Published: 28 August 2026
The French tax authority, the Direction générale des Finances publiques (DGFiP), has published a practical guide explaining how businesses should manage the first weeks of France’s e-invoicing reform.
The guide confirms that the calendar remains unchanged. From September 1, 2026, all businesses within the scope of the reform must be able to receive electronic invoices through a Plateforme Agréée (PA). Large companies and mid-sized enterprises must also issue electronic invoices and meet their e-reporting obligations.
The guidance focuses on three key areas:
1. Business must continue during technical difficulties
An invoice received by email, PDF, or paper should not be rejected solely because it did not arrive through the required electronic channel. If it relates to a genuine transaction and contains the necessary information, the buyer may still process and pay it and assess the right to deduct VAT under the usual rules.
Alternative channels may also be used temporarily when a platform is unavailable, routing fails, or an invoice is technically rejected. However, they must not become the company’s permanent invoicing method.
2. Companies should move ready flows into production
Businesses should not wait until their entire invoicing environment is fully operational. Ready entities, customers, or invoice categories should enter the electronic process while unresolved gaps are documented and corrected.
Companies must also distinguish between a technical rejection, caused by issues such as incorrect data, format, or routing, and a buyer refusal, which is a separate lifecycle status that must be justified.
Particular attention should be paid to duplicates. An invoice sent through an alternative channel and later regularized electronically must not result in multiple payments, accounting entries, VAT deductions, or reported transactions.
3. Start-up flexibility is not a postponement
Temporary e-reporting or invoicing problems do not require businesses to suspend their operations. Affected invoices and data should be documented and regularized as soon as possible.
The DGFiP states that penalties will not be applied automatically to companies experiencing genuine implementation difficulties if they can demonstrate an active compliance process. Evidence may include PA contracts, testing records, implementation schedules, support tickets, error messages, and corrective action plans.
This approach does not postpone the reform. The authority will distinguish genuine and documented difficulties from prolonged inaction or avoidance.
