Definition
A consultant is comparing three invoicing offers.
All three promise to be "compliant with the reform", only one is a plateforme de dématérialisation partenaire, and no pricing page says what that word changes.
He has been invoicing without a hitch for three years, his documents are numbered in sequence and nobody has ever complained. That is not the point.
What he is being asked is not to change the way he writes an Invoice, but to choose the road it will travel on.
A plateforme de dématérialisation partenaire, or PDP, is a private operator registered with the French tax administration and authorised to issue, receive and carry business-to-business electronic invoices, then to pass on the data they contain to the administration.
That registration is granted for a limited, renewable period, and it can be withdrawn.
A PDP is not one more invoicing tool: it is the post office your invoices will go through, under the Electronic invoicing reform.
Platform, operator, software: who does what
Three things carry similar names, and mixing them up is expensive, because it makes you believe you are ready when you are not.
| What it is | Can it send the invoice to the client? | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing software | No, unless it is itself connected to a platform | Writing, numbering, tracking payments |
| Opérateur de dématérialisation (unregistered service provider) | No: it hands over to a registered platform | Structuring, converting, archiving |
| Plateforme de dématérialisation partenaire | Yes, that is exactly what it is registered for | Issuing, receiving, transmitting the data |
Routing relies on a national directory in which every business is identified by its SIREN number (nine-digit business identifier): your number works as a postal address.
Hence a consequence that tool comparisons almost always miss: being in the right format is not enough. A flawless Factur-X file sent from an inbox is still an email.
The format is the container, the platform is the road.
€45,000 collected in 2026: what the platform will not change on its own
Back to that consultant, taxed under the BNC (non-commercial income) rules.
In 2025 he collected €30,000, below the basic services threshold of €37,500, unchanged since 1 January 2025. He therefore starts 2026 under the franchise en base, the VAT basic exemption.
His invoices carry the wording "TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI", which remains the wording to use until 31 December 2026, before "TVA non applicable, article L. 233-3 du CIBS" from 1 January 2027.
Then business picks up and he crosses the upper threshold of €41,250 during 2026.
Neither figure is a standalone threshold: the exemption also requires staying below €85,000 of total revenue in 2025 and below €93,500 in 2026, all activities combined, and he is comfortably inside both.
He becomes liable for VAT on that very day, not on the first of the following month: the invoice that takes him over already carries the tax, and his platform will transmit it exactly as he configured it.
He ends the year at €45,000 collected excluding VAT, since the VAT he charges from the crossing date onwards never counts as turnover.
His social contributions come to €45,000 × 25.6%, that is €11,520 at the 2026 rate for non-regulated liberal professions, a rate covering neither the vocational training contribution, nor the chamber levy, nor income tax.
And he remains a micro-entrepreneur, since the 2026 ceiling is €83,600: becoming liable for VAT does not push you out of the micro scheme.
The VAT threshold and the scheme's ceiling are two unrelated numbers.
No platform flips that setting for you: it transmits what you give it, and it transmits it to the administration too. Two mirror-image mistakes follow.
Leave the rate at zero after crossing the threshold, and your invoices go out without VAT you nonetheless owe.
Let it appear by itself during a migration, and VAT written by mistake becomes payable simply because it is written there, with no way for your client to deduct it: they lose it outright.
Another misplaced trust: a PDP will never file your Turnover declaration with Urssaf.
It knows the invoices you issued, not the money you received, and it is the money received that you declare.
Choosing yours, and when
The choice is free and reversible: nothing ties you to one platform for good. Three criteria matter more than the advertised price.
That it genuinely appears among the registered platforms, a list published by the tax administration rather than by the software publishers themselves.
That it can invoice without VAT, since many tools are built for VAT-registered businesses and demand a rate on the very first line.
And that it covers E-reporting if you sell to consumers, because those transactions leave the business-to-business circuit without leaving your obligations.
That leaves the timetable, which depends on the size of your business as much as on which obligation is at stake.
Receiving electronic invoices has applied to every VAT-taxable business since 1 September 2026, and you will only have to issue your own from 1 September 2027 if you are a micro-entrepreneur.
A platform chosen today must therefore already know how to receive; issuing can wait another year.
These dates come from article 91 of the 2024 Finance Act, reproduced by the tax administration portal. The scheme was postponed once, from 1 July 2024 to 1 September 2026: this page is up to date as of 8 September 2026 and will be revised whenever it moves.
Frequently asked questions
Is a PDP compulsory, or can I keep my own software?
The two are not in competition.
You will keep your software to write your invoices, but it will have to be connected to a registered platform in order to send them and, above all, to receive the ones your suppliers issue.
Many publishers advertise that connection in their offer: ask which platform they actually use rather than accepting a general compliance claim.
Can I switch platforms later on?
Yes, nothing binds you permanently, and a withdrawn registration could even force your hand.
Just prepare two things before moving: carrying over your invoice history, which you are still required to keep, and the continuity of your numbering, which must neither restart at one nor leave a gap.
I only invoice consumers, does this concern me?
Yes, from two directions at once. Your business suppliers will send you electronic invoices that you must be able to receive, which means being reachable through a platform.
And your sales to consumers fall under e-reporting, whose data travels along the same channel.
Does my platform send my data to Urssaf?
No. Invoicing data goes to the tax administration, not to the social contributions collector, and it covers invoices issued, never sums actually received.
Your turnover declaration remains entirely your own job, on the same deadlines and the same basis as today.