French invoice requirements: the 2026 checklist

A French invoice can look over-detailed if you are used to UK or US invoices: legal status after the name, registration numbers, a sentence on VAT even when none is charged, penalty terms. Each line has a reason. This checklist explains them one by one, for freelancers from abroad who now invoice in France and for clients who receive French invoices.

To issue one, the Clairsmith invoice generator fills in French, UK and US invoices, in French or English, free, without an account and without sending any data.

1. The seller: who issues the invoice

• Name, followed by “EI” or “Entrepreneur individuel” for a sole trader (micro-entrepreneur). Mandatory since 15 May 2022.
• Business address.
• SIREN number (9 digits), France’s business identification number, or the SIRET (14 digits, SIREN plus an establishment code).
• Intra-EU VAT number, if the business has one. A French freelancer under the VAT exemption still needs one to invoice a business client elsewhere in the EU (see invoicing foreign clients).
• Trade register (RCS) or craft register (RM) entry, when the business is registered there, e.g. “RCS Lyon”.
• Professional insurance, when it is compulsory for the activity (building trades, for example): insurer and area covered.

2. The client

• Name or company name and address, plus the billing address if different.
• VAT number of a business client in another EU country when the reverse charge applies.

3. The invoice itself

• A unique number in a continuous chronological series, with no gaps. Separate series are allowed (e.g. 2026-001 for invoices, AV-2026-001 for credit notes), each continuous.
• Issue date, and date of the sale or service when different (or the period, for ongoing work).
• Purchase order number, when the client issued one beforehand.

4. What is sold

• A precise description of each service or product, the quantity and the unit price before VAT.
• Any discount agreed at the time of sale.

5. Amounts and VAT

• Total before VAT, VAT rate per line (20%, 10%, 5.5% or 2.1%), VAT amount per rate and total including VAT.
• Under the VAT exemption (franchise en base, used by most micro-entrepreneurs), no VAT is charged and the invoice must say why: “TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI” (VAT not applicable, article 293 B of the French Tax Code). It stays in French on the invoice.
• Reverse charge for a business client elsewhere in the EU: the word “Autoliquidation” and both VAT numbers.

What changes in 2027

• VAT wording. On 1 January 2027, French VAT rules move from the General Tax Code (CGI) to the Code of taxes on goods and services (CIBS) (ordinance no. 2026-671). For invoices issued from that date, the exemption wording becomes “TVA non applicable, art. L. 233-3 du CIBS”. The former CGI reference remains accepted until 30 June 2028 (art. 17 of the ordinance). Only the reference changes; our generator picks the wording from the invoice date, and the Radar tracks the deadline.
• E-invoicing. From 1 September 2027, small French businesses and micro-entrepreneurs must issue invoices to French businesses electronically, through an approved platform, and add four details: the client’s SIREN, the delivery address if different, the type of operation (goods, services or both) and, where relevant, the option to pay VAT on receipts (“d’après les débits”). Large companies have been subject to this since 1 September 2026.

6. Payment terms

• Payment date or term. Between businesses, without a specific agreement, payment is due 30 days after the service is performed or the goods received; an agreed term cannot exceed 60 days from the invoice date, or 45 days end of month if the contract says so.
• Late-payment penalty rate: by default the ECB refinancing rate plus 10 points, never below three times the French legal interest rate. The late-payment interest calculator applies the current half-year’s rates.
• €40 fixed recovery indemnity, on invoices to businesses only.
• Early-payment discount terms, or “Pas d’escompte pour paiement anticipé” (no discount for early payment).

Invoicing a consumer

Most details apply too, except the €40 indemnity and the client’s SIREN. For services, an invoice is required from €25 including VAT, or whenever the client asks. Consumer sales do not go through e-invoicing: their data is reported to the tax authorities instead (e-reporting), from 2027.

What happens if a detail is missing

• Tax: a €15 fine per missing or wrong detail, capped at a quarter of the invoice amount (art. 1737 of the French Tax Code).
• Commercial law: an administrative fine of up to €75,000 for an individual (art. L441-9 of the Commercial Code).
• In practice: the client’s accounts department often rejects an incomplete invoice, which delays payment.

Example: a compliant French invoice

Clairsmith’s reference example (fictitious data): Atelier Morel, a micro-entrepreneur under the VAT exemption, invoices a bakery in Lyon. The sheet is computed by the generator’s engine, the one that produces the Factur-X file, tested with Mustang, the open-source EN 16931 validator. The late-payment rate chosen here is the legal minimum (three times the legal interest rate). On a large screen, markers 01 to 05 match sections 1 to 5; payment terms (section 6) are at the bottom of the sheet.

The legal wording stays in French, the usual language for a French client. The Clairsmith invoice generator produces this invoice as a PDF, in French or English; its French version also outputs Factur-X (the hybrid PDF + XML format of the French reform). Try the invoice generator. To check a Factur-X invoice you received, the Factur-X reader shows what it declares.

These rules bind a seller established in France. If you are based abroad and bill a French company, read invoicing a client in France from the US or UK.

Common questions