France confirms penalties for failing to issue compliant e-invoices

The French Government has confirmed the penalties that will be applicable for failing to issue e-invoices following the mandatory introduction of e-invoicing from July 1, 2024. The French Official Gazette has published Law No. 2022-1157, Amending Finance Law 2022. 

Based on these published regulations, French businesses face penalties of EUR 15 per individual invoice that isn’t issued electronically, capped at EUR 15,000 per annum.

The amended Finance Law also formally confirms the previously announced timeline for the introduction of mandatory e-invoicing in France. As a reminder, e-invoicing and e-reporting will be introduced in France in three phases depending on the size of the business. However, all companies, regardless of their size will be required to receive e-invoices in a mandated structured format from July 1, 2024 when their suppliers are required to issue e-invoices. The first wave of companies that need to issue e-invoices to their customers, and that will be the first subjected to the new penalties for failing to comply, will be large companies by July 1, 2024, followed by SMEs by January 1, 2025 and smaller SMEs/VSEs by January 1, 2026.

Once the new e-invoicing regime come into force, French businesses will no longer be able to print and post paper invoices, or email scanned or standard PDF invoices to customers. Instead, businesses must send structured e-invoices meeting required standards and formats. In addition, e-invoices must be issued via either a PDP partner platform or the public invoicing portal. French businesses (except for some of the smallest businesses) will need to select and implement a compliant e-invoicing solution (a PDP partner platform). 

In addition to the publication of the amendments to the Finance Law 2022 in the French Official Gazette, there have also been several other recent developments and key milestones in relation to the implementation of mandatory e-invoicing in France, including:

• The tender process for the design and development of the “Portail Public de Facturation” (PPF – the public platform) and the migration of data from the legacy Chorus Pro B2G platform is complete with the contact has been awarded to a consortium led by Capgemini Technology Services
• The external technical specifications have been finalised and there has been an updated version released (v.2.1 dated July 29, 2022). 
• Updated FAQs have been released (dated August 1, 2022)
• An e-invoicing working group made up of various stakeholders including Avalara has been meeting and working through the technical specifications to identify where there may need to be modifications or additional explanation to ensure clarity and the overall success of the e-invoicing project and mandate. A major current focus of the working group is ensuring that there is interoperability across different e-invoicing partner platforms. 

Avalara has an e-invoicing solution that can help companies stay compliant in over 60 countries including the upcoming French -e-invoicing mandate starting 2024. Contact an expert at Avalara to discuss how we can assist with the upcoming e-invoicing mandate in France and watch our recent webinar on-demand.