French Ministry gives final alert as mandatory e-invoicing starts 1 September
On 31 August 2026, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has confirmed that mandatory e-invoicing and e-reporting begins on 1 September 2026, marking the country’s biggest VAT compliance reform in decades.
Sept 2026 large businesses now live
- all VAT-registered businesses established in France, regardless of size, must be capable of receiving electronic invoices;
- large enterprises and intermediate-sized enterprises (ETIs) must issue domestic B2B invoices electronically; and
- those same businesses must begin transmitting transaction and payment data to the tax authorities through the new e-reporting regime for transactions that fall outside mandatory e-invoicing, including many B2C and cross-border supplies.
SMEs and micro-enterprises have an additional year before their obligation to issue e-invoices and perform e-reporting begins on 1 September 2027.
More than an invoicing project
The Ministry’s reminder underlines that this is not simply a change in invoice format.
Businesses must now issues are receive e-invoices through a registered Approved Platforms, Plateforme agréée ‘PA’ or compatible solution. Ordinary PDFs, scanned invoices or invoices emailed directly between businesses will no longer satisfy the e-invoicing obligation.
The reform also introduces four additional mandatory invoice fields from 1 September:
- the customer’s SIREN identification number;
- the nature of the transaction (goods, services or both);
- whether VAT is payable on a debits basis, where applicable; and
- the delivery address where different from the invoicing address.
Practical guidance issued in July
The Ministry’s announcement points businesses to the practical implementation guide published in July. Foreign businesses with French VAT obligations still face e-reporting duties
The administration has also reiterated that the initial four months of implementation will be accompanied by a pragmatic and tolerant penalty regime for businesses experiencing genuine implementation difficulties, rather than immediate enforcement.
Europe reaches another milestone
France is now one of the largest economies to adopt continuous transaction controls.
The significance extends well beyond domestic compliance. France’s model combines mandatory B2B e-invoicing with transaction-level e-reporting, providing tax authorities with near real-time VAT data while accelerating Europe’s wider move towards digital VAT reporting under ViDA.
For multinational groups operating in France, the message from the Ministry is straightforward: the implementation phase has begun. The focus now shifts from preparing for the reform to operating within it.
