Overview: France’s B2B E-Invoicing Mandate
France is introducing a mandatory B2B e-invoicing and e-reporting system as part of its digital tax strategy. The reform aims to replace paper and PDF invoices with standardized electronic formats, ensuring greater efficiency, transparency, and VAT compliance. In addition to e-invoicing, companies will also be required to report certain transactions such as B2C sales and cross-border operations, giving tax authorities better oversight and reducing fraud. This phased rollout will simplify invoice exchanges, lower administrative costs, and accelerate digital transformation for businesses of all sizes.
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Ministère de l’Economie, des finances et de la relance
DGFIP – Direction Générale des Finances Publiques
If the obligation is to store the invoice for 6 years it is common that issuers and recipients store them for 10. This is because of the many different interpretations that can be applied to specifications established in different French legal codes.
The DGFiP has determined that all electronic invoices both B2G and B2B can be issued in UBL, CII or Factur-X formats.
The new electronic invoicing model includes a new e-Reporting system. Companies will be required to report data related to international B2C and B2B transactions through the new system, which will follow the same compliance schedule as the electronic invoice.
B2G
Public administrations and their suppliers are obliged to exchange electronic invoices through the government's electronic invoicing platform Chrous Pro.
B2B
French companies will be obliged to implement electronic invoicing.
The ChorusPro platform will become the PPF (Portail Public de Facturation).
In France, the use of electronic signatures is not mandatory.
Key Implementation Dates
Accepted Formats & Transmission
France supports the following structured e-invoice formats under EN 16931:
Invoices and e-reporting data will be transmitted through:
Certified Partner Dematerialization Platforms (PDPs) accredited by the French tax authority (DGFiP)
Peppol network or e-mail exchange, with automatic conversion into compliant formats
E-Reporting Requirements
In addition to e-invoicing, France introduces mandatory e-reporting:
Why Early Preparation Matters
Eaglessoft: Your Trusted Partner in France
At Eaglessoft, we help businesses navigate the French e-invoicing and e-reporting mandate with end-to-end compliance solutions:
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BELGIUM REGULATION
All large (>5000 FTEs, TO. >1,500M EUR) and intermediary-sized (<5000 FTEs, TO. <1,500M EUR) companies must be able to issue e-invoices starting 1 September 2026.
For medium and small enterprises (<250 FTEs, TO. <50M EUR) it will be mandatory to issue e-invoices from 1 September 2027.
es. The DGFiP announced that the public invoicing platform (PPF) will be limited to data collection, with businesses requiring a certified service provider (PDP). The PDPs will be responsible for facilitating transmission between buyers and suppliers and handling the e-reporting of the transactions to the PPF.
This shift sees France moving towards a pure 5-Corner model of e-invoicing. Stay informed of latest announcements here.
The 5-corner model is France's approach to mandatory e-invoicing that creates an ecosystem with five key participants working together to ensure compliant invoice exchange and reporting.
In this model, the five "corners" are:
- Supplier — The business sending the invoice
- Supplier's PDP — The certified partner handling the supplier's e-invoicing needs
- Public Portal (PPF) — France's central government platform for invoice registration and tax reporting
- Customer's PDP — The certified partner handling the customer's e-invoice reception
- Customer — The business receiving the invoice
This structure allows businesses to work with their preferred certified platform providers while ensuring all transactions pass through the government's central platform for tax visibility and compliance.
E-invoicing (electronic invoicing) is the digital exchange of invoice information directly between a supplier's and buyer's software systems. Unlike PDF invoices sent by email, true e-invoices are structured digital documents that can be automatically processed without manual data entry.
E-invoices typically contain standardized data formats that include all the essential information: transaction details, payment terms, tax calculations, and buyer/seller information — all packaged in a way computers can instantly understand and process.
According to the French framework, only structured data formats qualify as valid e-invoices for tax purposes. The French tax authority (DGFIP) has approved several formats that work through their public invoicing portal and private platforms, including UBL 2.1, UN/CEFACT CII, and Factur-X, with Peppol BIS and EDIFACT added later to the list. The key takeaway? By 2027, traditional paper invoices and simple PDFs won't make the cut anymore — you'll need these structured, machine-readable formats that comply with the European Norm to do business in France.
Chorus Pro is the French centralized portal for public sector e-invoicing administration. Pagero has been connected and sending e-invoices to Chorus Pro since 2016. We provide a single point of access to the system through Peppol for receiving e-invoices and sending invoice lifecycle statuses on behalf of Chorus Pro.
All businesses in France should make preparations to enable e-invoicing and e-reporting capability as soon as possible. It will be mandatory for all businesses by September 1, 2027.