Many small firms and self-employed in France soon obliged to issue digital invoices
One small business group has called for more support for the extra costs
Currently, there are not any free services to allow small businesses and self-employed people to generate digital invoices
A9 STUDIO/Shutterstock
Small companies and self-employed people in France will soon be required to issue digital invoices, but one group is calling for more help to be provided to cover the inevitable extra cost.
From September 1, 2026, small business and self-employed people subject to VAT will gradually be required to issue and receive electronic invoices, and the tax authorities will only accept records from certain accredited digital platforms. The systems must be in place by 2027 at the latest.
This means that businesses will no longer be able to send invoices using their own systems (such as creating a PDF, Excel, or Word document, or sending a physical invoice only, for example).
The list of digital platforms accredited by the tax authorities is available on the official tax website here. The main aim of the switchover is to prevent VAT fraud. The 2025 budget included measures to require VAT to be collected for annual turnover over €25,000 - although this has been heavily criticised, and is now subject to consultation.
Read also: Can I invoice and quote for work in English in France?
Read more: Can I receive paper invoices at no extra cost?
Read also: Self-employed status in France must be on invoices and bank accounts
‘More support’ needed
The government had previously said that it would set up a platform to offer a digital invoicing service free of charge to very small businesses, but it has now backtracked on this pledge.
This has prompted small and medium enterprise group the CPME (Confédération des petites et moyennes entreprises) to call for “more support” for “very small businesses”, and for prices of invoice-generation services to be more regulated.
Amir Reza-Tofighi, CPME president, told Sud Radio: “We are not against these developments, it is the direction history is taking.
“[But] we are asking for a commitment to have access to platforms, with controlled and monitored prices,” he said, adding that high costs of digital services could have a marked impact on the cash flow and revenue of very small businesses.
“We need to bring all approved service providers together and ask them to commit to limiting costs,” he said.
