🇫🇷 France - E-Invoicing Specifications (Réforme de la facturation électronique)

Status: 🟢 B2G Active (Chorus Pro) | 🟡 B2B/B2C Phased 2026-2027 Authority: DGFiP (Direction Générale des Finances Publiques) Platform: PPF (Portail Public de Facturation — annuaire) + PDP (Plateformes de Dématérialisation Partenaires)

1. Context & Overview

France is moving its entire B2B economy to mandatory structured e-invoicing plus transaction e-reporting, under a Decentralized CTC ("Y" / 5-corner) Model. B2G has been mandatory since 2017-2020 via Chorus Pro (EU Directive 2014/55/EU). The B2B/B2C reform, established by Ordonnance n° 2021-1190 and rescheduled by the 2024 Finance Act (art. 91), introduces two parallel obligations: e-invoicing (structured invoices for domestic B2B) and e-reporting (transaction and payment data for B2C and cross-border flows). A key design choice (confirmed October 2024) is that the PPF is not a free invoicing platform — it acts as the central annuaire (directory) and data concentrator, while actual invoice exchange flows through PDP (state-registered private platforms).

Note: the 2026/2027 dates are those set by the 2024 Finance Act; a decree may adjust by up to a few months. Reception capability is required for everyone from the first wave (Sep 1, 2026).

2. Technical Workflow (Decentralized CTC — "Y" / 5-corner Model)

Invoices never go directly to the tax authority. The supplier's PDP routes the invoice to the buyer's PDP using the PPF annuaire, while extracting e-reporting/lifecycle data for the DGFiP.

flowchart TD
    S["Invoicerr (Supplier)"] -->|1. Factur-X / UBL / CII| PDP_S[Supplier PDP]

    subgraph "Routing via PPF"
    PDP_S -->|2. Directory lookup| ANN[PPF Annuaire]
    ANN -->|3. Buyer's PDP + routing code| PDP_S
    end

    PDP_S -->|4. Deliver e-invoice| PDP_B[Buyer PDP]
    PDP_B -->|5. Make available| B[Client]

    subgraph "Data to tax authority"
    PDP_S -.->|6. e-reporting (B2C / cross-border / payment data)| DGFiP[DGFiP]
    PDP_S -.->|7. Lifecycle statuses| DGFiP
    end

    B -->|8. Status: refusée / approuvée| PDP_B
    PDP_B -->|9. Status back| PDP_S
    B -->|10. Status: encaissée (on payment)| PDP_S

🧱 Key Components

1. PDP (Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire): State-registered platform that issues, transmits, receives and converts invoices and pushes data to the DGFiP.
2. PPF (Portail Public de Facturation): Central annuaire (directory) for recipient/PDP discovery and the concentrator of e-reporting data. Not a free exchange platform.
3. OD (Opérateur de Dématérialisation): Non-registered operator that connects to a PDP.
4. Annuaire: Directory keyed by SIREN/SIRET (+ routing code) used to find the recipient's PDP.
5. Chorus Pro: Existing B2G platform (still used for public-sector invoices).

3. Data Standards & Formats

A. Accepted Formats (socle EN 16931)

• Factur-X: Hybrid PDF/A-3 with embedded CII XML (human-readable + machine-readable)
• UBL 2.1: EN 16931 syntax
• UN/CEFACT CII: EN 16931 syntax
• Encoding: UTF-8

B. Document Types

C. Critical Data Fields

• SIREN / SIRET: Legal identifier (9 / 14 digits)
• N° TVA intracommunautaire: French VAT number (FR + key + SIREN)
• Code routage: Routing code for the recipient within the annuaire
• 4 new mandatory mentions (reform): client SIREN; delivery address (if ≠ billing); nature of the operation (goods / services / mixed); option for VAT on debits (if applicable)
• TVA: Rates 20% (standard), 10% / 5.5% / 2.1% (reduced); category & reason codes (EN 16931)

4. Business Model & Compliance

A. Two Obligations

1. e-invoicing — structured invoices for domestic B2B (both parties French VAT taxable), exchanged PDP → annuaire → PDP.
2. e-reporting — transaction data (B2C, and B2B with foreign parties where there is no domestic e-invoice) and payment data (for services, tied to the "encaissée" status), pushed to the DGFiP.

B. Mandatory Invoice Lifecycle Statuses

The reform mandates exchange of invoice statuses between platforms:

• Mandatory: déposée (submitted), rejetée (rejected by platform), refusée (refused by recipient), encaissée (cashed/paid — services, feeds payment e-reporting)
• Recommended: mise à disposition, prise en charge, approuvée, approuvée partiellement, en litige, suspendue, complétée
• Free: operator-defined statuses

C. VAT Specifics

• Reverse charge (autoliquidation): Intra-EU B2B services and certain domestic operations
• Franchise en base (art. 293 B CGI): Small-business exemption — mention "TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI", VAT rate 0 / category E
• Monaco: Within the French VAT territory — follows the French regime

D. Archiving Requirements

• Retention Period: 10 years (commercial documents)
• Format: Original structured invoice (Factur-X / UBL / CII)
• Integrity: Reliable audit trail (piste d'audit fiable) or qualified e-signature/seal

5. Implementation Checklist

• PDP Selection: Choose / connect to a registered PDP (or become an OD connected to one)
• Annuaire Integration: Implement directory lookup (SIREN/SIRET + routing code)
• Factur-X Engine: Generate EN 16931 (Factur-X / UBL / CII) — already covered by @fin.cx/einvoice
• Reception Capability: Be able to receive e-invoices (mandatory for all from Sep 1, 2026)
• Lifecycle Statuses: Emit/consume mandatory statuses (déposée, rejetée, refusée, encaissée)
• e-reporting: Submit transaction data (B2C / cross-border) and payment data (services)
• New Mandatory Mentions: Add client SIREN, delivery address, operation nature, VAT-on-debits
• 293 B Handling: Franchise-en-base exemption mention and tax treatment
• Archiving: 10-year retention with reliable audit trail
• Chorus Pro: Keep B2G flows via Chorus Pro

6. Resources

• DGFiP / impots.gouv.fr: Facture électronique
• Réforme overview: La facturation électronique (impots.gouv.fr)
• External specifications: Spécifications externes de la facturation électronique (DGFiP)
• Chorus Pro (B2G): Chorus Pro
• Factur-X / FNFE-MPE: fnfe-mpe.org
• Architecture mapping: see COMPLIANCE_ARCHITECTURE.md §16.0 — France is the home-market reference flow

Note

France combines almost every compliance axis at once (decentralized CTC, certified-platform transmission, central-directory routing, mandatory bidirectional statuses, simultaneous e-invoicing and e-reporting, hybrid Factur-X, franchise-base scheme). In the Invoicerr architecture it requires no new engine code beyond the generic mechanisms — it is fully expressed as a country profile (compliance/profiles/data/fr.ts) plus a PDP transmission provider.