French e-invoicing: does it apply to you, and from when?

Yes. The franchise exempts you from charging VAT, not from being a taxable person. You must be able to receive e-invoices since 1 September 2026 and, from 1 September 2027, issue those of your business customers through an accredited platform. Your sales to private individuals do not give rise to an e-invoice, but to e-reporting on the same date.

Yes, two things. Receive: your French suppliers will send you e-invoices, so you need an accredited platform appointed in the directory, since 1 September 2026. Report: your sales to private individuals will be sent to the tax administration through e-reporting, from 1 September 2027 for a small business. You have no e-invoice to issue, though.

For reception, yes, if you have a SIREN number: furnished rental without services is VAT-exempt, but you remain a taxable person as a recipient and must be able to receive your suppliers’ invoices through an accredited platform since 1 September 2026. You have nothing to issue or report. If you offer at least three hotel-type services (breakfast, regular cleaning, linen, reception), the rental becomes taxable and you follow a business’s timeline.

Not for its non-commercial activities, which are outside the scope of VAT: no e-invoice to receive or issue, no e-reporting. It is concerned for a commercial activity subject to VAT, even under the franchise: bar, shop, services invoiced to businesses. In that case, reception since 1 September 2026 and issuing from 1 September 2027 for that activity.

Be able to receive, only. Your exempt services give rise neither to an e-invoice nor to e-reporting, but you remain a taxable person as a recipient: appoint an accredited platform (several have a free plan) to receive your suppliers’ invoices, since 1 September 2026. If part of your activity is taxable (product sales, ancillary services), it follows the issuing timeline.

The obligation is to be able to receive, not to have received: every taxable person established in France must be in the directory with an appointed platform. Without it, the first French supplier that invoices you (subscription, equipment, business rent) will not be able to send you its invoice. Choose a platform with a free plan: it takes half an hour.

An SME has fewer than 250 employees and at most €50 million of turnover or €43 million of balance sheet total; micro-enterprises are part of it. Above that, you are a mid-sized company (up to 4,999 employees) or a large company, and everything has been mandatory since 1 September 2026. The thresholds are assessed on the last closed financial year, at the level of the company itself, not the group.

The one of your category. From your registration, you must be able to receive; if you create a micro-enterprise or an SME after 1 September 2027, electronic issuing applies from your first invoices to businesses. You might as well choose accredited or connected software from the start.

It will not become an accredited platform, and it does not need to: it is connected to a platform that receives and issues on its behalf, through an API or by dropping files in the Factur-X, UBL or CII format. That is the work I do for my clients: connection, invoice format, directory and automated sending, remotely.

For issuing: €50 per non-electronic invoice, capped at €15,000 per year. For reception outside an accredited platform: a formal notice, then €500 and €1,000 per new three-month period. For e-reporting not sent: €500 per transmission, capped at €15,000 per year. None of these penalties is applied in 2026 to a business in real difficulty that has started the process.