France's e-invoicing reform starts on September 1, 2026. From that date, invoices between French VAT-registered businesses move through approved platforms instead of email and paper, and the tax authority receives the data along the way.
The calendar
- September 1, 2026: every business, whatever its size, must be able to receive electronic invoices. Large companies and intermediate-sized companies (ETI) must also issue them and start e-reporting.
- September 1, 2027: small and medium-sized businesses and micro-enterprises must issue e-invoices and start e-reporting too. They can start earlier by contacting an approved platform.
Approved platforms
Invoices are sent and received through a plateforme agréée, a platform registered by the tax administration for three years at a time. Every business has to choose one, at least to receive, and the list is published on impots.gouv.fr. A national directory tells a supplier which platform each customer uses. The accepted formats are structured: Factur-X, UBL and CII.
E-reporting
Transactions that are not invoices between French businesses, such as sales to consumers and international sales, are covered by e-reporting: the platform sends the authority the transaction or payment data, not a copy of each receipt.
What it does not cover
A till receipt for a business meal, a taxi or a train ticket is not part of the reform, and neither is an invoice from a supplier outside France. Those still reach you on paper or by email.
Where Smartbills fits
Smartbills is not an approved platform and does not replace one. It keeps what the reform leaves out: receipts photographed in the app, receipts and invoices captured from your inbox, and the documents our agent fetches from supplier accounts, each with its items, every tax and the total.