedy (Article 1737 IV bis CGI).
E-invoicing in B2G
Obligation to issue
Suppliers to the State, local authorities and public bodies must submit their invoices electronically via Chorus Pro, the French State’s central platform for e-invoices to the public administration. The obligation was phased in: on 1 January 2017 for large companies and public bodies, on 1 January 2018 for mid-caps (ETI) and on 1 January 2019 for PME excluding micro-enterprises. Micro-enterprises followed as the last stage on 1 January 2020 (Article 3 of Ordonnance No. 2014-697 of 26 June 2014). Public bodies that themselves issue invoices to businesses as taxable persons also send them via Chorus Pro.
Format
Since 1 September 2026, invoices to public bodies have been subject to the same structured mandatory data and the same core formats as in B2B, namely UBL, CII and Factur-X.
Addressing
Invoices to public bodies are addressed via the recipient’s SIRET number.
Portals
The Agence pour l’informatique financière de l’État (AIFE) developed Chorus Pro and operates the platform. The web portal is one of several access points.
Transmission
Suppliers can send their invoices via a plateforme agréée connected to Chorus Pro. This is the intended target route, with one channel for all customers. During a transitional period, the existing Chorus Pro channels remain available, namely entry in the portal, upload, API and EDI.
What does this mean for you as a software provider?
As a software provider, you have two options. You can register as a plateforme agréée yourself. The DGFiP then registers you for three years, and your software handles sending, receiving and transmission to the tax authority.
Alternatively, your software acts as a solution compatible. It must then be connected to at least one plateforme agréée and provide functions that meet the requirements of the reform. Because businesses can use different platforms for sending, receiving and e-reporting, connecting several platforms can be an advantage.
Implementation follows a clear order. Receiving has had to work for all customers since 1 September 2026. Sending is currently needed by large companies and mid-caps, and by all other customers from 1 September 2027.
Your data model must cover the four new mandatory particulars, above all the customer’s SIREN number. It also serves as the address in the tax authority’s directory, so an incorrect number can lead to a rejection by the platform. On 1 September 2027, the number of mandatory data fields rises from 26 to 34, and by then the data model must also cover the additional data.
Your software must process the platform’s status messages, above all the technical rejection by the platform and the refusal by the buyer. Because they lead to different next steps, it makes sense to show the two cases separately to users.
For e-reporting, your software must supply the data on transactions with private customers and foreign business partners and, for transactions where VAT becomes due on payment, the payment data.
Outlook and special considerations
- Peppol between the platforms: Every plateforme agréée must interoperate with at least one other platform, via a bilateral contract or a network protocol. The DGFiP is the Peppol Authority for France and has stipulated that, for invoices within the scope of the reform, only registered platforms may send and receive via Peppol (DGFiP).
- Start-up phase: The DGFiP has announced that during the start-up phase it will not impose penalties on businesses that can demonstrate serious steps towards implementation and document their difficulties. The obligation itself is neither postponed nor suspended (DGFiP guide).
- Multiple delivery: If an invoice is additionally sent by email, as a PDF or via a customer portal, for example during an outage, the DGFiP recommends marking the duplicate as a copy, for example as “duplicata” or “copie de continuité”. It therefore makes sense for your software to be able to generate such copies and recognise them on receipt, so that no invoice is booked or paid twice.
- ViDA outlook: From 1 July 2030, e-invoicing will be mandatory in the EU for cross-border B2B transactions under the Digital Reporting Requirements. Until then, a French business reports transactions with business partners in other EU countries through e-reporting.
Frequently asked questions
Is Peppol mandatory in France?
No. What is mandatory is that invoices are transmitted via a plateforme agréée, that is, via a
platform registered with the tax authority. The platforms exchange invoices with each other in
various ways, and Peppol is one of them. Anyone who wants to send or receive invoices within the
scope of the reform via Peppol must themselves be registered as a plateforme agréée. A Peppol
Access Point alone is not sufficient.
Can businesses in France use several platforms?
Yes. A business can choose one or more plateformes agréées and switch platforms at any time. For
receiving, it concludes a formal agreement with the chosen platform, which is recorded in the tax
authority’s directory.
Does the e-invoicing obligation also apply to invoices to customers abroad?
No. There is no e-invoicing obligation for invoices to business customers not established in
France. However, the French business reports the data on these transactions through e-reporting
via its platform. It can continue to send the invoice itself to the customer in the usual way.
Further reading
E-invoicing
What is Peppol BIS Billing 3.0?
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is the OpenPeppol specification for invoices and credit notes in the Peppol network. It is a core invoice usage specification (CIUS) of the European standard EN 16931.
E-invoicing
Validating e-invoices and reading the validation report correctly
When an e-invoice from your software is rejected, your team has to work out from the validation report which field triggered the message and who can correct it.
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