In France’s electronic invoicing reform, a registered private platform carries domestic invoices from the supplier to the customer, returns lifecycle statuses, and sends required tax data to the administration. The Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP) registers each operator for a renewable term of three years and publishes the platforms allowed to do that work. The tax code now uses the name plateforme agréée for this same role.
Domestic Business-to-Business (B2B) invoices between Value-Added Tax (VAT) taxable persons established in France travel on this path. Sales to consumers, reported as Business-to-Consumer (B2C) transaction data, and many cross-border supplies are not exchanged as domestic electronic invoices. Payment data is added when VAT becomes due on collection. A business may keep its invoicing or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. That software must connect to a registered platform. Without registration, it cannot deliver invoices to the customer’s platform or file the required data.
What a Registered Platform Does
Only a platform registered by the tax administration may perform the full set of functions in the reform.
- Issue, send, and receive. It accepts the supplier’s Electronic Invoice (E-Invoice), time-stamps the deposit, and delivers the invoice to the customer’s platform. It may convert the file into a format the customer can accept, as long as the data stay complete, authentic, readable, and intact.
- Report to the administration. It extracts invoice data, including the parties, the amount exclusive of VAT, the VAT due, and the rate applied. It also forwards transaction data for operations that are not domestic electronic invoices, and payment data where the reform requires it.
- Share lifecycle statuses. It tells the trading partner, and the administration for the mandatory statuses, how far processing has gone. A rejection by a platform, for a bad format or inconsistent amounts, is not the same event as a refusal by the buyer.
- Maintain the recipient directory. For each client, it records which platform receives that business’s invoices. The business signs a formal agreement with the platform designated to receive them, and it can use a different platform to issue. It does not file that choice itself with the tax administration.
Directory, Formats, and Statuses
The Portail Public de Facturation (PPF) provides the central directory and concentrates invoice, transaction, and payment data for the DGFiP. The directory has been open for consultation since 18 September 2025. It lists the businesses and public bodies in scope, the platform chosen to receive their invoices, and the electronic address used to reach them. A sending platform looks up the recipient by its Système d’Identification du Répertoire des Entreprises (SIREN) and, when the invoice is aimed at one establishment, by its Système d’Identification du Répertoire des Établissements (SIRET).
Registered platforms must transmit electronic invoices in one of three formats. Two are structured Extensible Markup Language (XML): Universal Business Language (UBL) and Cross Industry Invoice (CII), in the CII D22B release. The third, Factur-X, is a hybrid: a readable Portable Document Format (PDF) in the PDF/A-3 profile, with a CII invoice embedded in the file. A plain PDF sent by email is not an electronic invoice under the reform.
Platforms must support at least four statuses and make them available to their clients. Dépôt means the issuer’s platform has accepted the invoice and time-stamped that deposit. Rejetée means the issuer’s or the recipient’s platform has refused the file. Refus means the buyer has rejected the invoice, for example because it reached the wrong party or the content is wrong. Encaissée carries payment data, including the date and the amount collected.
Who Must Receive and Who Must Issue
From 1 September 2026, every business established in France and in scope must be able to receive electronic invoices, whatever its size or legal form. On that date, large enterprises and each Entreprise de Taille Intermédiaire (ETI) must also issue electronic invoices and complete e-reporting. Micro-enterprises and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) must issue by 1 September 2027. They still have to receive from 1 September 2026, because larger suppliers, and businesses that volunteer early, will already be sending electronic invoices.
Size is judged on the legal unit, the entity identified by its SIREN, using headcount, turnover, and balance sheet total as at 1 January 2025. A business moves up a category when its headcount passes the threshold. If headcount stays under the threshold, it moves up only when both turnover and balance sheet total are above it. In the tax administration’s tests, a micro-enterprise has fewer than 10 people and turnover or a balance sheet total under €2 million. An SME has fewer than 250 people and turnover not above €50 million or a balance sheet total not above €43 million. An intermediate-sized enterprise sits outside that SME test, has fewer than 5,000 people, and has turnover not above €1.5 billion or a balance sheet total not above €2 billion. A large enterprise has more than 5,000 people or, below that headcount, both turnover above €1.5 billion and a balance sheet total above €2 billion.
| Category | Must receive | Must issue |
| Large enterprises | 1 September 2026 | 1 September 2026 |
| Intermediate-sized enterprises | 1 September 2026 | 1 September 2026 |
| Small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-enterprises | 1 September 2026 | 1 September 2027 |
Additional Acronyms for PDP
- PDP - Product Detail Page
