France's e-invoicing reform: where businesses stand after 1 September 2026

On 1 September 2026, France took its first major step towards mandatory e-invoicing. How prepared were businesses and accountants on the eve of the deadline, what held them back, and what comes next?

A new survey gives a detailed picture. ECMA, the digital services organisation of the French accounting profession, and the National Council of the Order of Chartered Accountants (CNOEC) have published their latest e-invoicing barometer, conducted by OpinionWay among more than 800 accountants and business leaders. Jan Druppel, Head of Documents at Banqup Group, adds his perspective on why the French model is being watched across Europe.

France's reform in brief

Since 1 September 2026, every VAT-registered business in France must be able to receive electronic invoices. Large companies and mid-caps must also issue them, and SMEs and micro-businesses will follow on 1 September 2027.

Three features set the French model apart:

Approved platforms. Invoices are exchanged through government-approved private platforms (Plateformes Agréées), chosen by each business.
A central directory. Every business must be registered in a central directory that routes invoices to the right platform.
E-reporting. Beyond the invoices themselves, businesses must report transaction and payment data to the tax authority.

Readiness: a clear acceleration, with gaps

The survey was conducted in July 2026, a few weeks before the deadline. It shows that most accountants and businesses had moved from planning to action:

75% of accounting firms said they were fully ready or well advanced, rising to 91% among firms with 50 or more employees.
60% of businesses said the same.
23% of businesses had taken little or no concrete action, rising to 36% in agriculture, construction and industry.

Accounting firms were clearly ahead of their clients, and the smallest structures on both sides remained the most behind.

What held businesses back

The main obstacles have not changed much since previous editions of the survey. Lack of time came first on both sides: businesses cited it most (43%), followed by a lack of information about their obligations (32%).

Accountants also pointed to lack of time (26%, and 50% in firms with one or two employees). They added uncertainty about which platform to choose (24%) and difficulty getting the project started (21%).

Directory and platform choices: the market is maturing

Registration in the central directory progressed, but unevenly. In July, 50% of businesses said they were registered, up 10 points on the previous wave. 39% were not, and 11% did not know. The latest DGFiP figures show that 58% of businesses were registered by 23 August 2026.

Platform choices are becoming more structured:

Integration. For accountants, integration with their production software remains by far the top selection criterion. Businesses weigh several factors, including ease of use, customer support and cost.
Security. Data security was cited by 90% of respondents, after several widely reported data leaks over the summer.
One platform. 80% of businesses plan to use a single platform for both sending and receiving invoices, and 63% of accounting firms favour one solution for their entire client portfolio.
Satisfaction. Almost all users say they are satisfied with the platform they chose.

The weight given to security reflects a broader point: an e-invoice is only useful if its integrity can be trusted. On jefacture.com, the platform developed by ECMA with Banqup as technology partner, every invoice is sealed with the certified seal of the Order of Chartered Accountants.

"Invoice sealing is a Banqup specificity that we implemented for jefacture.com” explains Jan Druppel, CEO Banqup Documents. “By sealing invoices, we affix a certified seal, in this case that of the Order of Chartered Accountants. Over time, this technology will serve the other countries where Banqup operates."

Accountants at the heart of the reform

The barometer confirms the central role of the accounting profession. 74% of businesses work with an accounting firm, and 75% of them say their accountant has played or will play a major role in implementing e-invoicing. Software vendors and platforms are gaining influence as sources of information, but accountants remain the first point of reference.

Firms are also going beyond advice. They now support clients operationally, from process and tool audits to platform deployment.

First weeks: reception comes first

Early platform data reflects the reform's timeline. On jefacture.com, purchase invoices processed between 1 and 15 September rose by 40% compared with the whole of August, against 4% for sales invoices. Eight in ten invoices processed were received invoices. This is exactly what the calendar implies: reception is mandatory for everyone today, while most businesses will only start issuing e-invoices in 2027.

The next big challenge: e-reporting

Until now, reception has absorbed most of the preparation effort. The barometer shows that e-reporting is the next frontier, and that awareness lags behind:

Not yet addressed. One in three businesses has not yet looked into e-reporting, even among those supported by an accountant.
A perception gap. 39% of businesses believe they understand the obligation well, but only 21% of accountants rate their clients' understanding as good. 52% describe it as partial and 27% as low.
Firms mobilising. A large majority of accounting firms already offer, or plan to offer, specific e-reporting support.

E-reporting goes beyond the invoice. French platforms exchange standardised status updates throughout an invoice's lifecycle, up to the "cashed" status, which carries payment information.

For Jan Druppel, this is one of the reform's key strengths. "Payment statuses, part of e-reporting, are also an important element," he notes. "There is no better proof for tracking the lifecycle of an invoice, and France is a pioneer in this area."

Why Europe is watching France

"The rest of Europe is watching France right now," says Jan Druppel. "We are looking at the mandate, because it is very different from Belgium's, for example."

Belgium made structured B2B e-invoicing via the Peppol network mandatory on 1 January 2026, with a different architecture.

"In Belgium, we implemented a mandate built around Peppol," he points out. "In France, Factur-X, a document that is both human-readable and machine-readable at the same time, is a very advanced model."

The biggest difference lies in e-reporting. Belgium's federal cabinet approved a draft law on 18 July 2026 introducing five-corner e-reporting on domestic B2B transactions from 1 January 2028, replacing the annual client listing.

"From day one, France defined all of e-reporting. Most other countries did not make that choice," Druppel adds. "It is very likely that all the other countries will now follow. In that sense, France is a pioneer, even if it was later in implementing its mandate."

A calmer climate, and the work ahead

The survey ends on a notably more confident note than earlier in the year. In July, 86% of accountants believed their clients would be equipped with an approved platform on time, and 83% of businesses shared that view.

The first deadline has passed, but the reform is far from over. Issuance by SMEs in 2027 and the rise of e-reporting mean the coming year will be just as decisive. For Belgian businesses preparing for their own e-reporting mandate in 2028, France's experience offers a preview of what lies ahead.

About the survey: the e-invoicing barometer is published twice a year by ECMA and the CNOEC and conducted by OpinionWay. For this edition, 409 chartered accountants from firms of all sizes and 400 managers of businesses with fewer than 250 employees were interviewed by phone in July 2026. Results reflect the situation about a month before the 1 September deadline.