What does the reform say about electronic invoicing that will take effect on September 1, 2026?

On September 1st, 2026, French companies subject to VAT will have to submit to electronic invoicing on an approved platform. What does this tax reform entail? We explain it to you.

Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 will be a major turning point for all structures subject to VAT. This reform will even concern companies that never issue invoices. Thus, micro-enterprises, SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), mid-sized enterprises (ETI), large enterprises, self-employed workers and liberal professions will have to comply with it, regardless of the company’s turnover or legal form.

Centralized invoicing through approved platforms

Each of these 10 million economic actors concerned must be able to receive electronic invoices on a platform approved (PA) by the State. However, large enterprises and mid-sized enterprises must be able to issue and transmit transaction and payment data to the administration from September 1st, 2026 onwards. Other companies have a one-year deadline, until September 1st, 2027, to comply.

In practice, entrepreneurs will need to be able to receive invoices on their PA without it being scattered across multiple emails. This centralization allows for real-time tracking of invoicing through a timestamping service, but also better monitoring for the administration to prevent VAT fraud.

This PA, or the management software connected through a PA, must therefore be configured before September 1st, 2026 to be effectively in service. To do this, entrepreneurs who have not yet designated a PA must contact them and undertake the implementation procedures, or go through their usual intermediary (accountant, bank, management software, etc.).

Anticipating final preparations

This reform has already been implemented in January 2026 in Belgium, revealing problems encountered. To prevent invoices from being rejected and blocked by the approved platform, entrepreneurs must prepare:

• An inventory of customers and suppliers;
• Remove duplicates;
• Verify SIREN numbers for each partner via the State Business Directory;
• Validate the billing addresses of customers.

For the reform to be applied, penalties are therefore planned. Failing to issue an electronic invoice from an approved platform is punishable by a €50 fine per invoice, up to a limit of €15,000 per year. Similarly, failures to transmit transaction and payment data are punishable by a €500 fine per transmission, with the same ceiling per calendar year.

If a VAT-liable company does not use a PA for receiving invoices after a period of three months, it is liable to a €500 fine, then €1000 for each new three-month period.

However, there is no need to worry for the first three months, as the tax administration is being lenient in its implementation. The President of the Order of Chartered Accountants, Damien Charrier, declared to the Compta-Online media: “that there will be a certain tolerance applied during the last four months of 2026“, on the condition that said companies can justify a real difficulty, documented and followed by corrective actions.

To assist business leaders, a national assistance number has been set up: 08 06 80 78 07.