Checked on 9 October 2026. If you run a small business in France, the useful question is no longer simply when electronic invoicing starts. It is which part already applies to you, and which part you must prepare next.
This guide covers ordinary business activity established in metropolitan France. It distinguishes your legal status from the transactions you make. Public-sector invoicing, overseas territories and special VAT situations need their own checks.
The short answer
For businesses within the reform, receiving electronic invoices became mandatory on 1 September 2026. Small and micro-businesses have until 1 September 2027 for mandatory issuing; large and intermediate-sized businesses reached that stage in 2026. The e-reporting rollout follows the same size-based timetable. These are separate duties: a later issuing deadline does not postpone reception. See the official implementation update and calendar.
Which situation describes your business?
In French tax terminology, being assujetti à la TVA and actually collecting VAT are different things. The DGFiP explicitly includes micro-entrepreneurs benefiting from franchise en base: they remain taxable persons even though they do not charge VAT. DGFiP explanation for micro-entrepreneurs.
| Your situation | What to check |
|---|---|
| You provide an ordinary service to another business, both established in France | This is the domestic business-to-business route to examine for electronic invoicing. Your customer's size does not replace your own issuing deadline. |
| You use the small-business VAT exemption, franchise en base | Do not mark yourself outside the reform merely because your invoices contain no VAT. Check reception, issuing and transaction reporting for your actual sales. |
| You sell to individual consumers | These sales do not use the same domestic B2B electronic-invoice route. Transaction data can fall under e-reporting. |
| You sell to a business outside France | Check the international transaction reporting rules, including where the transaction is taxable. Do not assume the French customer's routing process applies. |
| Your activity includes VAT-exempt operations under articles 261 to 261 E of the French tax code | Operations covered by these exemptions and exempt from invoicing fall outside the electronic-invoicing and transaction-reporting scope. This is not the same as franchise en base. Check your purchases and any other activities separately. |
| You invoice a public authority | Check the public-sector process separately; this table is not a replacement for its invoicing instructions. |
The table is a starting point for classifying a business, not an exhaustive determination of every sale or purchase. The DGFiP scope explanation sets out the exemption distinction. Use its situation checker to follow the questions for your own activity. Mixed activity, overseas operations and uncertain exemptions warrant a specific check with your tax office or adviser.
Three processes that should not be confused
Electronic invoicing is the exchange of an invoice through the required system. An approved platform, or plateforme agréée (PA), is part of that system; a PDF attachment alone is not evidence that the required exchange took place.
Transaction e-reporting transmits specified information about transactions that fall within its scope. It does not mean sending the same invoice to every customer through the French B2B route.
Payment e-reporting is a further question for operations where VAT becomes due on collection. Do not assume every payment or every service has identical reporting treatment: VAT on debits and reverse-charge situations need attention. The DGFiP detailed explanation and payment reporting doctrine set out the distinctions.
A small-business example: separate purchases from sales
Imagine a freelancer who provides administrative support to French businesses and occasionally to an individual customer. This is an illustrative case, not a Devisly customer story.
Start with two lists. The first is supplier invoices received: a software subscription, equipment or other business purchases. The second is sales made, with the customer's location and whether the customer is a business or a consumer.
The freelancer's small-business issuing deadline does not answer how a supplier sends an invoice today. Nor should a consumer sale be classified automatically as a French B2B sale. These two lists expose the questions to take to the platform or adviser before choosing settings in a tool.
Your next steps, in a useful order
- Write down your situation. Country of establishment, business size, VAT regime and types of customers. Record uncertainty rather than selecting a convenient answer.
- Check reception. Identify your designated receiving platform and obtain confirmation of how supplier invoices reach you. A downloaded app or an account-opening email alone does not demonstrate that your receiving arrangement works.
- Map one real business process without sharing private data. Who reads an incoming invoice? Who checks an outgoing one? Where are documents and corrections retained? Use a fictitious example when evaluating a service.
- Prepare the next obligation. List the fields and reporting cases your future issuing process must handle, then ask the provider to demonstrate those cases.
- Keep the evidence. Save the provider's answers, date, contract and scope. A clear answer to “what handles this operation?” is more useful than a general “ready for the reform” claim.
Our approved-platform checklist turns these questions into a selection worksheet.
Mistakes to avoid
The most expensive misunderstanding is choosing a tool for a different job. A document editor, a mobile application and an approved platform may work together, but their roles must be verified. Do not assume that exporting a PDF or a structured file establishes the required transmission or reporting service.
Also avoid treating the reform as a reason to change every document workflow immediately. First identify the actual missing requirement. Keep what works when its compatibility and responsibilities are clear.
Where Devisly can help
Devisly is a mobile application for preparing quotes and invoices. This article does not establish that it is an approved platform, receives regulated electronic invoices, transmits e-reporting data or connects to your chosen PA. Do not use downloading Devisly as a substitute for setting up those obligations.
If you evaluate Devisly for everyday document preparation, check the functions available in your version separately from the services supplied by your approved platform.
Frequently asked questions
Is a PDF invoice sent by email an electronic invoice?
A PDF is a digital document. Sending it by email does not by itself meet the reform's electronic-invoicing process. Whether that process is already mandatory for a particular outgoing invoice depends on the issuer and operation; avoid applying one answer to every invoice in 2026. The official calendar and scope distinguish these cases.
Do I need to choose a platform immediately?
If your business is within the receiving obligation and has no arrangement in place, check and address that now. For a micro-business, September 2027 concerns the next issuing stage; it is not a reason to postpone an obligation already applicable to reception.
Continue with the decision you actually need to make
- Choose an approved platform using a practical checklist.
- Check the small-business calendar.
- Use the DGFiP situation checker for a case that does not fit the examples above.
Enough reading. Send your next quote straight from the job.
Dictate what you’re billing for. Devisly prepares the quote or invoice. You review it, then send it.