September 2026: who must do what

France’s e-invoicing reform advances in two stages, and the first deadline concerns everyone.

1 September 2026: receive. Every business established in France must be able to receive electronic invoices, whatever its size, micro-entrepreneurs and VAT-exempt structures included. Concretely: your VAT-registered suppliers begin issuing in the core formats (Factur-X among them), and those invoices travel through accredited platforms (plateformes agréées, PA); every business must have designated its own for reception. On the same date, large companies and mid-caps must also issue electronically.

1 September 2027: everyone issues. The issuing obligation extends to SMEs and micro-businesses. Between the two dates, you will therefore be receiving electronic invoices before you have to issue any.

And international business? Cross-border operations do not go through domestic e-invoicing: they fall under e-reporting (transmission of transaction data), also via your accredited platform. Your invoices to a foreign client keep going out directly, and Factur-X remains a clean format for that.

What changes day to day. Hybrid files (PDF + data) are about to enter your workflow. Your platform routes them; you still need to open them, understand what they contain, check that they are correct, and archive them on your side. That is the role of a companion tool like Pruvue, which is not an accredited platform and does not replace yours: it works alongside it, on your machine, sending nothing anywhere.

The fine print belongs to the official texts and to your accountant; the dates and principles above come from the administration’s publications.