France Confirms E-Invoicing Implementation Timeline: Requirements for Businesses

On April 11, the French National Assembly voted on the Bill for the Simplification of Economic Life, which includes Amendment 2019, referring to the implementation timeline of the e-invoicing regime. Previously, the French government proposed a one-year postponement of the implementation to give taxable persons more time to prepare for the introduction of the new system.

Implementation Timeline

The National Assembly rejected the proposed postponement of the e-invoicing regime's implementation, thus confirming the agreed-upon timeline. Therefore, starting from September 1, 2026, all taxable persons will receive e-invoices, and large and intermediate enterprises will be required to issue e-invoices. On September 1, 2027, small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMEs) will be required to begin issuing electronic invoices.

The reason behind a proposal to postpone the implementation for one year is the changes to the Portail Public de Facturation (PPF), the government’s e-invoicing platform, in October of last year. Additionally, at the end of March 2025, the French committee of the National Assembly adopted the draft amendment regarding the one-year delay.

However, when it came to voting, the National Assembly declined to postpone the mandatory B2B e-invoicing further, thereby ending speculations regarding new delays and bringing more stability to the process, which had already faced a few issues.

Nevertheless, there is still a provision that allows for the postponement of both roll-out phases to December 1, 2027, for large and intermediate companies, and to December 1, 2028, for SMEs, respectively. But, this is only possible by a decree.

Conclusion

Although there is some uncertainty regarding the implementation timeline of mandatory e-invoicing, businesses still have sufficient time to prepare for integrating new systems into their day-to-day operations and fulfill the requirements.

Furthermore, the introduction of the French national e-invoicing system is steadily moving towards its final goal, and taxable persons of all sizes should not overlook the fact that, at some point, they will have to receive and issue e-invoices. Therefore, all taxable persons subject to mandatory B2B e-invoicing should continue to prepare as planned and monitor for any changes or updates.

Source: National Assembly Amendment 109, National Assembly Amendment No. CS1268, VATabout