Everything you need to know about electronic invoicing: Docoon helps you make the transition

(*) Since this article was published, Docoon has received temporary registration as a Partner Dematerialization Platform from the French Public Finance Directorate under number 19.

The obligation for companies established in France to issue and receive electronic invoices will gradually come into effect from September¹, 2026. To help you prepare for this, Docoon is positioning itself as a future Partner Dematerialization Platform (PDP) registered and certified by the government *. In short, Docoon has already implemented a dematerialization solution that complies with the standards required by the government to enable companies to use electronic invoicing. What are the key dates for this reform that you need to know? We've put together a summary to help you see things clearly...

   1. Electronic invoicing: what the law says

To begin with, the legislator has excluded invoices issued or received by a taxpayer not established in France from the scope of the law. The transition to electronic invoicing has several objectives, the main one being to strengthen the competitiveness of businesses by reducing the administrative burden. This obligation will also enable the tax authorities to better control companies' VAT returns, thanks to pre-filled returns.

It is important to note that electronic invoicing, or e-invoicing, which puts an end to paper invoices between companies and for domestic transactions, will be accompanied by "e-reporting." Transmitted to the tax authorities, the latter will make it possible to accurately track a company's overall economic activity, including sales and service transactions with individuals (BtoC) – retail trade comes to mind, of course – or transactions with economic agents established abroad (exports, intra-Community deliveries, etc.).

To submit and receive electronic invoices, companies will have to use the services of private, paperless platforms that are duly registered with the authorities and regularly audited. This is the case with Docoon, which, as an expert in document digitization and dematerialization, already offers its customers a comprehensive solution for dematerializing invoices.

   2. Electronic invoicing: implementation schedule and format

Rest assured, the government plans to roll out electronic invoicing gradually, taking several criteria into account, the most important of which is the size of your business. Keep the following timeline in mind:

• Initially, the French government had set the period from July 1, 2024, to January 1, 2026, for the widespread adoption of electronic invoicing in B2B transactions. Since this article was published, lawmakers have postponed the reform's implementation dates to give companies and all stakeholders more time to prepare.

The obligation to issue electronic invoices will be implemented:

• September 1, 2026 September¹, 2026 for large companies and medium-sized companies (ETI);
• September 1, 2027 September¹, 2027 for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and micro-enterprises.

The obligation to receive electronic invoices will apply to all companies from September¹, 2026.

Specifically, starting September 1, 2026, paper invoices will no longer be permitted for all B2B and B2C invoices. PDF format will be phased out in favor of structured formats. This will require CFOs and CIOs to adapt to new format standards. That is why lawmakers strongly advise companies to adopt a structured or hybrid invoicing format (Factur-X standard).

In both cases, companies will have to enrich their customer and supplier databases with mandatory data: during the first wave of deployment, no fewer than twenty mandatory items (data or data blocks) will have to be sent to the tax authorities. Our advice: don't delay! Because some of these items are not covered by the General Tax Code.