Electronic invoicing 2026: the accounting firm's guide

On 1 September 2026, electronic invoicing stops being a project and becomes an obligation. This time the calendar is fixed, and the administration has built the system around operators that are already registered. For an accounting firm, the question is no longer "is this really happening" but "how many flows will I have to process, and with whose hands".

This guide sums up what's settled so far, what's still worth watching, and what the reform changes in practice for bookkeeping. On the company side, the reform as seen from the finance function has its own guide.

The timeline

Two dates frame the reform, subject to last-minute regulatory adjustments:

• 1 September 2026: every VAT-liable business, including very small businesses (TPE), must be able to receive electronic invoices. Large companies and mid-caps (ETI) must also start issuing them.
• 1 September 2027: the obligation to issue extends to SMEs and micro-businesses.

The point many clients haven't grasped yet: receiving applies to everyone from 2026. The tradesman client who thinks he has a year's grace will still need to be connected by September, if only to receive invoices from his mid-cap suppliers.

The players: a narrower PPF, mandatory PDPs

The architecture changed along the way. The public invoicing portal (PPF), originally planned as a free exchange platform, was scaled back in late 2024 to two roles: the central directory of recipients, and gathering data for the tax administration.

Direct consequence: to issue and receive invoices, businesses must go through a partner dematerialisation platform (PDP), registered with the French tax administration (DGFiP). Choosing that platform has become a real decision - for every business, and so for every client of the firm. We cover it in a dedicated guide: PDP: how to choose.

Dematerialisation operators (OD) still exist as technical intermediaries, but without registration: they have to rely on a PDP to actually transmit anything.

The formats

The PDF emailed as an attachment is over. Invoices will circulate in structured or hybrid formats: Factur-X (a human-readable PDF paired with a data file), UBL and CII. For the firm, this is the deepest change of all: every invoice now arrives as usable data, not an image to re-key.

E-reporting, the other half of the reform

Transactions outside the scope of domestic electronic invoicing - sales to consumers, cross-border deals - will be covered by e-reporting: the periodic transmission of transaction and payment data to the administration, via the PDP. For the firm's B2C clients (retail, restaurants, services), that's an extra data flow to organise and check.

What this changes for the firm

The reform mechanically puts the firm at the centre of it all.

Before the deadline, clients will turn to their accountant (expert-comptable) to choose a platform, connect to the directory, and update their invoice wording and processes. That's a wave of questions, engagement letters and amendments to absorb on top of regular production work.

After the deadline, every client turns into a continuous stream of structured invoices. What used to arrive in a loose pile or an inbox will now arrive as standardised data, daily. The volume to process doesn't shrink: it changes shape, and it becomes permanent.

This is where the reform meets the staffing question. A structured flow is exactly what an agent knows how to process: read the invoice, propose the entry, run the matching, flag the discrepancy. Work that used to require manual re-keying becomes a work of review. Firms that get equipped before the wave turn a regulatory constraint into extra capacity; the others will pile more volume onto teams they already can't staff. That's the reasoning behind our agents for accounting firms.

The firm's checklist

1. Map clients by wave: who issues in 2026, who in 2027, who's affected by e-reporting.
2. Choose the PDP(s): for the firm itself and as a recommendation to clients (the criteria here).
3. Organise the mandates: who connects the client to the directory, who administers the platform, under what delegation.
4. Update engagement letters: collection, flow processing and e-reporting need to be scoped and billed.
5. Prepare receiving now: test the full circuit on a pilot scope before September.
6. Equip bookkeeping: decide who, or what, will process the volume of structured flows once they arrive.

Frequently asked questions

Who is affected by electronic invoicing?

Every business established in France and liable for VAT, for domestic transactions between VAT-registered parties. Sales to consumers and international transactions fall under e-reporting.

Does my TPE client need to act in 2026?

Yes: it needs to be able to receive electronic invoices by 1 September 2026, which means being connected to a platform and listed in the directory. Its obligation to issue doesn't start until 2027.

What about Chorus Pro?

Chorus Pro remains the channel for invoices to the public sector (B2G). The 2026-2027 reform extends the same logic to business-to-business exchanges, with a separate architecture.

What does a client risk by not complying?

The rules provide for fines per non-compliant invoice and per missing e-reporting transmission, capped annually. The amounts are modest per document but add up fast over a year's flow; the real risk is operational: supplier invoices that stop arriving, clients who can no longer get paid.

Could the calendar still change?

It has moved before, and technical adjustments are still possible. But the infrastructure is in place and the platforms are registered: building your preparation on the assumption of another delay would be a bet, not a strategy.