This article reflects the French e-invoicing reform as understood at the time of writing, including changes following the October 2024 PPF announcement and the 2026 Budget Law approved in February 2026. France's e-invoicing regulations continue to evolve. This is not legal or tax advice. If you are unsure how these obligations apply to your situation, consult a qualified accountant or tax advisor.
September 1, 2026 is the first hard deadline of France's B2B e-invoicing reform. Every business established in France must be able to receive structured electronic invoices from that date, regardless of size. Large enterprises and ETI must also start issuing structured invoices on that same date. For PME and micro-businesses, the issuing deadline comes a year later on September 1, 2027.
That leaves less than five months. For most small businesses and freelancers, that is not much runway, particularly if you are still sending PDF invoices by email and have not yet picked a certified platform.
This checklist covers every step you need to complete before the deadline. Work through it in order, since each step depends on the one before it.
Step 1: Confirm your deadline and scope
Start by confirming which obligations actually apply to your business and from when.
Deadlines by business size
Large enterprises, defined as businesses with more than 5,000 employees or more than 1.5 billion EUR in annual turnover, and ETI (250 to 4,999 employees with turnover up to 1.5 billion EUR), must both receive and issue structured e-invoices starting September 1, 2026.
PME with fewer than 250 employees and below 50 million EUR in turnover, and micro-enterprises including auto-entrepreneurs, must be able to receive structured invoices from September 1, 2026, but do not need to start issuing until September 1, 2027.
If you are not sure which category your business falls into, your accountant or the INSEE classification linked to your SIREN registration will confirm it.
Which transactions are in scope
The e-invoicing mandate applies to domestic B2B transactions: invoices between two VAT-taxable businesses both registered in France. If you invoice other French businesses, those are in scope.
Transactions outside that perimeter fall under a separate but parallel obligation called e-reporting. This includes invoices to private individuals (B2C), invoices to clients outside France, and payment data. For e-reporting transactions, you do not transmit a full structured invoice but instead report a summary of the transaction data to the DGFiP through your certified platform. The same deadlines apply.
A common question at this stage is whether franchise en base de TVA businesses are included. They are. You are a VAT taxable person even if your turnover keeps you below the threshold that requires charging VAT. Your structured invoices will carry the mention "TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI" rather than a VAT amount, but everything else about the format and transmission process is the same.
Step 2: Audit your current invoicing workflow
Before you can plan what to change, you need to know what you are currently doing. This does not need to be complicated.
Write down how your invoices are generated today (software, spreadsheet, Word template, accounting platform), what format they go out in, how you send them to clients, how clients confirm receipt, and how you currently store your invoice archive. That is it.
Thirty minutes spent on this now will save you from discovering a critical gap in late August. The most common problems that come up: invoices still being typed in Word with no structured data, accounting tools that export PDF but have no Factur-X option, and client databases with no SIREN or SIRET field at all.
Step 3: Collect SIREN and SIRET numbers from all French clients
This is the step most businesses underestimate. Once the mandate is live, every invoice you send will be routed through the central Annuaire directory using your client's SIREN or SIRET number. If your platform cannot find the client in the Annuaire, it rejects the invoice before it ever reaches them.
Go through your client list and flag any French business clients where you do not have their SIREN on file. Then contact them and ask. Most clients will understand the request immediately once you mention e-invoicing. If you want a simple framing, tell them you are updating your records ahead of the September invoice format changes.
For context: the SIREN is the 9-digit national company identifier in France. The SIRET is a 14-digit number that identifies a specific site or establishment within the same legal entity. For most suppliers working with small clients, the SIREN is enough. For larger clients with multiple sites, you may need the SIRET for the specific location you are invoicing. Collect both if you can.
While you are at it, check your own company data too. Your SIREN, SIRET, VAT number or franchise en base de TVA mention, legal form, and registered address will all appear in the XML of every structured invoice you send. Wrong data on your own side fails validation just as reliably as wrong client data does.
Step 4: Choose and activate a certified Plateforme Agréée
In October 2024, the French government dropped its plan for the PPF to offer a free public transmission option. There is no government portal to fall back on. Every business subject to the mandate needs a certified private platform called a Plateforme Agréée (PA).
A certified PA validates your invoices against EN 16931, routes them to your client's platform via the Annuaire, and transmits the required fiscal data to the DGFiP. It also handles your e-reporting obligations for transactions outside the domestic B2B scope.
When you are evaluating platforms, there are four things worth checking. First, confirm the platform actually holds current DGFiP certification. The official list is published at impots.gouv.fr. Second, check that it generates or accepts Factur-X specifically at EN 16931 profile level, not just Basic or Minimum (more on why this matters in Step 5). Third, make sure the pricing works for your invoice volume. Fourth, check whether it connects to the accounting tool you already use.
A lot of invoicing software providers have PA certification built into their standard plans already. If your current tool is on the certified list, you may not need to change anything. If it is not, start evaluating alternatives now rather than in August when every other small business is doing the same thing.
Once you activate your account on a certified platform, it registers your entry in the Annuaire automatically. From that point, other businesses can route structured invoices to you correctly.
See also our guide on how to choose a certified e-invoicing platform in France.
Step 5: Verify your invoice format meets EN 16931
France accepts three structured invoice formats under the mandate: Factur-X, UBL, and CII. All three must conform to the EN 16931 European standard. For small businesses and freelancers, Factur-X is almost always the right choice.
Factur-X is a hybrid format. It is a standard PDF file with a structured XML layer embedded inside. For clients who open it manually, it looks exactly like any other PDF invoice. For clients with automated accounting software, the XML layer is extracted and processed automatically. You produce one file and it works in both scenarios.
The part that trips people up is the profile level. Factur-X comes in five profiles: Minimum, Basic WL, Basic, EN 16931, and Extended. The French mandate requires invoices to conform to the EN 16931 data model, which means you need the EN 16931 profile at minimum. The lower profiles do not include all the mandatory fields the DGFiP requires, so they will fail validation at the platform level even if the file looks fine as a PDF.
When you check your invoicing tool, confirm explicitly that it generates Factur-X at EN 16931 profile level. Some tools default to a lower profile and need a settings change. Others only support Minimum or Basic WL and cannot be upgraded regardless of plan.
Beyond the profile, your invoices need to include all mandatory fields: your SIREN and SIRET, your VAT number or franchise en base de TVA mention, your client's SIREN and SIRET, the invoice issue date, the payment due date, the legal form of your business, and your payment terms. Any of these missing will cause rejection at the platform level.
Step 6: Set up e-reporting for non-French and B2C transactions
If some of your revenue comes from invoicing private individuals or clients outside France, e-reporting applies to those transactions alongside the main e-invoicing obligation. Same deadlines, same certified platform, different process.
For e-reporting, you do not transmit a structured invoice. You report a summary of the transaction to the DGFiP: the date, amount, applicable tax rate, and transaction type. Your Plateforme Agréée handles this automatically, but only if you correctly distinguish which invoices are domestic B2B and which are e-reporting transactions when you create them.
Most platforms handle this through a transaction type field or a toggle at invoice creation. Check with your platform how it works before you go live. Getting it wrong means the DGFiP either receives no data or incorrect data for those transactions, which triggers the EUR 500 per transmission penalty under the 2026 Budget Law.
Step 7: Test before the deadline, not on it
Testing is the step most businesses skip and the one that causes the most problems when skipped. Running your full invoice flow through the platform before September 2026 lets you find and fix issues when the stakes are low.
Send a real Factur-X invoice through your Plateforme Agréée to a test recipient or a willing client. Check that the XML validates at EN 16931 level, that the Annuaire lookup finds your client's platform using their SIREN, that the invoice arrives correctly on their end, and that the e-reporting flow works for any non-B2B transactions.
Facturwise has a built-in Factur-X validator that checks your invoice XML against EN 16931 before you send it. You can also use the standalone validator described in our guide on how to validate a Factur-X invoice to check any file regardless of which tool generated it.
Do this test at least two months before the deadline. That gives you time to fix client data problems, reconfigure platform settings, or switch tools entirely if something fundamental is wrong. Discovering an incompatibility in late August means fixing it under pressure or missing the deadline.
What happens if you miss it
The financial penalty for non-compliance is EUR 50 per invoice issued in a non-compliant format, capped at EUR 15,000 per calendar year under the 2026 Budget Law. For missing e-reporting submissions it is EUR 500 per transmission, same annual cap. A first offence may be waived if corrected within 30 days, though that is not guaranteed.
The more immediate problem is operational. An invoice that fails validation at the platform level is not delivered. You do not get paid until you fix it and resubmit. For a business sending several dozen invoices a month, that is a cash flow problem, not just a compliance technicality.
There is also no announced grace period for the September 2026 receiving obligation. If a client sends you a structured invoice on September 1 and your platform is not ready to accept it, you bear responsibility for the resulting delay.
A realistic preparation timeline
If you start working through this checklist now, you have room to be methodical. Getting through steps 1 to 4 by the end of May puts your infrastructure in place. Steps 5 and 6 during June confirm your format and reporting configuration are correct. A full test run in July gives you two months to deal with anything unexpected before the deadline.
Waiting until August means doing all of this under time pressure while platform providers are also handling an onboarding surge from every other business that waited. Support queues get longer, migration timelines get tighter, and there is no room to discover that your current tool does not support the EN 16931 profile.
One more reason to act early: Factur-X is fully backward-compatible. A client who does not yet have automated invoice processing simply opens your file as a PDF, exactly as before. Switching to structured invoices now costs nothing operationally and gives you a head start on a format that will be mandatory within months anyway.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the September 2026 deadline apply to auto-entrepreneurs and micro-businesses?
The September 1, 2026 receiving obligation applies to every business in France regardless of size, including auto-entrepreneurs and micro-businesses. You must be able to receive structured e-invoices from that date. The sending obligation for micro-businesses and auto-entrepreneurs does not start until September 1, 2027.
Do I need to comply if my clients are outside France?
Domestic B2B transactions between French businesses are covered by e-invoicing. Transactions with clients outside France fall under the e-reporting obligation. Both use the same certified Plateforme Agréée infrastructure and follow the same phased timeline.
What if I use franchise en base de TVA and do not charge VAT?
You are still subject to the mandate. Your structured invoices carry the mention "TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI" instead of a VAT amount. Everything else about the format and transmission process is the same as for any other business.
What is the difference between e-invoicing and e-reporting?
E-invoicing covers domestic B2B transactions between French businesses and requires transmitting a full structured invoice through a Plateforme Agréée. E-reporting covers B2C transactions, invoices to foreign clients, and payment data, and requires reporting a transaction summary to the DGFiP through your platform rather than transmitting the full invoice.
Can I start sending Factur-X invoices now?
Yes, and it is worth doing early. Factur-X is backward-compatible, so recipients without automated processing just see a normal PDF. Starting before the mandate gives you time to catch data and format issues before they affect payments.
What happens if my platform rejects an invoice?
The invoice is not delivered and you are not paid until you resolve the issue and resubmit. Common causes are a missing or wrong SIREN or SIRET, the wrong Factur-X profile level, and missing mandatory fields like the payment due date or your legal form.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
EUR 50 per non-compliant invoice, capped at EUR 15,000 per calendar year. EUR 500 per missing e-reporting transmission, capped at EUR 15,000 per year. A first offence may be waived if corrected within 30 days.
Get compliant before the deadline
Facturwise supports Factur-X natively on every plan, including the free one. Your invoices are generated at EN 16931 profile level with all mandatory fields included, so they pass platform validation without extra configuration. If you are not yet set up, try Facturwise for free and send your first compliant invoice before the September 2026 deadline.
The information in this article is provided for general informational purposes and reflects our understanding of the French e-invoicing reform, including the October 2024 PPF announcement and the 2026 Budget Law approved in February 2026. This is not legal or tax advice. France's e-invoicing regulations continue to evolve and obligations depend on your individual circumstances. Consult a qualified accountant or tax advisor for advice specific to your situation.