E-invoicing: what a micro-entrepreneur must do in 2026 and 2027

In short

• Since 1 September 2026, every business subject to VAT, micro-businesses included, must be able to receive e-invoices.
• From 1 September 2027, SMEs and micro-businesses will also have to issue their B2B invoices in electronic format and send certain data to the tax authorities (e-reporting).
• Everything goes through a platform approved by the tax authorities. A PDF sent by email is not an e-invoice within the meaning of the reform.
• Until September 2027, your classic PDF invoice with the mandatory mentions remains valid for the invoices you issue.

What changes, and when

The reform is rolled out in two stages:

E-invoicing reform timeline

Date	Receiving	Issuing and e-reporting
1 September 2026	All businesses subject to VAT	Large companies and mid-sized companies (ETI)
1 September 2027	—	SMEs, micro-businesses and self-employed people

1. 1 September 2026 Receive Every business subject to VAT must be able to receive e-invoices. Large and mid-sized companies must also issue them.
2. 1 September 2027 Issue SMEs, micro-businesses and self-employed people in turn issue their business-to-business invoices electronically, and send certain data to the tax authorities (e-reporting).

An e-invoice is a structured invoice: its data (seller, client, amounts, VAT…) can be read by software, without re-keying. Three formats are part of the core set: Factur-X (a readable PDF that contains the structured data), UBL and CII (data files).

I am under the VAT exemption (franchise en base): does this apply to me?

Yes. The franchise en base exempts you from charging VAT, but you remain a business subject to VAT. You are therefore concerned by receiving since September 2026 and by issuing from September 2027, for your invoices to other businesses.

The role of approved platforms

An approved platform is an operator registered by the tax authorities to send and receive e-invoices, and to send invoicing data to the tax authorities. Your invoices will travel through it.

In practice, many invoicing software packages, banks and management tools already offer this service or rely on a partner platform. To choose, look in particular at:

• the cost, especially for a low volume of invoices;
• how easy day-to-day issuing and receiving are;
• support for your situations: clients abroad, VAT exemption, down-payment invoices;
• exporting your data if you change tools.

What about e-reporting?

E-reporting means sending the tax authorities certain data that does not go through an e-invoice between French businesses, for example your sales to private individuals or to clients abroad, as well as payment data. This part applies to micro-businesses from September 2027, also through your approved platform. Check with your platform what applies exactly to your business.

The planned penalties

The Finance Act for 2026 provides for:

• €50 per invoice not issued in electronic format when it should have been;
• €500 per missing e-reporting transmission;
• a cap of €15,000 per year for each of these two fines.

Leniency is provided for a first offence, committed in the current year and the three previous years, when it is corrected spontaneously or within thirty days of a request from the tax authorities.

What does not change before September 2027

• Your mandatory mentions: identity and SIRET, unique and chronological invoice number, date, precise description, price, payment terms, late-payment penalties and the €40 fixed recovery indemnity between businesses.
• Under the franchise en base, the mention “TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI”, until 31 December 2026. On 1 January 2027, French VAT moves from the General Tax Code (CGI) to the Code of taxes on goods and services (CIBS) (ordinance no. 2026-671 of 27 July 2026). For invoices issued from that date, the exemption wording becomes “TVA non applicable, art. L. 233-3 du CIBS”; our tools pick it from the issue date. The former CGI reference remains accepted until 30 June 2028 (art. 17 of the ordinance). Only the reference changes: the exemption itself, its thresholds and its rules stay the same.
• The possibility of issuing a classic PDF invoice until your obligation date.

Your 6-step action plan

1. Right now, make sure you can receive e-invoices: ask your invoicing software or your bank about their approved-platform offer (how to choose an approved platform).
2. Complete your client records: SIREN, exact address, VAT number for businesses. This data will be mandatory in e-invoices.
3. Request an intra-community VAT number if you don’t have one, even under the franchise. It is free, from your business tax office (SIE). It is used for your European clients and for e-invoicing.
4. Check your numbering: a unique, chronological sequence with no gaps.
5. Get familiar with the Factur-X format: our invoice generator creates a PDF and Factur-X EN 16931 (engine tested with Mustang) invoice for free, in your browser (Clairsmith sends nothing: from 2027, sending goes through your approved platform), and our Factur-X reader shows you what an invoice you received contains.
6. Choose your issuing solution before summer 2027, to have time to test before the deadline.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep sending PDFs to my clients? Until 1 September 2027, yes, for the invoices you issue. After that, your invoices to other French businesses subject to VAT will have to be issued in electronic format through an approved platform.

Are my invoices to private individuals concerned? They do not become e-invoices, but their data falls under e-reporting from September 2027.

Is a Factur-X file enough to be compliant? No. The format is part of the answer: the obligation also covers transmission through an approved platform and e-reporting.