Electronic Invoicing in France is part of the broader context of the accession of European Union countries to the adoption of e-invoicing.
As of 1 September 2026, the transalpine country will be obliged to receive electronic invoices for all enterprises, and to issue electronic invoices and electronic reporting for Large Enterprises and ETIs (intermediate cut). By 1 September 2027, this obligation will be extended to all other enterprises (i.e. SMEs and micro-enterprises).
As regards the format of invoices, they may be issued in UBL, CII and Factur-X formats.
The duration of preservation depends on two ‘purposes’: fiscal and commercial (equivalent to the Italian civil term). As regards the fiscal term, documents (including invoices) drawn up or received in electronic form must be retained in that form for a period of six years. This period starts from the date of issue of the invoice as defined by the Finance Act for 2023. As far as the commercial term is concerned, the retention period is 10 years.
In addition to businesses as ‘buyers’ (in the Italian system, they would be the transferees/ purchasers of the invoice) and ‘suppliers’ of goods and services (the transferors/providers), technological intermediaries play an important role, among which the Platforms partner de dematerialisation ( plateforme de dématérialisation partenaire , PDP) stand out. These are providers registered with the tax administration, who offer dematerialisation services and who can send and receive e-invoices directly and transmit the data to the Public Invoicing Portal ( portail public de facturation , PPF).
For more information, visit The Invoicing Hub website.
