French e-Invoicing Mandate: Are you prepared?
Tradeshift PA - your first choice for e-Invoicing in France
Read here the latest news about the France PA e-invoicing clearance mandate and the PA calendar.
French e-Invoicing mandate. What’s happening?
E-invoicing already has a strong foundation in France, primarily for businesses issuing invoices to government bodies.
From September 2026, this is set to expand significantly
Driven by a desire to close a $13bn Value-Added Tax (VAT) gap, France is following a rapidly growing number of other countries in moving towards a “mixed continuous transaction controls (CTC) model,” which will include mandatory B2B e-Invoicing and e-reporting.
All businesses operating in France and subject to VAT will be affected.
A recent update to the French model means all businesses will need to select a registered Plateforme Agréée (PA) for sending and receiving e-invoices.
e-Invoicing mandate: a catalyst for business efficiency
Some businesses perceive the introduction of mandatory e-invoicing as little more than an extra cost they will have to bear.
Those voices grew louder when the government decided to downgrade the PPF’s role and shift from offering a free public invoicing option to focusing exclusively on a more structured, private-sector-driven model.
This argument loses some of its credibility however when considering other factors:
- Efficiency gains: Paper and PDF invoicing already incur significant direct and indirect costs. Mandatory electronic invoicing aims to lower these expenses while ensuring transparency and standardisation.
- Limitations of the PPF: Initially designed as a basic tool for small businesses, the PPF’s free service faced challenges in scalability and applicability across diverse business needs, particularly for larger enterprises.
- Innovation and value-add: The reform has encouraged private providers (PAs) to innovate, offer a range of solutions to suit different needs, and establish interoperability through frameworks like PEPPOL, creating a competitive and comprehensive ecosystem.
The PPF, constrained by its public mandate and legacy system, faced challenges in delivering a universally effective solution.
The removal of a free service initially triggered strong emotions, but by transferring responsibilities to private providers and establishing a framework for interoperability and compliance, the reform is able to draw on the private sector’s strengths to achieve its goals more efficiently.
French e-Invoicing mandate: When does the mandate come into effect?
The French government is rolling out the mandate in two phases:
- Sept 2026: Phase 1 – Large and Mid-sized companies must issue e-invoices and submit e-reporting. All taxpayers must be able to receive e-invoices.
- Sept 2027: Phase 2 – Mid-sized and Small Enterprises must be able to issue e-invoices and comply with e-reporting
What are Plateforme Agréée (PA)?
PAs (Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire) are e-Invoicing service providers vetted by the French government.
They are approved by the French authorities to connect to the Portail Public de Facturation (PPF) – the government’s platform – and clear invoices on behalf of businesses operating in France.
The core functions of any PA include:
- Forwarding electronic invoices, in a structured format, to their recipients’ platforms
- Receiving invoices and make them available to their recipients
- Retrieving and forwarding mandatory invoice data to the tax authority
- Receiving and controlling e-reporting data (transaction and payment) and forwarding this information to the tax authority
- Performing compliance controls on invoices and transaction data before forwarding
- Managing the processing status of e-invoices
- Providing the public invoicing portal with the information needed to update the directory
A recent update to the French government’s requirements means that every business must select a registered PA for sending and receiving e-invoices (read the blog here)
Why do I need to select a PA for e-Invoicing in France?
The French government had originally planned to enable businesses to send and receive e-invoices in one of two ways:
- Connecting independently and directly to the official government platform, the “Portail Public de Facturation” (PPF),
- Using an appropriately certified “Plateforme Agréée” or PA.
On 15th October 2024, France’s fiscal and tax authority (the DGFIP) announced that the PPF, will no longer handle direct exchanges of invoices between businesses.
The recent decision to downgrade the role of the PPF means that every business operating in France must select a registered PA to send and receive e-invoices.
Tradeshift is a registered PA in France
Tradeshift was one of the first organisations to be granted PA registered status by the French government.
Achieving registered status means Tradeshift’s solution has passed the first technical and security requirements outlined by the French authorities.
Businesses eager to commence or finalise the PA selection process should only consider companies that have achieved registered status.
If you have any doubts, we recommend you ask vendors to provide their PA registration number as proof (ours is: 0036).
Why choose Tradeshift as your PA
Over the past 15 years Tradehshift has helped hundreds of global customers unlock the total efficiency and cost-saving potential of mandatory e-Invoicing regulations.
Tradeshift’s flexible platform can adapt to any clearance and e-Invoice compliance needs, mandated by local governments.
Our depth of experience and global coverage make us uniquely positioned to help businesses smoothly transition to the regulations in France and beyond.
Advanced e-Invoicing capabilities and end-to-end automation services on the Tradeshift platform offer an integrated solution for both enterprises and midsize businesses, promoting compliance and enhancing digital transformation efforts across your entire organisation.
Here’s what you can expect with Tradeshift as your PA:
1. A Trusted and Comprehensive PA Solution
As a registered PA, Tradeshift delivers a complete range of e-Invoicing services—from invoice clearance to seamless integration with the DGFIP directory and ERP systems—ensuring a smooth transition for businesses of all sizes.
With mandatory e-Invoicing starting in September 2026, our SECNUM-certified platform is ready to support large and medium enterprises in meeting these requirements.
We guarantee data security, interoperability, and full compliance, offering a trusted solution for navigating this new landscape.
2. Complete Invoice Lifecycle Management
Our extensive service portfolio goes beyond compliance, covering the entire invoice lifecycle.
From buyer-side coding and 2/3-way matching to alerts and payment predictions, we provide end-to-end support for your invoicing needs.
Tradeshift’s ability to manage cleared and non-clearance invoices, handle digital signatures, and convert invoices into Factur-X format distinguishes us as a comprehensive PA service provider, capable of addressing both domestic and international invoice requirements.
3. Affordable Solutions to Support SME Adoption
We understand the hurdles smaller businesses face in meeting new e-Invoicing mandates.
Tradeshift is dedicated to providing cost-effective, scalable solutions tailored specifically for SMEs.
With simplified onboarding, multi-channel invoice support, and digital signature services, we make compliance accessible and affordable, helping SMEs adapt and thrive as the PPF services phase out.
4. Innovation and Value-Added Services
Tradeshift’s PA services extend beyond compliance, offering value-added features like real-time payment predictions, ERP integration for buyers and sellers, embedded financing, and fraud detection.
Industry-leading AI, embedded on the Tradeshift platform, streamlines repetitive tasks such as document enrichment, invoice coding and workflow management.
This eliminates huge swathes of inefficient and error-prone manual work contributing to higher rates of straight-through invoice processing.
Our comprehensive approach ensures businesses maximise the benefits of e-Invoicing, positioning Tradeshift as not just a service provider but a strategic partner in driving efficiency and innovation.
Tradeshift PA development and readiness timeline
Scroll through the timeline below to view key dates and milestones in Tradeshift’s journey to 2026.
What businesses need to know to prepare for the French e-Invoicing mandate
If you’re doing business in France, picking the right PA should certainly be high on your to-do list.
Beyond that, you’ll also need to assess which aspects of your internal invoice processes will be impacted by the regulations and how to implement the necessary changes.
There are a number of things organisations should be doing right now to lay the groundwork for a smooth and successful implementation:
Get your data in order:
The guidelines on what data businesses need to be handling and storing is relatively clear.
For example, we already know that 24 mandatory data items will need to be included in the e-invoice and sent to the PPF platform.
Businesses that do not already have processes in place to capture and store this data are likely to face major problems and delays in the implementation process.
Bring the right stakeholders together:
Complying with new regulations will require teams to think differently and act more collaboratively across departments.
Above all, businesses need to identify and break down siloes in terms of how relevant information is captured and updated.
To manage that change effectively businesses need to be setting up dedicated teams and bringing cross-departmental stakeholders to the table.
Typically, that group would include the CFO, the head of procurement, and the head of finance, who would be the project sponsors.
Larger organisations will also need to consider their global teams since foreign invoices coming into the French organisation will need the tax IDs of the companies where they are based.
Review ERP and workflows:
France’s e-Invoicing mandate contains specific guidance on legal archiving and data storage.
There will also be specific requirements governing invoice lifecyle management which will demand different statuses throughout the processes than many businesses currently use.
This may require adjustments to ERP and workflows with an organisation’s own systems and guidance from the PA on how to do that.
Companies may require some upfront IT infrastructure investment to adapt to these changes.
Change management with suppliers:
Your suppliers will be affected by the mandate at different times.
Understanding when they will start using the PPF will make the transition smoother.
With best-in-class e-Invoicing software like Tradeshift, you don’t have to worry about setting up your inbound and outbound document flows or staying compliant.
Your vendors simply generate an invoice and send it through our platform, which manages the clearance flow for you.
Tradeshift also facilitates collaboration between you and your vendors, offers them a simple onboarding process starting from the first invoice, and enriches documents for faster transaction processing.
Tradeshift delivers compliant e-Invoicing in 70 countries
The French Finance Law is part of a broader move towards e-Invoicing and e-Reporing of taxes that has been gathering momentum across the world over the past few years.
International companies operating in multiple jurisdictions should be looking at partners with experience and capabilities in other markets.
Tradeshift has a proven process for delivering compliance-as-a-service, and provides customers such as AirFrance, Disneyland Paris, Schaeffler with innovative solutions that support their digital transformation journey and ensure they comply with e-Invoicing and tax clearance mandates.
Working with a single technology partner like Tradeshift across multiple jurisdictions can deliver significant economies of scale as similar CTC regulations come into force across the world.
Tradeshift currently offers compliance-as-a-service for 70 countries, including a streamlined process for complying with tax clearance mandates in 12 countries and e-Invoicing mandates.
Examples of countries with tax clearance or B2B e-Invoicing mandates that we support are France, Romania, Malaysia, and Germany with other European and APAC countries on our roadmap. To ensure compliance excellence, we continually evaluate emerging global regulations and prioritise the inclusion of additional countries in our roadmap.
We’re also the only company offering cross-zone fapiao e-Invoicing capabilities in China and among the first to become a registered PA (PA immatriculée) in France.
France e-Invoicing Mandate - stay up to date with all the latest news.
At Tradeshift, we continually monitor French regulations and maintain contact with authorities to ensure compliance excellence.
Follow our blog or reach out to one of our experts for the latest on the mandatory rollout date relevant to your business size. Plus get more insight on regulatory changes across the world.
We’ve got you covered.
FAQ about the e-invoicing mandate in France
The French Tax Authority (DGFIP), in order to reduce the VAT gap, will mandate nationwide e-invoicing and e-reporting. All B2B invoices with French VAT IDs will go through the French Government’s portal (the PPF); all B2C and International B2B invoices will need to be declared in an e-reporting structure and sent to the PPF at programmed times.
Due to changes announced by the French authorities, the final deadline for compliance is not yet set. A board schedule has been released containing major milestones for PA candidates. Further announcements are expected shortly and will be updated on this webpage.
PORTAIL PUBLIC DE FACTURATION (PPF) is the name of the French government’s public invoicing portal (Chorus Pro is the name of B2G platform that has been in place).
As a Supplier you will need to ensure that your invoices contain all the mandatory fields that the government requires (in addition to any that your customers require). You will also need to send status messages to the PPF including when you’ve been paid.
As a Buyer depending on your size you may need to send e-invoices if you are not already doing this, structured PDFs will no longer be accepted after 2027. Status messages will need to be sent to update both the government and your suppliers when payments are made.
The PPF will only accept an electronic invoice in one of three formats: Factur-X, CII, or UBL2.0. This is a change from today when a PDF can be sent to Chorus Pro. By 2027 the PPF will no longer accept PDF invoices.
The concept of PAs was introduced to ensure that companies with existing invoicing solutions can adapt to the changes with minimal disruption. These invoicing solutions often have the benefit of being able to improve other business processes. PAs are partners of the authorities that are trusted to facilitate the exchange of documents and report on those transactions to the PPF. To become a PA, service providers must demonstrate that they will be able to comply with all the requirements in French regulations. This includes security certifications such as ISO27001 and SecNumCloud for hosting providers. PAs are entrusted to maintain and reference the Directory which is key to ensuring documents and status updates flow to businesses smoothly.
If we are being honest, every company that is certified as a PA by the French Tax Authorities will offer the same level of compliance. But that’s not the same as saying we are all the same.
What sets Tradeshift apart more broadly is the same list of reasons why you should choose Tradeshift – not just as your PA but as your B2B e-commerce network. We are fundamentally different in our our technological and philosophical approach to networks and buyer-supplier relationships. It’s not complicated, we just believe that every company should find value in joining the party. We make it easy to join, we offer value to buyers and suppliers in different ways and as a result, we are arguably the fastest growing B2B network over the past 13 years (that’s basically since the beginning).
So yes, we will make a great PA but what you really want is a great B2B network that is also a PA.