France Reviews First Month of Mandatory E-Invoicing Rollout and Prepares for 2027

France’s Minister of Action and Public Accounts, David Amiel, chaired the first meeting of the national monitoring committee on electronic invoicing on October 8, 2026 – roughly one month after the country’s B2B e-invoicing mandate took effect on September 1, 2026. The session brought together the main business federations (AFEP, MEDEF, Les Entrepreneurs, U2P), consular networks, chartered accountants, and the relevant government administrations to assess the rollout’s early results, surface implementation difficulties, and begin preparing the mandate’s next phase.

Adoption Figures to Date

As of October 4, 2026, the government reported:

• 75% of VAT-registered businesses had designated a platform to receive their invoices.
• More than 20 million invoices, worth over €70 billion, had been exchanged since the mandate took effect.

Officials described the pace of adoption as ahead of the targets initially set for this stage of the rollout. The committee also discussed how to track the reform’s broader benefits going forward, including simplification of invoicing processes, automation, and the administration’s reuse of data it already holds. Payment terms are being monitored separately through the Observatoire des délais de paiement.

Difficulties Reported by Businesses

Business organizations flagged several recurring issues from the rollout’s first weeks:

• Lack of clarity around platform service offerings and their costs.
• Difficulty choosing a platform or switching between providers.
• Challenges adapting existing accounting software and invoicing workflows.
• Specific support needs for very small businesses and certain sectors.

Larger companies separately reported interoperability problems between some platform solutions, along with difficulties transmitting invoice status information – a gap that can interrupt automated invoice processing.

An Updated Start-Up Guide Announced

In response to the issues raised, the Ministry announced that an updated start-up guide will be published within two weeks of the committee meeting, addressing questions and problems encountered since the September 1 go-live.

Amiel said the rollout’s early phase would continue to rely on dialogue, phased implementation, and administrative support rather than enforcement. Amiel reiterated that no sanctions would be imposed on any company before the end of 2026.

Preparing for the September 2027 Milestone

The mandate’s next phase takes effect September 1, 2027, when:

• Small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-enterprises must begin issuing electronic invoices.
• E-reporting obligations will expand further.

Business organizations asked the government to begin preparations early, drawing on lessons learned during 2026, with particular attention to businesses less comfortable with digital tools, sector-specific circumstances, and simple, accessible solutions.

Next Steps

The monitoring committee is scheduled to meet again before the end of 2026. Its continuing agenda includes tracking rollout progress, resolving reported difficulties, reviewing IT security across the invoicing ecosystem, advancing 2027 preparations, and assessing whether the reform’s expected benefits are materializing.

There’s more you should know about e-invoicing in France – learn more about the new and upcoming regulations.