Make it easy to prep for the French e-Invoicing mandate
Tradeshift PDP - your first choice for e-Invoicing in France
UPDATE (9/15/23): E-invoice Mandate New Schedule
French authorities have issued a follow-up announcement, outlining a new rollout schedule for French e-invoicing:
- 2024 : Year of development of the PPF (e-invoicing and e-reporting)
- 2025 : Year of the pilot (Tradeshift is a candidate!)
- 2026 : Year of deployment in 2 or 3 phases over 18 months
Further information is expected to be released and will be updated on this page accordingly.
Today, Tradeshift delivers compliant e-invoicing in over 160 countries
The good news is that if you are already a Tradeshift customer, you don’t have to worry about sending or receiving compliant e-invoices in France (or anywhere else for that matter). Supporting new regulations in France is ‘business as usual’ for Tradeshift and part of our commitment to offer compliance-as-a-service globally.
Governments, global corporations and companies of every size, shape and stripe use Tradeshift to connect, transact and grow. From 160+ countries, the network enables 2.5 million connections to do business.Tradeshift ensures they are compliant with local and international tax regulations.
Tradeshift is firmly on the path to becoming an accredited “Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire” or PDP, and so are other companies. They’ll all help you follow a set of rules mandated by the government. But that’s all they’ll do.
We make global trade seamless. Compliance with local regulations is a vital component of this. But compliance by itself, does not define what we offer. We’re a leader in e-invoicing and AP automation and arguably the fastest growing B2B network over the past 13 years. We’re also an innovator in B2B marketplaces and embedded fintech services that bring value, opportunity and growth to any business that joins our network.
Read on to learn more about the French Finance Law, Tradeshift becoming a PDP and what the coming months mean for Tradeshift customers like Air France and Disneyland Paris (spoiler alert – it’s pretty much business as usual).
The Implementation Timeline
Tradeshift - PDP progress aligned with French Tax Authority
With Tradeshift, organizations operating in France will be fully compliant with the planned e-invoicing and reporting mandate. e-Invoicing regulations are evolving all over the world and Tradeshift is committed to providing global compliance services for all customers on the Tradeshift platform.
We work directly with KPMG to stay abreast of future requirements in key markets, validating our technical design so that Tradeshift remains the go-to B2B network for global organizations. This document highlights high-level timelines, completed and forecast activities that Tradeshift has committed to, in our journey to PDP Certification.
e-Invoicing Mandate in France: Overview
E-invoicing is already fairly well established in France. To date, however, mandatory e-invoicing has only applied to French businesses issuing invoices to a government body.
This will change.
With a view to combating VAT fraud, France has decided to move towards a “mixed continuous transaction controls (CTC) model” which will include mandatory B2B e-invoicing and e-reporting.
This mandate impacts all companies operating in France.
Regardless of whether you are sending invoices or receiving them, the effect of the new regulations on your business, AP processes, financial systems, and resources will be considerable, so it’s important to understand how to prepare for what’s coming.
To remain compliant, companies in France will need to choose whether to connect independently and directly to the official government platform, the “Portail Public de Facturation” or PPF, or to use an appropriately certified third-party platform (The “Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire” or PDP).
Your guide to preparing for the e-Invoicing Mandate
Important timelines for the French e-invoicing mandate
Tradeshift is an active member of the France PDP working group, we are always up to date with the latest information.
France is delivering the e-invoicing mandate CTC in a three-phased approach over the coming three years.
The mandate will initially mean selected large businesses will be required to issue invoices using the PPF with an eventual roll-out to smaller businesses.
Deadlines for compliance are in the process of being amended by the French authorities. To date, they have only issued broad milestones:
- 2024 : Year of development of the PPF (e-invoicing and e-reporting)
- 2025 : Year of the pilot (Tradeshift is a candidate!)
- 2026 : Year of deployment in phases
As an active and leading participant in the government-led workshops, Tradeshift has access to the most up to date information and will continue to share this knowledge to support your changes.
What businesses need to know to prepare for the French e-invoicing mandate
If you’re doing business in France, you need to assess which aspects of your internal invoice processes are impacted by the new e-invoicing regulations and how to implement the necessary changes. Here are a few critical aspects you need to consider:
- 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 any change there are bound to be teething problems, careful planning can help to build contingency plans so that your supply chain is not affected.
- Receiving and sending invoices – whether connecting directly or using a PDP to the PPF you will need to provide and receive data in an acceptable format that you might not support today(UBL 2.1, UN/CEFACT CII, and Factur-X).
- Managing change – 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 silos regarding how relevant information is captured and updated, especially if you are a global player in the market.
- E-reporting requirements – Although e-invoicing will not be mandatory for B2C and cross-border invoices, the government does require French companies to send e-reporting files for these transactions with a similar set of data points in specified formats to the government platform. Some of these transactions may be managed differently and creating accurate reporting may require some effort.
- Performance and stability if using multiple ERPs – You need to make sure that all your ERP systems can process the mandated invoice formats in due time and that the PPF or PDP have a reliable connection to the respective ERP systems at all times.
- Changes imposed by lifecycle requirements – You will need to be able to transmit chronological invoice status updates to the government platform PPF – (directly or via PDP) like invoices submitted, refused, rejected, and received.
How Tradeshift can help you stay compliant in France
Tradeshift is an active member of the French Government-led PDP workgroup and is one of a select group of companies qualified to participate in the PDP accreditation process. With the help of our Global e-Invoice Compliance Team and support from KPMG, we are developing interoperability together with the authorities.
We have a deep understanding of the requirements and are well-placed to accommodate any changes to current and future changes to e-invoicing and e-reporting standards in France.
How Tradeshift can help your organization comply with the French e-invoicing mandate:
- Tradeshift is working with a reputable partner to validate our technical and legal approach to becoming a PDP. Our solution is being continuously evaluated and developed.
- As a PDP, Tradeshift will help your supply chain to be able to send and receive documents helping to minimize change disruption.
- Tradeshift can ensure that your lifecycle and payment statuses will be reported accurately and offers guidance on these relating to your internal processes.
- Depending on the needs of your legal entities you can tailor a solution that’s right for you including format conversions and content requirements.
- Tradeshift can offer support by providing e-reporting to the authorities including data formats and content requirements.
- Tradeshift can be a global solution – we have deployment and implementation capabilities worldwide. As an example, check out our customer case study on DHL.
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 PDP 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 PDPs 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. PDPs 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 PDP, 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. PDPs 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 PDP 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 PDP 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 PDP but what you really want is a great B2B network that is also a PDP.
