September 1, 2026 is now behind us. France’s B2B e-invoicing reform is officially in force. Every VAT-registered business in France — large corporations, mid-market companies, SMEs, and micro-businesses — was required to be technically capable of receiving electronic invoices via an Approved Platform (Plateforme Agréée, PA) from that date. Large corporations and mid-market companies are additionally required to issue invoices in a structured format. The French tax authority (DGFiP) has however announced a tolerance phase for good-faith businesses still adapting (YAD.fr, September 1, 2026).
Background: A Reform That Survived Three Postponements
France originally planned to roll out this mandate in July 2024. Two successive delays pushed the effective date to summer 2026. By go-live, the ecosystem included 137 Approved Platforms definitively registered by the DGFiP — formerly known as PDPs (Plateformes de Dématérialisation Partenaires). Among them: Cegid, Sage, SAP, Odoo, Generix Group, and Esker.
The reform distinguishes two parallel obligations:
- E-invoicing: structured invoice exchange between French VAT-registered businesses via an approved platform. Accepted formats: Factur-X (hybrid PDF+XML), UBL 2.1, and CII. A plain PDF sent by email does not constitute an electronic invoice under the reform.
- E-reporting: transmission of transaction data outside the e-invoicing scope (B2C sales, foreign customers) to the DGFiP via the PA or directly through the Public Invoicing Portal (Portail Public de Facturation, PPF).
What Is Mandatory From Today
For all businesses without exception: receiving electronic invoices via an approved platform. If a large corporation or mid-market supplier sends you a Factur-X invoice through its PA, your system must be able to ingest it. Requesting a re-send as PDF is no longer compliant with the legal framework.
For large corporations and mid-market companies only: issuing in structured format. Customer invoices must be transmitted via your PA to your customer’s PA. A PDF export or Word document remains insufficient.
For SMEs, small businesses, and micro-businesses: the issuance obligation is deferred to September 1, 2027. But the reception obligation applies today. An SME that has not configured its PA to receive is in violation if it rejects a structured invoice from a large or mid-market supplier.
Tolerance Phase: No Automatic Immediate Penalties
The administration has announced a tolerance phase for good-faith businesses in the adaptation process — modelled on Belgium’s April 2026 transition, where the first weeks were used to accompany late adopters rather than penalise them immediately (YAD.fr). This is not a suspension of the obligation: it is a pragmatic stance in the face of an estimated non-compliance rate of around 50% of businesses a few weeks before September 1 (Compta-Online, September 1, 2026).
The tolerance will not last indefinitely. The scheduled penalties remain applicable and will be progressively enforced:
- €500 per business not connected to an approved platform
- €15 per invoice not issued in electronic format (capped at €15,000/year)
- €250 per e-reporting obligation breach (capped at €15,000/year)
Amounts are calculated per infraction, not per financial year. An SME issuing 300 invoices per month without structured format — once the tolerance period closes — faces €4,500 in monthly penalties before any cap applies.
Compliant ERPs: Cegid, Sage, Axelor, SAP and More
Leading ERP publishers anticipated the reform. Cegid, Sage, Axelor, and SAP are among the approved platforms or connected to certified PAs (les-aides.fr, August 19, 2026). Sage 100 version 12.20 and above includes native Factur-X reception (YAD.fr).
If your ERP is not yet connected to a PA, your publisher likely offers a certified connector or update module. The immediate priority: test a complete reception flow with a supplier or via a PA test stream — before the tolerance window closes.
What to Watch
For SMEs, the September 2027 deadline must be planned for now. PA configuration lead times run 4 to 8 weeks for a straightforward SME setup. Integrators and publisher support teams have been saturated since July 2026. Waiting until summer 2027 risks a last-minute compliance scramble — the same situation today’s late adopters are in.
First DGFiP audits are expected in the second half of 2026. Businesses that can demonstrate active steps — a signed PA contract, tests underway, accounting team training initiated — will be better positioned in an audit than those who have taken no action.
E-reporting is frequently overlooked in compliance projects. If your business invoices consumers or foreign customers in addition to French B2B customers, the e-reporting obligation runs in parallel — with its own timeline and its own penalties.
For further reading, see our September 1, 2026 operational checklist for CIOs and CFOs, our France e-invoicing ERP roadmap 2026–2027: PA, directory and e-reporting, and our progress report as of July 1, 2026.
