E-invoicing in France: what changes for small businesses

The two dates to remember

• 1 September 2026: every business, whatever its size, must be able to receive e-invoices. Large and mid-sized companies must already issue them.
• 1 September 2027: SMEs, small businesses and micro-enterprises must in turn issue their invoices electronically and report some of their sales data ("e-reporting").

This timeline is the one published by the French Ministry of the Economy. During the launch, the authorities announced a grace period without penalties until the end of 2026 for businesses facing difficulties.

Who is affected?

Invoices between businesses established in France and subject to VAT: that's e-invoicing proper. For sales to private customers, you keep invoicing as before, but some sales data will be sent to the tax authorities (e-reporting).

So if you mostly work for private customers, the impact is lighter. If you have business customers (property managers, agencies, shops, companies), it's direct.

What an "e-invoice" actually is

It's not a PDF sent by email. It's an invoice in a structured format that software can read, sent through a platform approved by the tax authorities. Every business must choose the platform through which it will receive and send its invoices.

To know where to send an invoice, an e-invoicing directory lists the platform chosen by each business.

With the reform, new details appear on invoices, including your business customer's SIREN number: now is the time to complete your customer file.

How to get ready, in practice

• Ask your quoting and invoicing software provider how they handle the reform: many work with an approved platform.
• Choose your platform for receiving invoices (that's already mandatory) and check you're actually receiving your suppliers' invoices.
• Clean up your customer file: exact company name, SIREN number, billing address. If it's scattered across several files, see which tool to choose to centralise it.
• If you still make your invoices in Word or Excel, now is the time to switch to a tool that produces compliant invoices.

A constraint that can save you time

Since your invoices will go through a digital channel anyway, you might as well make the most of it: accepted quote turned into an invoice without re-typing, invoice sent automatically, payment status tracked, automatic reminders that stop once paid, data sent to your accountant.

It's exactly the kind of re-typing we remove first. We connect your tools to your platform: automation & custom software.