An electronic invoice is not simply a PDF sent by e-mail. It carries structured data and travels through an approved platform. For a brand delivering to retail outlets, preparing for it also involves the customer file, the commercial terms and the link between order, delivery and invoice. This guide describes the French e-invoicing reform.
The 2026–2027 timetable
Since 1 September 2026, businesses established in France and liable for VAT must be able to receive electronic invoices. Large companies and mid-sized companies (ETI) must also issue them; SMEs and micro-businesses will follow on 1 September 2027. The small-business VAT exemption (franchise en base) does not, on its own, exempt you from the reform. Source: the timetable published by the DGFiP (French), the French tax administration.
Electronic invoicing covers domestic B2B transactions that fall within its scope. Some transactions are excluded or come under other transmission obligations, notably e-reporting. Have your flows mapped: French sales, exports, sales to consumers and exempt transactions are not all handled in the same way.
Approved platform, invoicing tool and order taking
The current term is an approved platform (plateforme agréée, PA), formerly a partner dematerialisation platform (PDP). It handles invoice exchange and the transmissions required by the tax administration. The invoicing tool can connect to it. The DGFiP publishes the guidance and the list of approved platforms (French).
Order-taking software sits upstream: it brings together the customer, the products and the agreed terms. Salesia is not an approved platform. Connecting it to your invoicing does not remove the need to check the compliance of the complete chain, and the configuration you choose, with your provider.
- Order
Bring together customer, products, terms and deliveries.
- Invoicing
Produce the appropriate structured data and document.
- Approved platform
Route the invoice through the channel configured between the parties.
- Receipt and follow-up
Confirm receipt and handle statuses or rejections.
Tax transmissions are not detailed here. Order-taking software is not, on its own, an approved platform.
The data to get right
1. The invoiced business and the delivery point
Do not confuse SIREN and SIRET, the French company registration codes: the first identifies the business, the second one of its establishments. A retail chain can have several delivery locations behind a single invoiced business. Keep this information in separate fields, along with the billing address and the delivery address.
2. The new mandatory details
The French Ministry of the Economy sets out, among others, the customer’s SIREN, the delivery address where it differs, the transaction category and, where it applies, the option to account for VAT on invoice (paiement de la TVA d’après les débits). Check the mandatory invoice details (French) against the timetable and the nature of your invoices.
3. Quantities and pack sizes
A case of six and six individual units can mean the same physical quantity, but not the same line in the systems. The catalogue must let invoicing and the picker read the order without guessing. Keep the mapping between your internal codes and your partners’ codes.
4. Commercial terms
Price, discount, free goods and shipping charges must remain explainable. The reform does not make every overall discount forbidden and does not prevent you from checking an invoice before it is issued. It strengthens the case for a structured representation, consistent with the VAT calculation and the accepted formats.
5. Tracking references
Reconcile order, delivery, invoice and credit note with persistent identifiers. A customer who e-mails the same purchase order again after it was entered during a visit must not be invoiced twice. Keep the approved version as well when the quantity or the delivery date changes.
Human checks are still needed
Automation does not remove the ability to correct data before issuing. Nor does it guarantee that a technically accepted invoice reflects the right commercial agreement. Distinguish a format or recipient error from a dispute over price: the people involved and the actions to take are not the same.
The procedure must state who handles a rejection, where the correction is made and how the invoice is resent or regularised. An invoice already issued cannot be edited like a draft; have the handling of credit notes and corrected invoices approved by your accounting team.
Wholesalers and partial deliveries
When the wholesaler buys and resells, the business you invoice is the wholesaler. The pharmacy receiving the resold goods is not automatically your invoicing customer. Other arrangements have to be analysed from the contracts and the actual flows.
Also test an order delivered in two shipments. The invoice must match the rules you have adopted, with the references needed for reconciliation. An order accepted in the sales tool does not mean that all of its lines are delivered or immediately invoiceable.
Build a user-acceptance test set
- →Receipt: a supplier invoice reaches the right recipient and can be reconciled.
- →Issuing: a simple invoice, then an invoice with a separate delivery address, are both processed.
- →Exception: an incorrect identifier raises an alert assigned to a named person.
- →Correction: the credit note or adjustment follows the right route, with a record of the operation.
Keep the results, the discrepancies and their owner. The test set is built with the sales admin team, accounting, the invoicing vendor and the platform. For the upstream side, the B2B order-taking software guide helps you check the catalogue and the transmissions.
Get the order right before the invoice
Let’s check the customer data, the terms and the route to your invoicing tool, on orders that are representative of your business.
Acceptance testing must also cover EDI or API order exchanges and reconciliation with shipments and invoices.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the timetable for electronic invoicing?
- Businesses established in France and liable for VAT have had to be able to receive electronic invoices since 1 September 2026. Issuing applies to large and mid-sized companies in 2026, then to SMEs and micro-businesses in 2027, for transactions within the scope of the reform.
- What is an approved platform?
- An approved platform, formerly called a PDP, handles invoice exchange and the transmissions required by the tax administration. The invoicing tool can connect to it. Salesia works upstream on orders and is not an approved platform.
- Can data still be corrected before the invoice is issued?
- Yes. Checks and corrections before issuing remain possible. You need to distinguish an invoice being prepared from an invoice already issued, whose regularisation follows the applicable accounting process.
By Anatole Briant
By Pierre Lerebours
By Anatole Briant
COO of Salesia
Pierre Lerebours is COO of Salesia. He is your contact for implementation, training and ongoing support.