France to introduce mandatory B2B e-invoicing and reporting

26 October 2021

France will introduce a new mandatory real-time invoice-reporting regime for resident businesses, which will apply to all of their domestic business-to-business (B2B) transactions in the country. The deadline for the introduction of the regime will be staggered depending on the size of the business as per the below:

• From 1 July 2024 - Large enterprises (enterprises with more than 5,000 employees and either a 12-month turnover exceeding EUR 1.5 billion or a balance sheet exceeding €2 billion)
• From 1 January 2025 - Intermediate enterprises
• From 1 January 2026 - Small and medium enterprises (enterprises with less than 250 employees and either a 12-month turnover not exceeding €50 million or a balance sheet not exceeding €43 million)

This new regime will impact resident businesses that sell to other VAT registered businesses in the country and will force them to declare their sales to the French tax authorities via a new e-invoicing platform. This is instead of sending invoices to their customers themselves.

The French tax authorities will then check these invoices and if correct, they will approve them by applying a digital stamp. They will then send the invoice directly to the customer on behalf of the supplier via the new system.

It’s hoped this new invoice-reporting regime will prevent common errors on these types of invoices and will also help prevent VAT fraud in the country.