In order to reduce the administrative burden and payment time, the French government has decided to implement mandatory e-invoicing. Invoicing between companies in France is also speeding up.
Discover below what the options are for sending e-invoices to France and get started in a few easy steps.
At the moment, businesses in France are required to send e-invoices to the government. Being able to handle electronic invoices from the government is also mandatory.
As of 1 September 2026 large and mid-sized enterprises (ETI) in France will need to send e-invoices. For micro, small and medium companies (PME) the obligation to send e-invoices will take effect as of 1 September 2027.
All companies, regardless of their size, will need to be able to receive e-invoices as of 1 september 2026.
There are several ways to send an e-invoice to the French government or to a private company. Choose your option below.
You will need to use a specialized platform to send e-invoices to the French government or companies in France:
If you want to send invoices via Peppol you only have to register on an official Peppol Access Point.
Follow the steps below to register on the Billit Access Point and send your first invoice.
Depending on whether you're sending to the government or a French company, you will now need to enter different identifiers.
You can add a new identifier by clicking the + sign next to 'VAT number'. This will add a new field.
For B2B:
For B2G:
Peppol is a secure and closed network with many advantages:
The identity of everyone affiliated with the network is verified, so you can be sure that your recipient's invoices are genuine, and avoid invoice fraud.
The invoices you send through the network are completely digital, so you can process them automatically in your invoicing software.
E-invoices in the UBL standard are automatically read correctly. This prevents human error during processing.
Linking to your bank account means that outgoing and incoming invoices are automatically matched and you get a better overview of your company's financial situation.
Peppol is fast: your recipient will receive your invoice within 10 minutes of sending it. Combined with automatic processing, this will save a lot of time.
Peppol is an open network for securely sending and receiving business documents such as invoices. It is designed to simplify the purchase-to-pay process between governments and suppliers. Peppol was developed by the European commission but is on its way to become a global standard.
There are many kinds of identifiers for sending invoices via Peppol. Find out the difference between each option below.
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| SIRET number | This number is required for all enterprises, associations and public entities. | 82456145000020 |
| VAT (indentification) number or VAT-id number | A unique identification number for entrepreneurs liable to VAT. It should be included on each invoice to customers. A French VAT number starts with FR, followed by 11 digits. | FR12345678910 |
| Code Routage (Services) | This number is required for invoicing to the government. It consists of 5 digits. | 00020 |
| GLN | Stands for Global Location Number. It is used by companies to identify their locations, such as legal entities, functions and physical or digital locations. You can request a GLN number with GS1. | 5488888010598 |
| DUNS | D-U-N-S stands for Data Universal Numbering System and is a 9-digit code to identify a company or business entity. It is a unique number worldwide. | 123456789 |
If your recipient is not registered on Peppol, the Peppol button won't turn green and you won't be able to send your invoice.
You can also send e-invoices to public entities via Chorus Pro. For that, you need the SIRET number of your recipient, which you can find in this database.
After adding the SIRET number of your recipient, you can send your invoice via the button 'Send to Chorus'.
Your VAT number will be automatically selected as the primary identifier. If your recipient doesn't have a VAT number, you can add other codes via the '+' button next to the VAT field.
The main identifier for French recipients is the SIRET number. Select it from the dropdown menu after clicking the '+' button.
If only the SIRET number is filled in, this will be used as primary identifier.You can leave the VAT field blank.
As soon as you have more than one identifier added, you will see an extra e-invoicing tab appear in the customer file. Click it to see a list of identifiers for that customer. Select the bullet for the number you want to set as priority and confirm.
