You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore. Your French company, a SAS (société par actions simplifiée, the flexible joint-stock company most foreign founders choose) or a SARL (société à responsabilité limitée, the limited liability company), bills clients from Paris, Lyon or Bordeaux. Since 1 September 2026, the way those invoices must travel has changed, and the change applies to you even though you run the business from abroad. France has switched on mandatory electronic invoicing between businesses, known as e-invoicing or facturation électronique, together with a parallel duty to transmit transaction data to the tax authority, known as e-reporting. The reform is already in force: every company, whatever its size, must now be able to receive electronic invoices, while the duty to issue them started on 1 September 2026 for large companies and mid-cap companies and will extend to small and micro businesses on 1 September 2027. A founder who keeps sending PDF invoices by email, or who ignores the new mandatory mentions, faces a fine of 50 euros per invoice, capped at 15,000 euros per year, on top of the classic penalties for late payment and defective invoicing. This guide explains, for a foreign director managing a French company remotely, who must do what and by when, which invoices fall inside the mandate, how to comply through a certified platform from abroad, and what courts and inspectors do when invoices fail.
I. Does your French company have to send and receive electronic invoices while you live abroad?
The short answer is yes, at least for receiving. The location of the director changes nothing: the obligation attaches to the French company, identified by its SIREN (Système d’identification du répertoire des entreprises, the nine-digit business identification number issued by INSEE, the national statistics institute), and follows the company wherever its manager happens to live. If you created your French vehicle with the standard founding steps described in our founding guide for foreign founders on bank account, Kbis, VAT and first hire, e-invoicing is now the next compliance layer to add to your annual legal calendar, next to approving accounts, filing with the greffe (the registry office of the commercial court) and paying the CFE (cotisation foncière des entreprises, the local business premises tax).
A. Who must receive and who must issue since 1 September 2026 and 2027
The Ministry of the Economy states the position plainly on its official e-invoicing page: the reform of electronic invoicing between businesses entered into force on 1 September 2026, and companies are now under the duty of receiving electronic invoices, whatever their size. In the words of the official Bercy page, the business-to-business electronic invoicing reform entered into force on 1 September 2026, with the duty to receive electronic invoices, whatever the size of the company. For a foreign founder, this is the immediate consequence: even a one-person SASU (société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle, a single-shareholder SAS) with no staff in France must designate a channel able to receive structured electronic invoices from its French suppliers. A supplier who sends you a compliant e-invoice expects your system to accept it, process its statuses and archive it. You cannot answer that you live abroad and prefer PDFs.
The duty to issue electronic invoices follows a two-step timetable based on company size. Since 1 September 2026, large companies and intermediate-size companies must issue all their invoices in electronic format and transmit their e-reporting data. The official page states: large companies and intermediate-size companies must issue all their invoices electronically and transmit their e-reporting data. Small and medium businesses and micro-enterprises join one year later: small and micro businesses must be able to issue invoices electronically and transmit their e-reporting data from 1 September 2027. Most foreign-owned French subsidiaries are SMEs and therefore issue from September 2027, but they receive from September 2026, and groups whose French company exceeds the thresholds issue already.
The thresholds come from the tax authority, the DGFiP (Direction générale des Finances publiques), as detailed on its official e-invoicing page. A large company means 5,000 or more employees, or fewer than 5,000 employees with turnover above 1,500 million euros and a balance sheet total above 2,000 million euros. An intermediate-size company, the ETI (entreprise de taille intermédiaire), is a company in neither the SME nor the large category with fewer than 5,000 employees and turnover of 1,500 million euros or less, or a balance sheet of 2,000 million euros or less. A medium-size company means fewer than 250 employees and turnover of 50 million euros or less, or a balance sheet of 43 million euros or less. Check where your French company stands, counting the criteria at company level as the tax administration instructs, because a fast-growing subsidiary can cross a threshold without its foreign parent noticing.
Two pieces of reassurance matter for directors abroad. First, the administration announced that the start-up phase proceeds with tolerance and goodwill toward companies facing difficulties on 1 September: the initial roll-out phase follows an approach of goodwill and tolerance by the administration toward companies facing difficulties. Tolerance is not an exemption, and it does not suspend fines forever, but a company that can show a platform contract, an internal project plan and genuine steps toward compliance is in a far stronger position during an inspection than one that did nothing. Second, public-sector billing already runs on electronic rails: holders of contracts with public bodies and their subcontractors admitted to direct payment must transmit their invoices in electronic form, since “Les titulaires de marchés conclus avec les personnes morales de droit public, ainsi que leurs sous-traitants admis au paiement direct, transmettent leurs factures sous forme électronique” (article L. 2192-1 of the Public Procurement Code). If your French company sells to a town council, a hospital or a ministry, electronic invoicing through Chorus Pro (the state invoicing portal for public contracts) is already your daily routine, and the B2B reform extends the same logic to private clients.
B. Which invoices fall inside the mandate and which stay outside
The mandate covers domestic business-to-business transactions, meaning invoices between two VAT-registered businesses established in France for operations located in France. The foundation is the general invoicing duty of the Tax Code: “Tout assujetti est tenu de s’assurer qu’une facture est émise, par lui-même, ou en son nom et pour son compte, par son client ou par un tiers” (article 289, I of the General Tax Code). An assujetti is a taxable person for VAT purposes. In practice, every sale of goods or supply of services your French company makes to another French taxable person, or to a French non-taxable legal person, for operations not exempted under the listed articles, must be invoiced, and that invoice must now travel electronically through the approved circuit. Advances paid before the operation is performed must also be invoiced, with the stated exceptions for certain exempt intra-EU supplies.
Three important boundaries follow. First, sales to private consumers stay outside e-invoicing: a shop, a restaurant or an online seller billing individuals keeps its current receipts and tickets. But the corresponding revenue is not invisible to the administration, because the company must transmit its transaction and payment data through e-reporting. The pair works as follows: e-invoicing for domestic B2B, e-reporting for the rest of the turnover, namely sales to consumers in France and cross-border business sales. A French subsidiary that only invoices its foreign parent, or that only sells to individuals, may therefore never issue an e-invoice, yet still owe e-reporting data flows on the same timetable. Second, cross-border B2B invoices are not issued as e-invoices in the French circuit, but their data feeds e-reporting, which is how the administration tracks VAT on international flows. Third, exempt operations listed by the Tax Code keep their own invoicing regime, and public auction sales of second-hand goods, art, collectibles and antiques follow their specific rule.
From the commercial side, the Commercial Code confirms that every professional purchase must be invoiced: “Tout achat de produits ou toute prestation de service pour une activité professionnelle fait l’objet d’une facturation” (article L. 441-9 of the Commercial Code). The seller must deliver the invoice as soon as the delivery or service is performed, since “Le vendeur est tenu de délivrer la facture dès la réalisation de la livraison ou de la prestation de services au sens du 3 du I de l’article 289 du code général des impôts”, and the buyer must claim it: “L’acheteur est tenu de la réclamer”. A foreign director sometimes discovers that a French supplier refuses to start work without a purchase order, or that a French client suspends payment because the invoice lacks a mandatory mention. Both reflexes come from this article: the invoice is the legal backbone of the transaction, and the electronic reform changes its vehicle, not its function. Keep the discipline of complete orders, delivery notes and signed acceptances, because an electronic invoice proves no more and no less than a paper one did.
Courts regularly remind creditors of that limit. The Bordeaux Court of Appeal, fourth civil chamber, 24 November 2025, RG 23/04541, ordered a debtor to pay 4,478.15 euros on invoices, since it ordered the debtor to pay the creditor 4,478.15 euros on the invoices, after examining the underlying relationship rather than rubber-stamping the pile of invoices. Even more explicitly, the Riom Court of Appeal, commercial chamber, 6 May 2026, RG 25/01562, recalled the settled principle that merely producing invoices is alone insufficient to prove a claim, since no one may manufacture proof for themselves. An invoice you generate yourself never proves the delivery by itself, in paper or electronic form. Delivery slips, contracts, email threads and proof of performance remain the evidence that wins in court, and your archiving system must keep them alongside the structured invoice.
II. How do you comply from abroad without freezing your billing?
Compliance has three layers: a transmission channel, a compliant invoice content, and a reliable archive. Each can be organized remotely, but each needs a decision within weeks, because the receiving obligation already applies and the issuing deadline approaches for companies above the thresholds. The practical route for a director abroad is to appoint a certified platform, align the accounting software, train whoever issues invoices, and give the French accountant a clear mandate. The steps below follow the official operating mode published by the tax authority and the Ministry of the Economy.
A. Choosing a certified platform, formats and the four new invoice mentions
From 1 September 2026, invoices must pass through a state-certified platform: from 1 September 2026 invoices must travel through a state-certified platform, directly or via compatible software, and each company must designate its platform for issuing and receiving electronic invoices or reporting its data. A plateforme agréée, abbreviated PA, is a private invoicing platform certified by the administration for a renewable period; it checks, routes, timestamps and archives invoices and forwards the required data to the tax authority. The original plan for a free public portal, the PPF (portail public de facturation), was abandoned, so every company must choose a private certified platform or work through compatible software connected to one. The tax authority publishes the list of certified platforms, and the official guidance invites companies to “choisir ma plateforme agréée” from that list. A company with no software can create invoices directly on its chosen platform, which suits small foreign-owned structures whose bookkeeping is outsourced.
Concretely, a director living abroad should proceed as follows. First, pick one certified platform as the company’s designated platform and register the SIREN, because the national directory, the annuaire, routes incoming e-invoices to the platform each recipient designated. Without designation, suppliers cannot reliably reach you. Second, connect the billing tool: either the current software is already paired with a certified platform or an OD (opérateur de dématérialisation, a dematerialisation operator working through a platform), or invoices are typed directly on the platform. Third, set the invoice format. The administration accepts a structured base, typically Factur-X (a hybrid PDF with embedded XML data), UBL (Universal Business Language) or CII (Cross Industry Invoice), with a minimum data core and optional full structured content. A simple PDF attached to an email is not an e-invoice, even if it looks identical on screen, because it carries no structured data the platform can process. Fourth, activate status tracking: the platform returns processing statuses with timestamping, the horodatage, so both sides know in real time where each invoice stands in the transmission chain, from deposit to acceptance, refusal or payment.
The content of the invoice keeps all the classic mandatory mentions and gains four new ones from 1 September 2026: the client’s SIREN number, the category of the invoiced operation (sale of goods, supply of services, or both a sale and a distinct service), the note on the option for VAT payment on debits where applicable, and the full delivery address of the goods where it differs from the client’s billing address. The official wording lists the client SIREN number, the category of the invoiced operation (sale, service, or both a sale and a distinct service), the note on the VAT-on-debits option where applicable and the full delivery address of the goods where it differs from the client billing address. For a foreign group, the SIREN of the French client and the correct operation category deserve special attention: intra-group management fees, usually services, must be labelled as services, and mixed contracts split between goods and services must show both categories. The invoice must also keep stating the payment date, since “La facture mentionne la date à laquelle le règlement doit intervenir” (article L. 441-9 of the Commercial Code), plus the late-penalty rate and the fixed recovery fee discussed below.
Self-billing and outsourcing remain possible, which helps directors abroad. The Tax Code allows invoices to be physically issued by the client or by a third party where the taxable person mandates them: mandates are expressly contemplated, and a company may therefore authorize its French accountant or its billing provider to issue invoices in its name and on its behalf. Put that mandate in writing, define who validates the commercial substance, keep the acceptance of each invoice traceable, and remember that the foreign director stays responsible for the company’s tax compliance. Archiving closes the loop: seller and buyer each keep a copy of every invoice within the time limit set by the tax rules, and the certified platform’s legal archiving does not dispense the company from keeping the commercial proofs, contracts and delivery evidence that courts require, as the Riom decision above demonstrates.
B. What fines, late-payment interest and recovery costs apply when invoices fail
The reform carries its own fines, and the old ones survive alongside. The specific electronic-invoicing fine sits in the Tax Code: “Le non-respect par l’assujetti de l’obligation d’émission d’une facture sous une forme électronique dans les conditions prévues à l’article 289 bis donne lieu à l’application d’une amende de 50 € par facture, sans que le total des amendes appliquées au titre d’une même année civile puisse être supérieur à 15 000 €” (article 1737, III of the General Tax Code). Each non-compliant invoice costs 50 euros, with a 15,000-euro annual ceiling per company. Platforms face a mirror fine of 50 euros per invoice where they breach their data-transmission duties. On the receiving side, where the administration finds that a taxable person fails to use a certified platform for receiving electronic invoices, it issues a formal notice to comply within three months, since “elle le met en demeure de s’y conformer dans un délai de trois mois”, and persistent breach after that period triggers a 500-euro fine: the breach “donne lieu à l’application d’une amende de 500 €” (article 1737, IV bis of the General Tax Code). A company that ignores the directory and keeps receiving invoices outside the circuit therefore risks a graduated but real sanction path.
These new fines add to the long-standing sanctions for false or missing invoices, which remain fully applicable to electronic flows. disguising identities, issuing invoices for unreal supplies, or failing to issue an invoice and book the transaction triggers a fine of 50 percent of the sums or invoice amounts, with the professional client jointly liable, capped per financial year (article 1737, I of the General Tax Code). On the commercial side, breaching payment deadlines or omitting the mandatory settlement mentions exposes the company to an administrative fine of up to 75,000 euros for an individual and two million euros for a legal entity, since “Est passible d’une amende administrative dont le montant ne peut excéder 75 000 € pour une personne physique et deux millions d’euros pour une personne morale” (article L. 441-16 of the Commercial Code). DGCCRF (Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes, the competition and consumer enforcement authority) inspectors actively fine companies for late payment, and an electronic invoice with a wrong payment date feeds that risk directly.
Payment discipline itself does not change with the medium. Unless otherwise agreed, payment is due within thirty days of receipt of the goods or performance of the service, since “le délai de règlement des sommes dues ne peut dépasser trente jours après la date de réception des marchandises ou d’exécution de la prestation demandée”, and any agreed period cannot exceed sixty days from the invoice date: “Le délai convenu entre les parties pour régler les sommes dues ne peut dépasser soixante jours après la date d’émission de la facture” (article L. 441-10, I of the Commercial Code). A 45-day end-of-month period is possible only where expressly agreed and not manifestly abusive. From the day after the payment date shown on the invoice, late interest runs automatically at the agreed rate, which cannot be lower than three times the legal interest rate and defaults to the European Central Bank refinancing rate plus ten points, plus a fixed recovery fee: “Le montant de l’indemnité forfaitaire pour frais de recouvrement prévue au II de l’article L. 441-10 est fixé à 40 euros” (article D. 441-5 of the Commercial Code).
Courts apply these texts invoice by invoice, including against small debtors. The Nanterre Economic Activities Court, third chamber, 28 May 2026, No. 2025F02028, ordered a bakery to pay a press distributor 4,650.93 euros with late interest on each unpaid invoice calculated at the European Central Bank most recent refinancing rate plus five points from the day after each due date until full payment, since the court ordered the bakery to pay the distributor 4,650.93 euros with late interest on each unpaid invoice, plus 2,360 euros of fixed recovery fees. Fifty-nine unpaid invoices at 40 euros each explain the 2,360-euro total, a multiplication every creditor should keep in mind before letting arrears accumulate. The same judgment dismissed the claim for abusive-resistance damages, a reminder that penalties follow the invoices, not the mood of the dispute. Underlying everything, the Civil Code principle recalled in business litigation holds that “Les contrats légalement formés tiennent lieu de loi à ceux qui les ont faits” (article 1103 of the Civil Code): lawfully formed contracts bind the parties as law, and a compliant electronic invoice is the cleanest written trace of that bond.
For a director in Paris and the Île-de-France region, two practical notes help. The business tax office, the SIE (service des impôts des entreprises) of the company’s registered office, remains the contact for VAT and e-reporting questions, and Paris SIEs currently redirect most e-invoicing queries to the national help pages and the certified platform’s support rather than counter appointments, so designate the platform before calling. Disputes over unpaid e-invoices go to the Paris commercial court, the tribunal des activités économiques de Paris, under the same fast procedures, injonction de payer (order to pay) and référé-provision (urgent interim payment order), as paper invoices did. Geography changes the counter, not the rules.
Conclusion
France’s electronic-invoicing reform is already your reform, even from abroad. Your French company must receive structured e-invoices today through a designated certified platform, must issue them from 1 September 2026 if it is large or intermediate-size and from 1 September 2027 if it is a small or micro business, must add the four new mentions including the client’s SIREN and the operation category, and must transmit e-reporting data on the rest of its turnover. Each paper-form invoice issued in breach costs 50 euros up to 15,000 euros a year, persistent refusal to receive through the circuit costs 500 euros after formal notice, and the classic arsenal of late interest, 40-euro recovery fees per invoice and administrative fines up to two million euros keeps running in parallel. Designate your platform this month, connect the billing tool, correct the invoice templates, mandate the accountant in writing, and archive the commercial proofs behind every invoice, because courts enforce invoices one by one and accept no excuse based on the director’s address. Done properly from abroad, e-invoicing becomes what the reform promises: faster proof, faster payment and fewer disputes.