Receiving your invoices electronically has been compulsory since 1 September 2026. If you are a micro-entrepreneur, you have until 1 September 2027 to issue them. And the VAT exemption exempts you from neither.
It changes nothing about the duty to receive, which applies to everyone on the same date. It does decide when you will have to issue.
Information verified on October 1, 2026. Indicative assessment with no legal force. The rules it applies are taken from official sources and dated, but it knows of your situation only what you tell it: only the authorities can settle your case.
The official pages where we read the rules and amounts applied here.
People often discover this duty late, because it comes from your suppliers: they are the ones who will send you electronic invoices. Since 1 September 2026, every business must be able to receive its purchase invoices electronically, whatever its size and even if it only sells to consumers. Without a designated platform, those invoices arrive nowhere.
Large and mid-sized companies have been issuing electronically since 1 September 2026. Small and micro businesses have until 1 September 2027. The duty covers only invoices to businesses established in France: those addressed to consumers are excluded.
When you sell to consumers or to clients based outside France, the reform does not ask for an electronic invoice: it is the data of those sales that goes to the tax authority, on the same dates as issuing. A shopkeeper selling only to consumers will never issue an electronic invoice, but will do e-reporting.
This is the most widespread misreading, and you can see why: when you charge no VAT, you assume a VAT reform passes you by. But not being liable for VAT is not the same as not being a taxable person. Under the exemption you remain a taxable person under the code, and taxable persons are exactly who the reform targets. Your invoices will keep their no-VAT wording, and travel like the others.
| Duty | Large and mid-sized | Small and micro | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receive electronic invoices | 1 September 2026 | 1 September 2026 | All businesses, no size exception |
| Issue electronic invoices | 1 September 2026 | 1 September 2027 | Invoices to businesses established in France |
| Transmit data (e-reporting) | 1 September 2026 | 1 September 2027 | Consumer sales and transactions abroad |
Timetable re-checked on 8 September 2026 against impots.gouv.fr and entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr, which agree. It was postponed once, from 1 July 2024 to 1 September 2026: we recheck it before each deadline, and this page carries its update date so you can judge how fresh it is.
Karim is a developer invoicing only French agencies. He must be able to receive since September 2026, and will have to issue electronically on 1 September 2027. No e-reporting.
Sonia runs an online shop selling only to consumers. She will never issue an electronic invoice, but must transmit her sales data on 1 September 2027. And she must already be able to receive.
Marc consults for Belgian and Swiss clients. His foreign invoices fall outside French electronic invoicing, but inside e-reporting, on 1 September 2027.
All three must already have chosen an approved platform, because the duty to receive is already in force.
Only Karim will have to issue electronic invoices. Sonia and Marc will do e-reporting instead.
Choose an approved platform. It is the only urgent action, since receiving is already compulsory.
Check whether your invoicing software includes one, or whether you will have to designate one separately.
Check that your invoices already carry every mandatory item. The structured format will make them blocking.
Check the exact spelling of your business name and your company number on your invoices. They are what route you.
Rushing to change invoicing tools. You have until September 2027 for issuing.
Signing up today with a provider selling you the issuing deadline as imminent.
Worrying about your consumer invoices. They remain outside the scope of electronic invoicing.
The VAT exemption does not keep you out of the electronic invoicing reform: it spares you from charging VAT, not from being a taxable person, and the reform targets taxable persons. Your invoices will keep their no-VAT wording and travel like the others.
What changes right now for a micro-business is the ability to receive electronic invoices. Since 1 September 2026, your suppliers may send them to you, and you need an approved platform to receive them. The duty to issue only applies from 1 September 2027.
Invoices to consumers are not concerned by electronic invoicing, which applies only to transactions between businesses established in France. They do fall under e-reporting: the transaction data goes to the authority, on 1 September 2027 for a micro-business.
Once issuing electronic invoices is compulsory, you can no longer send your invoices as PDFs to business clients in France: the reform expects data that software can read on its own, sent through an approved platform, and an ordinary PDF, even signed and timestamped, can only be read by eye.
The electronic invoicing dates could still move: the reform was postponed once, from 1 July 2024 to 1 September 2026. The dates above are those published by the authority on 8 September 2026, and we recheck them before each deadline.
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