France's e-invoicing mandate: what changes in September 2026 — and September 2027

The timeline in two dates

1 September 2026 — everyone receives, large companies issue. Every business established in France and subject to VAT — regardless of size or legal form — must be able to receive structured e-invoices. On the same date, large enterprises and intermediate-sized companies (ETI) must issue their invoices in the accepted formats, through an approved platform.

1 September 2027 — SMEs, small businesses and micro-enterprises issue in turn. This is the date that concerns the vast majority of businesses: from then on, invoicing a professional client from Word or a plain PDF is no longer compliant.

Who is affected

All businesses, freelancers and independent professionals subject to French VAT for their domestic B2B transactions. The test is VAT liability, not turnover. Critically for international readers: a company registered outside France but holding a French VAT number is within scope for its French operations — it must be able to receive compliant e-invoices from 1 September 2026.

What a "real" e-invoice is

A PDF emailed to a client is not an e-invoice under the reform. A compliant invoice is a structured, machine-readable file in one of three accepted formats: Factur-X (a human-readable PDF with an embedded structured XML file — the hybrid format closest to current habits), UBL 2.1 (pure XML), and CII (pure XML).

In all three, the content must satisfy the European standard EN 16931 and the French rules: dozens of automated checks on mandatory fields, totals and VAT-amount consistency. This is where invoices fail in practice — a total that doesn't match the sum of the lines is enough to trigger a rejection.

Approved platforms (PA)

Invoices no longer travel directly between businesses: they pass through state-approved platforms (Plateformes Agréées; the official list is published on impots.gouv.fr). Each business designates its platform to issue, receive, and transmit transaction data to the tax authority.

FactureJuste is not an approved platform — and does not aim to be. Our role is upstream: to check that your file is compliant (format, fields, totals, EN 16931 rules) before you transmit it through your approved platform, and to explain every error in plain language.

Penalties for non-compliance

The penalty schedule changed with the 2026 finance law.

• Failure to issue an invoice in electronic format: €50 per invoice, capped at €15,000 per calendar year (CGI art. 1737, III — raised from €15 to €50 by the 2026 finance law).
• Failure to transmit transaction/payment data (e-reporting): €500 per transmission, capped at €15,000 per calendar year (CGI art. 1788 D — raised from €250 to €500).
• Omission or error in a mandatory invoice field: €15 per omission or error, capped at 25% of the invoice amount (CGI art. 1737, II). This is a separate penalty from the electronic-format one.

A start-up phase applies: the DGFiP published a practical getting-started guide (impots.gouv.fr, 11 July 2026) and announced a tolerant approach for good-faith businesses facing launch difficulties. We flag this measure without ruling on how it applies to any given situation — refer to the official sources below and to your advisor.

Beyond the fine, the immediate practical risk is simpler: a non-compliant invoice can be rejected by the platform or by your client — and a rejected invoice is an invoice paid late.

What to do, concretely

By September 2026 (everyone): choose your approved platform for receiving; confirm your current tools (invoicing software, ERP, templates) can produce or consume the accepted formats.

By September 2027 (SMEs, small and micro-businesses): move issuance to structured formats — via your software if it's getting ready, or via dedicated tools. And above all: test early. Producing a Factur-X, UBL or CII file is one thing; having it pass the EN 16931 checks is another.