France’s e-invoicing reform explained for freelancers and small firms

Who the reform actually covers

The reform applies to invoices between businesses that are subject to VAT and established in France. According to the French tax authority (DGFiP), taxable businesses not established in France aren’t covered by the e-invoicing obligation at all. What counts as “established” is the VAT notion of a fixed establishment: a company headquartered abroad with a VAT fixed establishment in France is treated like a French business.

That gives two very different situations:

Note that not charging VAT doesn’t take you out of scope. France’s tax site is explicit: micro-entrepreneurs using the VAT franchise (franchise en base) are concerned by the reform, because they are still VAT-taxable businesses.

The deadlines, by company size

Size is judged per legal entity (per SIREN number), as at 1 January 2025, using the last financial year closed before that date. Under these criteria a micro-enterprise has fewer than 10 staff and turnover or a balance sheet total of no more than €2 million, and an SME has fewer than 250 staff and turnover of no more than €50 million or a balance sheet total of no more than €43 million.

What an approved platform is

An approved platform is a private company registered by the French tax authority, for three years, renewable, to handle e-invoices. The official list is published on impots.gouv.fr. They used to be called “PDPs” (plateformes de dématérialisation partenaires); the current name is plateformes agréées.

A platform does four jobs: it sends, receives and forwards e-invoices between supplier and customer; it passes the legally required invoice data to the tax authority; it transmits transaction data for sales that don’t go through e-invoicing (consumers, cross-border); and it sends payment data where required.

It also checks invoices before they travel. The DGFiP says platforms must verify that mandatory information is present, that identifiers are valid, that net amounts, rates and VAT add up, and look for duplicates, format errors and addressing mistakes.

Security requirements are strict: ISO 27001 certification for the e-invoicing activity, a SecNumCloud-qualified cloud where outsourced hosting falls under the rules, data kept in the EU, strong authentication and regular audits.

An invoicing app that’s merely “compatible” isn’t a platform. It can only send e-invoices through an approved platform it’s connected to. The tax authority is clear that an operator without registration isn’t allowed to transmit e-invoices.

The directory and the public portal

An e-invoice isn’t emailed to an address. It goes to the customer’s receiving platform, and platforms look that up in the e-invoicing directory (annuaire de la facturation électronique).

• What it holds: for each company subject to the reform, the approved platform that manages its data and its e-invoicing addresses.
• Who runs it: the DGFiP and AIFE, the French state’s financial IT agency.
• Who can see it: anyone. Public search opened on 18 September 2025, from the Chorus Pro portal (facturation.chorus-pro.gouv.fr/annuaire), with no account needed.
• Who updates it: the platforms, not you. By the end of 2025, according to AIFE, 115 platforms were connected and more than 671,000 companies had invoicing addresses registered.

If your customer isn’t in the directory yet, the e-invoice can’t be delivered and your platform will tell you it was rejected. The DGFiP says that, exceptionally, the invoice can then go by email or post, with no effect on the amount being due or on payment.

The public invoicing portal (PPF) changed role along the way. It was originally meant to include a free platform for sending and receiving invoices. In October 2024 the state narrowed it to two functions: running the directory and acting as the data concentrator that passes invoicing and transaction data to the tax authority. The DGFiP’s reasons: avoiding a single point of failure, limiting public cost, and building on tools businesses already use. The practical result is that there is no free state platform: every business goes through a private approved platform.

If you freelance in France

If you’re registered in France, as a micro-entrepreneur or otherwise, the reform applies to you in full.

Four details that help:

• No one can force you to issue early. The DGFiP’s start-up guide says a micro-enterprise may keep invoicing as usual until its 2027 deadline, even if a customer has already switched.
• A supplier can’t impose a format. All approved platforms share a common minimum set of formats (Factur-X, UBL and CII).
• Peppol is optional in France, unlike in Belgium, where it’s the official channel.
• Cost: according to the DGFiP, more than ten of the 150 approved platforms offered a free or no-extra-cost plan for the basic needs of very small businesses as of 1 August 2026.

Not having a receiving platform can cost €500 after a three-month formal notice, then €1,000 for every further three months. Our e-invoicing mandates guide covers the rest of the penalties and the other countries moving the same way.

If you sell to French companies from abroad

Say you’re a designer in Manchester or a developer in Austin invoicing a company in Lyon. You’re not established in France, so:

• You don’t need an approved platform and you won’t appear in the directory as a sender.
• You keep sending a normal invoice, as a PDF or a link, following your own country’s rules and the usual cross-border VAT rules. For most business-to-business services, that means the French customer accounts for the VAT under the reverse charge.
• Your French customer handles the reporting. Transactions with businesses established abroad generally fall under the French customer’s e-reporting, sent through its own platform. It may ask you for accurate details, such as your full legal name, address and VAT number where you have one, so get them right on every invoice.

There’s one exception to watch. Non-established businesses can have their own e-reporting duty when they owe French VAT on transactions located in France, for example certain supplies to consumers when they don’t use the EU’s One-Stop Shop (OSS or IOSS). If that could be you, check with a French tax adviser.

Where Binome360 fits

To be plain: Binome360 is not an approved platform, isn’t connected to one, doesn’t appear in the directory and doesn’t send e-invoices over France’s network. It doesn’t process payments either.

What it does: it drafts quotes and invoices from one sentence, numbers them automatically, adds your business details and legal notes, and gives you a link or PDF to share on WhatsApp or by email. That works for consumer customers, for customers outside France, and, until 1 September 2027, for small French businesses invoicing other French businesses. After that date, invoices between French businesses must go through an approved platform.

Frequently asked questions

Is a PDF invoice still valid in France?

Yes for invoices to consumers, and for a small French business invoicing other French businesses until 1 September 2027. After its deadline, a French business must issue invoices to French business customers as structured e-invoices through an approved platform. A PDF sent by email isn’t an e-invoice in the reform’s sense, though Factur-X, one of the accepted formats, is a readable PDF with the structured data embedded.

I’m a UK freelancer with French clients. Do I need to do anything?

Not for e-invoicing: businesses not established in France aren’t covered. Keep invoicing as you do now, with complete details, since your French client will report the purchase through its own platform. If you also sell to French consumers and owe French VAT without using the One-Stop Shop, ask an adviser about e-reporting.

How do I check if a French company can receive e-invoices?

Search its SIREN number in the directory from the Chorus Pro portal (facturation.chorus-pro.gouv.fr/annuaire). No account is needed. If a receiving platform is listed, the company is connected.

Is there a free government platform?

No. The state dropped that plan in 2024. The public portal now runs the directory and collects data for the tax authority; sending and receiving is done by private approved platforms, some of which offer free plans for very small businesses.

In short

France’s reform runs on approved private platforms, with a public directory telling them where each company receives invoices. If you run a business in France, receiving is already mandatory and issuing starts on 1 September 2027 for small businesses; if you’re based abroad, e-invoicing doesn’t apply to you. First action: if you’re established in France, look up your SIREN in the directory today and, if no platform shows up, pick one from the official list this week.

Sources

• impots.gouv.fr, “Facturation électronique et plateformes agréées” (definition, missions, three-year registration): impots.gouv.fr/facturation-electronique-et-plateformes-agreees.
• DGFiP, “Tout savoir sur la facturation électronique” (150 platforms as of 1 August 2026, free plans, checks, security, no public portal, customer without platform, Belgium), August 2026: PDF on impots.gouv.fr.
• DGFiP, “Foire aux questions – J’approfondis la facturation électronique”, version of 1 September 2026 (company size, non-established businesses, formats, penalty for no receiving platform): PDF on impots.gouv.fr.
• DGFiP, “Facturation électronique : guide pratique de démarrage au 1er septembre 2026”, July 2026: PDF on impots.gouv.fr.
• impots.gouv.fr, “Je découvre la facturation électronique” (formats, e-reporting, micro-entrepreneurs), updated 26 May 2026: impots.gouv.fr/professionnel/je-decouvre-la-facturation-electronique.
• AIFE, “Facturation électronique interentreprises” (directory, data concentrator, October 2024 refocus, end-2025 figures): aife.economie.gouv.fr.
• Service-Public Entreprendre, “Consulter l’annuaire de la facturation électronique”: entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr/vosdroits/R74135.
• French Tax Code (CGI), article 1737, as amended by the 2026 Finance Act: legifrance.gouv.fr.

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