This article reflects the French e-invoicing reform as understood at the time of writing, including the PPF changes following the October 2024 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 specific situation, consult a qualified accountant or tax advisor.
If you have been following France's e-invoicing reform, you have probably come across the term Portail Public de Facturation, or PPF. For a long time, the PPF was presented as the government's free public portal where businesses could send and receive electronic invoices under the upcoming B2B mandate. That plan changed significantly in October 2024, and understanding what the PPF actually does today, rather than what it was originally designed to do, matters for any business preparing for September 2026 compliance.
This guide explains what the PPF does now, why the government scaled back its role, how the central Annuaire directory it manages works, and what businesses in France must use instead for invoice transmission.
What the PPF Was Originally Designed to Do
When France first announced its B2B e-invoicing mandate, the PPF was conceived as a free public platform that any business could use to comply with the new rules. The government planned to build and operate this public option alongside the private sector ecosystem of certified platforms. Businesses that did not want to pay for a private platform could use the PPF at no cost.
This free public option was particularly important for small businesses, micro-entrepreneurs, and auto-entrepreneurs, for whom the prospect of paying for a new certified platform created unnecessary friction. The PPF was meant to be the zero-cost safety net that guaranteed universal access to the mandate's infrastructure.
What Changed in October 2024
On October 15, 2024, the Direction Generale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP) announced that the PPF would no longer develop or operate invoice transmission services. The government cited two main reasons.
First, the private platform ecosystem had grown faster than expected. By late 2024, more than 70 platforms had provisionally registered as certified platforms. The government concluded that this ecosystem was sufficiently robust to handle transmission for all businesses, making a parallel public option redundant.
Second, maintaining a free public transmission platform alongside the private ecosystem created architectural complexity and duplication. Concentrating transmission functions in the private sector simplified the overall infrastructure.
The consequence is clear: there is no longer a free government portal for sending or receiving invoices. Every business subject to the French mandate must use a certified private platform called a Plateforme Agreee, or PA.
What the PPF Still Does
The PPF was not eliminated. It retained two functions that are essential to how the French e-invoicing infrastructure operates.
The Annuaire, or central business directory, is the more significant of the two. The Annuaire is a national registry that maps every French business to the certified platform that handles its incoming invoices. The routing identifier is the SIREN or SIRET number. When a supplier generates an invoice and their certified platform needs to deliver it to a buyer, the platform queries the Annuaire using the buyer's SIREN or SIRET to find out which Plateforme Agreee is registered to receive that buyer's invoices. The invoice is then sent directly from one platform to the other.
Approximately 4.5 million VAT-registered companies in France are pre-registered in the Annuaire automatically using their SIREN. When you activate an account on a certified Plateforme Agreee, that platform updates your Annuaire entry to specify itself as the receiver for your incoming invoices. You do not register with the PPF directly. The DGFiP plans to open the Annuaire publicly at the start of 2026 so that businesses and platforms can query routing information before the mandate takes effect.
The concentrateur de donnees, sometimes still referred to as the data concentrator, is the second function. Certified platforms collect structured invoice data and transaction reports as invoices flow through them. This data is extracted and transmitted to the DGFiP through the PPF's concentrator infrastructure at regular intervals. The DGFiP receives a comprehensive picture of B2B transaction activity in France without being directly involved in every invoice exchange. This is how France achieves near-real-time VAT visibility at scale.
Both functions operate entirely in the background. Most businesses will never interact with the PPF directly.
The Certified Platform Requirement
Since the PPF no longer transmits invoices, every business subject to the French mandate must use a Plateforme Agreee (PA). These are private platforms that have obtained certification from the DGFiP to operate within the e-invoicing ecosystem.
The terminology has shifted during the reform. Until July 2025, these platforms were called Plateformes de Dematerialisation Partenaires, or PDP. The term was officially changed to Plateforme Agreee in July 2025, though the role and certification requirements remained the same. If you see PDP and PA used interchangeably in older documentation, they refer to the same category of certified platform. The name change was made to better reflect the formal state-approval process these platforms must pass.
A certified Plateforme Agreee must be capable of validating that invoices conform to the accepted formats and EN 16931 data requirements, routing invoices to and from other certified platforms via the Annuaire, transmitting the required fiscal data to the DGFiP through the PPF concentrator, and archiving invoices for the mandatory retention period. The DGFiP grants certification after a technical audit, and the list of certified platforms is published on impots.gouv.fr.
From a practical standpoint, you do not interact with the certification process yourself. What you need is invoicing software that either holds PA certification or is integrated with a certified platform that handles transmission on your behalf. When you create an invoice and send it, the platform manages validation, Annuaire routing, and tax reporting automatically.
For guidance on choosing a platform, see our article on how to choose a certified e-invoicing platform in France.
Accepted Invoice Formats
France accepts three structured invoice formats under the mandate. All three must conform to the EN 16931 European standard.
Factur-X is a hybrid format that combines a human-readable PDF with an embedded XML data layer in the same file. You can open a Factur-X invoice and read it exactly like any standard PDF. At the same time, your recipient's accounting software can extract the structured XML data automatically. Factur-X is also the format Germany refers to as ZUGFeRD. Both names describe the same technical specification. If you invoice clients in both France and Germany, a single Factur-X setup satisfies the compliance requirements in both countries. For a detailed look at the format and profile levels, see our Factur-X and ZUGFeRD compliance guide.
UBL and CII are pure XML formats without a visual PDF layer. These are more commonly used in large enterprise and public sector procurement. Most small businesses will not need to generate these formats directly, though some invoicing software uses CII internally as the underlying data structure for the Factur-X XML layer.
For the vast majority of small businesses, freelancers, and auto-entrepreneurs, Factur-X is the practical default choice.
How Invoice Routing Works Through the Annuaire
Understanding the actual flow of an invoice through the French system helps clarify why the PPF still matters even though you will never interact with it.
When you issue an invoice to a French client, the sequence works as follows. Your invoicing software generates a structured Factur-X file containing all mandatory fields. Your certified Plateforme Agreee validates that the file meets EN 16931 requirements. The platform queries the Annuaire using your client's SIREN or SIRET to identify which PA handles that client's incoming invoices. Your platform sends the invoice directly to the client's platform. The client's platform delivers it to their accounting software or inbox. Both platforms extract the required fiscal data and transmit it to the DGFiP via the PPF concentrateur de donnees.
From your perspective, this entire sequence happens when you click send. The Annuaire lookup, platform-to-platform routing, and tax data transmission all happen automatically in the background.
The practical implication is that you must collect your client's SIREN or SIRET number before issuing an invoice to them. Without it, your platform cannot query the Annuaire and route the invoice correctly. If you do not already capture this information when onboarding new clients, building that habit now will avoid delays when the mandate takes effect.
The E-Reporting Obligation
France's reform covers two distinct obligations that are sometimes conflated. Both flow through the same Plateforme Agreee infrastructure but apply to different types of transactions.
E-invoicing covers domestic B2B transactions between French businesses. These invoices must be structured files transmitted through a certified platform. This is what most of the mandate discussion focuses on.
E-reporting covers transactions outside that scope: invoices to private individuals (B2C), invoices to foreign clients, and payment data. For these transactions, you do not transmit a full structured invoice through the platform but instead report a summary of the transaction data to the DGFiP via your certified platform.
If your business works exclusively with other French businesses, e-invoicing is your primary concern. If you also serve individual consumers or international clients, e-reporting applies to those transactions in parallel, following the same phased implementation timeline.
For a detailed comparison of what each obligation requires, see our article on e-reporting versus e-invoicing in France.
Implementation Timeline
France has phased the rollout by business size. The two key dates currently in force are as follows.
September 1, 2026 is when the receiving obligation applies to every business in France regardless of size. All businesses must be able to receive structured e-invoices on this date. Large enterprises and ETI also begin issuing structured e-invoices from September 2026.
September 1, 2027 is when PME and micro-enterprises must begin issuing structured e-invoices. This category covers most freelancers, auto-entrepreneurs, and small SARL or SAS structures.
France has postponed this reform several times since the original 2024 target. A parliamentary amendment in March 2025 proposed moving the micro-enterprise deadline to 2028, but the National Assembly rejected it in April 2025. The government has also noted that either deadline could be shifted by up to one quarter if operational readiness requires it, though no such shift has been officially confirmed. The September 2026 and September 2027 dates remain the baseline as of publication.
What Businesses Should Do Before September 2026
Even if your sending deadline is September 2027, the receiving obligation in September 2026 creates a concrete near-term preparation target.
Confirm whether your current invoicing software is connected to a certified Plateforme Agreee. Many invoicing providers have built PA certification into their standard plans. If yours has not, evaluating alternatives now gives you time to migrate without disruption to your billing workflow. Do not assume certification is included without checking with your provider.
Start collecting SIREN and SIRET numbers from your French clients. This data is required both for the structured invoice content and for Annuaire routing. If you do not have it on file for existing clients, now is the time to ask.
Verify that your own company data is correct in your invoicing tool. Your SIREN, SIRET, VAT number or franchise en base de TVA mention, legal address, and bank details will appear in the XML of every invoice you send. Errors at this level cause validation failures on the platform and delay payment.
Consider issuing Factur-X invoices now, before the mandate requires it. The format is fully backward-compatible with any recipient. It opens as a normal PDF for anyone without automated accounting software, and delivers structured data to those who do use it. Switching early at no extra cost gives you time to identify any issues before they have legal consequences.
Penalties for Non-Compliance
The 2026 Budget Law, approved on February 2, 2026, updated the penalty structure for the French e-invoicing mandate.
The penalty for issuing invoices in a non-compliant format is EUR 50 per invoice, capped at EUR 15,000 per calendar year. For missing or late e-reporting submissions, the penalty is EUR 500 per transmission, also capped at EUR 15,000 per year. Both annual caps reset at the start of each new calendar year. Authorities may waive the first offence if the business corrects the non-compliance within 30 days, giving some leniency during the initial rollout period.
For a business sending several dozen invoices per month, the per-invoice penalty accumulates quickly once the deadline passes. There is also an immediate operational consequence that matters more in practice: an invoice that fails platform validation or is missing mandatory data is rejected, which delays your payment. The compliance risk and the cash flow risk point in the same direction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use the PPF to send or receive invoices in 2026?
No. The French government officially dropped the PPF as an invoice transmission platform in October 2024. From September 2026, all invoice sending and receiving must go through a certified Plateforme Agreee. The PPF now only manages the central Annuaire directory and relays tax data to the DGFiP as a concentrateur de donnees.
What is the difference between the PPF and a Plateforme Agreee?
The PPF is the government infrastructure that maintains the central Annuaire directory and acts as a data concentrator between certified platforms and the DGFiP. A Plateforme Agreee is a certified private platform that businesses use to send, receive, validate, and archive invoices. Every business subject to the French mandate must use a PA. The PPF operates entirely in the background.
Is there a free government portal for e-invoicing in France?
No longer. The PPF was originally planned to offer a free public invoicing option, but that plan was abandoned in October 2024. All businesses must now use a certified Plateforme Agreee. Some invoicing software providers include PA-certified routing in their standard or free plans, but there is no standalone free government tool for invoice transmission.
What is the Annuaire and do I need to register in it?
The Annuaire is the central business directory managed by the PPF. All approximately 4.5 million VAT-registered companies in France are pre-registered in it automatically using their SIREN. When you activate an account on a certified Plateforme Agreee, that platform updates your Annuaire entry to indicate it receives your incoming invoices. You do not register with the PPF directly.
What invoice formats are accepted under the French mandate?
Three formats are accepted: Factur-X (a hybrid PDF with embedded XML), UBL (pure XML), and CII (pure XML). All three must conform to the EN 16931 European standard. For most small businesses, Factur-X is the most practical choice because it looks like a normal PDF while containing the required structured data.
What happens if I just email a Factur-X PDF to my client?
That is not compliant under the French mandate. Invoices must be transmitted through a certified Plateforme Agreee, not emailed directly. The platform validates the invoice, routes it to the recipient via the Annuaire, and transmits the required tax data to the DGFiP. Generating a Factur-X file and emailing it bypasses this infrastructure and does not satisfy the legal requirement, even though the format itself is correct.
What is the deadline for small businesses to send e-invoices?
September 1, 2026 is the date by which every business in France must be able to receive structured e-invoices, regardless of size. September 1, 2027 is when PME and micro-enterprises must begin issuing structured e-invoices. Large enterprises and ETI must begin issuing from September 2026. The government has noted that either date could be shifted by up to one quarter, though no postponement has been confirmed.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
Under the 2026 Budget Law approved in February 2026, the penalty for issuing invoices in a non-compliant format is EUR 50 per invoice, capped at EUR 15,000 per calendar year. For missing or late e-reporting submissions, the penalty is EUR 500 per transmission, also capped at EUR 15,000 per year. Authorities may waive the first offence if corrected within 30 days.
What is e-reporting and is it different from e-invoicing?
Yes, they are distinct obligations. E-invoicing covers domestic B2B transactions between French businesses and requires a structured invoice transmitted through a Plateforme Agreee. E-reporting covers transactions outside that scope, including invoices to private individuals and invoices to foreign clients. For e-reporting transactions, you report a summary of the transaction data to the DGFiP through your certified platform rather than transmitting a full structured invoice. Both obligations follow the same phased implementation timeline.
Start Issuing Compliant Invoices Before the Deadline
The PPF change means there is no free government fallback. Every business in France needs invoicing software that either holds Plateforme Agreee certification or connects to a certified platform automatically as part of its sending workflow.
Facturwise generates Factur-X invoices at the EN 16931 profile level on every plan, including the free one. The same format satisfies both French and German e-invoicing compliance requirements, so if you invoice clients in both countries a single tool handles both mandates. There is no separate compliance configuration, no manual XML export, and no additional platform integration to set up. Create your first compliant invoice for free.
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 how these obligations apply to your specific business depends on your individual circumstances. We recommend consulting a qualified accountant or tax advisor for guidance specific to your situation.