# French E-Invoicing 2026-2027: Deadlines & Penalties for SMEs

> Understand France's mandatory e-invoicing and e-reporting deadlines for SMEs in 2026-2027. Learn about registered platforms and new penalties.

Published: 2026-10-09

Canonical: https://sygnet.ai/blog/french-e-invoicing-2026-2027-deadlines-penalties-smes

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## Key takeaways

- Since **1 September 2026**, every VAT-registered business has already been required to connect to a registered platform (plateforme agréée) to *receive* invoices: if your SME hasn't done so, it is in breach today, not in 2027.
- The obligation to *issue* invoices in structured electronic format, e-reporting included, falls due on **1 September 2027** for SMEs, small businesses, micro-enterprises and self-employed professionals.
- The 2026 finance act raised the fine for non-compliant invoice issuance from €15 to **€50 per invoice**, capped at €15,000 per calendar year.
- The DGFiP (Direction générale des finances publiques, France's tax authority) has registered around **150 approved platforms**: choice is not lacking, but good testing slots are becoming scarce as summer 2027 approaches.

## Does my SME already need to choose its registered platform?

Yes, and for receiving invoices the question has in fact already been settled. Since 1 September 2026, all French businesses subject to VAT, from micro-enterprises to large corporations, must be able to receive electronic invoices in structured format, which means being connected to a registered platform. For issuing invoices, you have until 1 September 2027.

In other words: if you're reading this article in October 2026 without having chosen a platform, you have two issues, not one. The first is a backlog to catch up on. The second is a project to plan over the ten months that remain.

The trap would be to treat 2027 as a distant deadline. To issue and receive your invoices in electronic format, you are required to go through a registered platform: since October 2024, the Portail Public de Facturation (Public Invoicing Portal, PPF) no longer handles invoice exchange and is limited to the central directory and the data hub. There is therefore no free fallback option provided by the state, contrary to what many business owners still believe.

> There is no longer a free public solution for exchanging your invoices: the approved private platform is the only channel provided for under the reform.

## What exactly is a registered platform?

A registered platform (plateforme agréée, PA), formerly known as a partner dematerialisation platform (plateforme de dématérialisation partenaire, PDP), is a private operator authorised by the tax administration to handle the circulation of your invoices. Registered by the DGFiP, it is authorised to issue, receive, convert and transmit electronic invoices in standardised format: Factur-X (a hybrid PDF/XML invoice format), UBL or CII.

These three names are file formats. Factur-X is the most intuitive for an SME: a human-readable PDF with an embedded XML data file that machines can read. Your client sees a normal invoice, the tax authority receives structured data. The renaming from PDP to Plateforme Agréée, which took place in the course of 2025, changes nothing about how the system works.

The platform does three things for you: it converts your invoices into the correct format, routes them to your client's platform via the central directory, and transmits the required invoicing data to the DGFiP. It also manages your e-reporting, meaning the declaration of transactions outside the domestic B2B scope: sales to consumers, exports, intra-EU services. The official list is published and updated by the DGFiP on impots.gouv.fr, and it is the only authoritative source.

## What are the exact dates for my company size?

The timetable fits in two lines, and it is now settled in law. In April 2025, an amendment proposing a further postponement to 2027-2028 was rejected by MPs in the vote of 11 April, confirming the current schedule.

| Company size | Receiving | Issuing | E-reporting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large companies and mid-caps (ETI, 250 to 4,999 employees) | 1 Sept. 2026 | 1 Sept. 2026 | 1 Sept. 2026 |
| SMEs (10 to 249 employees, turnover < €50 million) | 1 Sept. 2026 | 1 Sept. 2027 | 1 Sept. 2027 |
| Small businesses, micro-enterprises, VAT-registered self-employed | 1 Sept. 2026 | 1 Sept. 2027 | 1 Sept. 2027 |

Sources: company-size categories and issuance dates by company size, obligations table by date.

Two useful clarifications. The obligation also applies to taxable persons not liable for VAT, such as micro-entrepreneurs and legal entities under the VAT exemption scheme (franchise en base). And e-reporting follows exactly the same timetable as issuance: September 2026 for large companies and mid-caps, September 2027 for small businesses, SMEs and micro-enterprises.

Between September 2026 and August 2027, you will be operating under a hybrid regime: large companies and mid-caps will be issuing electronic invoices, while SMEs and small businesses can still use paper or PDF for their own outgoing invoices.

## How much does doing nothing cost?

More than before: the amounts were raised by the 2026 finance act. The fine for failing to issue an electronic invoice has risen from €15 to €50 per invoice, capped at €15,000 per year per company.

Two further penalties apply on top of this. Failure to transmit transaction data (e-reporting) costs €500 per missing transmission, capped at €15,000 per year; failing to designate a registered platform, after a formal notice, triggers a €500 fine, followed by a further €1,000 every three months if the situation is not remedied.

Run the numbers on a real case. An accounting firm with 40 staff that bills 180 invoices a month and keeps sending PDFs after 1 September 2027 is exposed to €9,000 in the month of September alone. The €15,000 cap is reached before the end of October. And since the issuance and e-reporting caps are separate, a company could face up to €30,000 in penalties over a single financial year.

Beware of a common confusion. The €50-per-invoice fine should not be mixed up with the €15 fine for an omission or inaccuracy in an invoice's mandatory details. The two can be combined, since the reform adds new mandatory details (the client's SIREN business identification number, delivery address, nature of the transaction, option to account for VAT on payment).

## Which platform should I choose among 150 candidates?

Start from your current software before looking at the wider market. As of 31 August 2026, the DGFiP listed 150 registered platforms, and the major accounting software vendors are among them: Cegid, Sage and Odoo were registered on 18/12/2025, 22/12/2025 and 15/04/2026 respectively. If you already use one of these, the shortest path is often through their offering.

Five useful criteria for deciding:

1. **Compatibility with your management software.** A native connection to your invoicing software or ERP saves you from double data entry every day.
2. **Your accountant.** Ask which platform they use for their other clients. This simplifies the accounting flow.
3. **Volume and pricing.** Many platforms charge per invoice issued and received. 300 supplier invoices a month don't cost the same as 30.
4. **Archiving and audit trail.** You must keep the invoice and its data for the legal retention period, with traceability. Check that probative archiving is included and not sold as an add-on.
5. **Genuine interoperability.** The platform must be present in the central directory and on the Peppol network, to reach your European clients.

At the latest count, the official list showed 149 registered platforms and 16 awaiting registration. Never sign with a provider that is "pending approval" without an exit clause: check the exact trade name against the downloadable files on impots.gouv.fr before committing.

On the receiving side, the real work is not the connection itself but the processing: supplier invoices now arriving in XML, matching against purchase orders, VAT checks. Sygnet publishes document-extraction tools used in these processing chains, and sets out the French framework in its page on [e-invoicing in France](https://sygnet.ai/solutions/e-invoicing-france), as well as in its analysis of [compliance and audit-trail challenges](https://sygnet.ai/blog/ai-french-e-invoicing-compliance-audit-challenges).

> Ten months before the issuance deadline, this is no longer a technical question: it's a matter of internal scheduling and team training.

## What action plan for the next ten months?

Work quarter by quarter, starting with an inventory. Review your last twelve months of invoicing: how many outgoing invoices, to which types of clients (French businesses, consumers, overseas), through which channels. This mapping determines your e-invoicing scope and your e-reporting scope.

Next, finalise contracts. Completing agreements with the platform, running technical tests and holding the last round of internal training make up the home stretch. Aim to sign before March 2027, to allow a full spring of dual-flow testing (old and new processes running in parallel).

Then clean up your customer data. An electronic invoice won't go through if the recipient's SIREN number is wrong or missing. An accounting firm with 40 staff and 600 active clients often finds that 5 to 10% of records are incomplete. That's three weeks of administrative work, not three days.

Finally, watch out for aggressive sales pitches riding on the back of the reform. Phishing email campaigns impersonating the tax authority are circulating, and Sygnet has documented the warning signs in its article on [fake DGFiP emails](https://sygnet.ai/blog/e-invoicing-france-spotting-fake-dgfip-emails-scams). The DGFiP will never sell you a platform.

## FAQ

### Can my accountant choose the platform on my behalf?

They can recommend one and configure it, but the obligation remains yours: it is your company, identified by its SIREN number, that must be registered with a registered platform and listed in the central directory. In practice, many accounting firms have already settled on a platform for their client portfolio, which simplifies document collection. Ask them in writing which platform, at what cost, and who manages the connection.

### Does the Portail Public de Facturation remain a free option?

No. Since 1 September 2026, going through a registered platform is the only channel provided for under the reform, and the Portail Public de Facturation (Public Invoicing Portal) offers no free alternative. The PPF retains two technical roles: the central directory of recipients and the data hub feeding the tax administration. It no longer carries your invoices. Some platforms do, however, offer free or very low-cost entry-level packages for low-volume micro-enterprises.

### Can I keep sending PDFs to my clients in 2027?

Not to your business clients established in France, from 1 September 2027 onward. Every invoice still sent as a PDF by email to a B2B client after that date carries a €50 fine, up to a cap of €15,000 per calendar year. Your invoices to consumers (B2C), however, do not go through the e-invoicing channel: they fall under e-reporting, where you transmit aggregated data to the tax authority via your platform.

### How long does it take to get connected?

Allow four to twelve weeks depending on your situation. A self-employed professional using invoicing software that is already registered can activate the feature in a day. An SME with 150 employees running a custom ERP, three separate customer databases and a purchase-approval workflow to reconfigure should allow a full quarter, testing included. The most commonly underestimated task is cleaning up third-party data and training accounting and sales teams.