France e-invoicing 2026: what a micro-entrepreneur must do by 1 September 2026 (and by 2027)

The French e-invoicing reform is the one that has been “next year” for so long that many micro-entrepreneurs stopped paying attention. It is now dated, phased, and the first step lands on 1 September 2026. Here is what a one-person business actually has to do, in the order it has to do it.

What the reform is

France is moving business-to-business invoicing from “any PDF by email” to structured electronic invoices exchanged through accredited platforms, with the tax administration receiving the data. Three pieces:

• E-invoicing (facturation électronique): domestic B2B invoices between French VAT-registered businesses must be issued and received as structured files (Factur-X, UBL or CII) via a platform.
• E-reporting: for sales that fall outside e-invoicing — B2C sales, and sales to foreign clients — you transmit the transaction data (not the invoice) to the administration, on a set rhythm.
• Accredited platforms (plateformes agréées, PA — the term replaced PDP in 2025): private operators approved by the DGFiP to carry all of this. By July 2026 the official list ran to well over a hundred. The public portal (PPF) was scaled back to the directory and data concentrator role, so a platform is not optional.

The calendar

The calendar has slipped once already (it was originally 2024), so verify on impots.gouv.fr — but the 2026 step has been reconfirmed repeatedly and the platform accreditation is done, which is the signal that it is happening this time.

What a micro-entrepreneur actually has to do

Step 1 — pick your platform (before September 2026). You need to be reachable in the national directory through an accredited platform. In practice this means one of two routes:

• Your invoicing or accounting tool includes a platform. Most French tools built for micro-entrepreneurs have either become accredited or partnered with a platform, and several offer a free tier for receiving. The shortlist for French freelancers is chosen with this in mind.
• A standalone accredited platform, if you invoice from something else. Fine, but you then have two systems to keep in sync — usually the worse deal for a team of one.

Step 2 — keep your invoices legal in the meantime. Nothing about the reform removes the ordinary content rules: the mandatory mentions, the sequential numbering, the VAT position (including the “TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI” line if you are under the franchise). The reform adds a few data fields (SIREN of the client, delivery address where different, the nature of the transaction). Your tool handles the layout; the checklist of what must be on every invoice is in how to invoice clients as a freelancer in the EU.

Step 3 — prepare for 2027 issuing and e-reporting. From September 2027 your B2B invoices go out through the platform, and your B2C and foreign sales are reported. If your tool already does both, this is a setting. If you invoice foreign clients under the reverse charge, that traffic falls under e-reporting, not e-invoicing — the VAT logic itself does not change; see reverse-charge VAT explained.

Cost and the sane choice

For a micro-entrepreneur the reform should cost close to nothing if you make one decision: invoice from a tool that includes an accredited platform, rather than bolting a platform onto a spreadsheet. That collapses receiving, issuing, e-reporting and your books into one monthly fee — or a free tier — and turns the 2027 step into a switch you flip. The wider setup, from registration to URSSAF declarations, is in becoming a micro-entrepreneur in France and the full country toolkit in running a one-person business in France.

France is not alone: Spain, Germany, Belgium and Poland are on similar tracks, each with its own format and date. The map is in EU e-invoicing mandates by country.

The takeaway

• September 2026: receive. September 2027: issue + report. Micro-entrepreneurs are in, franchise or not.
• You must be connected to an accredited platform; the public portal is no longer the free catch-all.
• The cheapest compliance is a French invoicing tool with a built-in platform, chosen before September 2026.
• Penalties exist (50 euros per invoice, capped), but the real risk is business clients who cannot invoice you.

Part of the EU admin guide for solopreneurs.