On 1 September 2026, mandatory e-invoicing takes effect in France. Plenty of summaries about e-invoicing in France in 2026 go a step too far, suggesting that every supplier with French customers has to invoice electronically from that date. That is not what the French rules say, and the difference decides whether you need to set something up now or mainly need to keep an eye on it.

What changes in France

The French reform arrives in two steps, based on company size:

  • From 1 September 2026, every company established in France must be able to receive electronic invoices, regardless of its size.
  • From that same date, large and mid-sized French companies must issue their invoices electronically and pass transaction data to the French tax authority.
  • Small companies and micro-enterprises follow for issuing on 1 September 2027.

Issuing runs through a platform approved by the French tax authority, in one of the permitted formats: UBL, CII or Factur-X. A PDF by email no longer counts as an official invoice.

Does the obligation apply to you?

Here is the nuance that drops out of most overviews. The French e-invoicing obligation covers transactions between parties established in France. If you are established in the Netherlands and have no permanent establishment in France, you do not fall under the obligation to issue or receive French e-invoices.

What can apply is e-reporting, the submission of transaction data. If you hold a French VAT number, you may be required to report transactions on which French VAT is actually accounted for, through an approved platform. From 1 September 2027 that scope widens, among other things for reverse-charge transactions. Sources differ on exactly how non-established parties will be treated from 2027 onwards, so have your own position checked by your tax adviser rather than adopting a timetable from a blog.

What you do arrange now

Even without an obligation of your own, something changes in practice. Your French customers will start receiving and processing invoices through approved platforms, and they are organising their administration around that. Three things worth picking up in the coming months:

  • Check whether you hold a French VAT number, and whether a reporting duty comes with it.
  • Ask your larger French customers which format and which platform they will be using.
  • Make sure the data on your invoices is correct: VAT numbers, address details and references.

That last point takes the most time in practice. With a structured invoice, an incorrect field means rejection by the platform rather than a phone call from accounts payable. Datasolver validates VAT numbers and looks up Peppol IDs, so you do not discover afterwards that a customer record was incomplete.

Start at the source of your invoice data

A structured invoice is never better than the system it originates in. When invoices are drawn up outside your CRM, differences appear between what was sold and what was billed. Those are exactly the differences that surface the moment a platform validates the invoice. Our Billing Platform generates invoices straight from Salesforce, in the right language and with the right template per customer, so the invoice lines match the order.

For how such a transition played out in a neighbouring country, read our article on e-invoicing in Belgium, where the B2B obligation has applied since 1 January 2026.

Would you like to know what 1 September 2026 means concretely for your invoicing process? Get in touch and we will go through your situation together.