The e-invoicing reform will be a game-changer for many businesses in France.

Let's discover together what awaits you for 2024.

E-invoicing: what are we talking about?

E-invoicing is a modern process that involves creating, sending, and receiving invoices via a connected platform. In the years to come, it will become the norm.

Order No. 2021-1190 of September 15, 2021 initiated this major change. It provides for the obligation of e-invoicing for domestic business-to-business transactions (B2B) and the electronic recording of all cross-border B2B transactions, B2C transactions subject to French taxation, and information related to service payments.

Who is affected by this reform?

‍ If you're a company established in France and registered for VAT, get ready to catch up. This reform also concerns certain international companies subject to VAT in France, even without a French establishment. On the other hand, if you're a French company that sells to private consumers (B2C) or to customers whose registered office is located outside France, or if you're a supplier of products or services expressly excluded from VAT, you're exempt.

The reform timeline

The implementation of this reform will be progressive, depending on the size of your business. From July 1, 2024, large enterprises must be compliant, followed by SMBs on January 1, 2025, and small SMBs/micro-businesses on January 1, 2026. From these dates, you must be able to receive e-invoices from your French suppliers.

Why this reform?

The French government has several objectives in mind. First, the rationalization of VAT declaration through pre-filling of these declarations using data obtained by the French Tax Authority. Second, improving fraud detection. Finally, the transition to e-invoicing should save at least €4.5 billion and increase the competitiveness of French companies.

What benefits for your business?

E-invoicing doesn't just have advantages for the State, it can also help you optimize your invoicing processes. Indeed, you can reduce the number of hours needed to create, validate, send, and track invoices. You'll save valuable time.

E-invoicing also offers greater transparency and visibility. Imagine a dashboard where you can see all your invoices, purchase orders, supporting documents, and contracts at a glance. You can easily track the status of your invoices and have a complete history of your transactions.

Accuracy is also one of the major benefits of e-invoicing. With better visibility and end-to-end tracking, you can guarantee data accuracy and reduce human errors. No more calculation errors or invoicing oversights!

Compliance is another strong point of this reform. Indeed, the implementation of formalized invoices allows you to easily achieve a greater degree of compliance. This is particularly important for complying with regulations.

Finally, the increased visibility of exchanges and transactions reduces the risk of invoice fraud, duplication, oversight, etc. Not to mention the ecological impact: by switching to digital invoicing, you reduce the costs and waste associated with paper-based supply chain processes, in addition to making them more energy efficient.

And what about e-reporting?

E-reporting is the electronic communication to the French Tax Authority of mandatory data concerning transactions conducted between a company and its partners. From 2024, transactional data will be provided to the Tax Authority via an online service. The goal? Simplify VAT declaration by pre-filling these declarations using data obtained by the French Tax Authority.

For this, information related to invoice or sales payments must be declared by the supplier. The information necessary for payment is the date the payment was received and the total amount collected with VAT.

In summary

The e-invoicing reform is a major step forward for businesses in France. Even if it may seem complicated at first glance, the benefits are numerous: time savings, increased accuracy, compliance, risk reduction, and positive environmental impact. It's an opportunity to seize to improve your processes and gain competitiveness.