On March 26, 2021, the DGFIP working group provided some information regarding the requirement for electronic invoicing for all VAT-registered businesses in France.
What are the government's goals?
- Strengthen the competitiveness of businesses by reducing the administrative burden associated with invoicing
- Combating Tax Evasion
- Enable the government to monitor businesses' economic activity in real time
- Simplifying Monthly VAT Filing for Businesses
What is the planned timeline for implementing this requirement?
- As of January 1, 2023, all companies must be able to receive invoices from their suppliers in electronic format
- As of January 1, 2023, large companies (LCs) are required to be able to issue invoices in electronic format
- As of January 1, 2024, the same requirement applies to medium-sized companies (ETI)
- As of January 1, 2025, the same requirement applies to small and medium-sized enterprises and very small enterprises (SMEs and VSEs)
What approach was chosen?
- The buyer and seller will either submit their invoices directly through the public platform or use a non-certified private operator.
- The buyer or seller will use the public platform, and the other party will use a certified private operator
- The buyer and seller will use a certified private platform
The option referred to as “Y” was selected—that is, the one in which all transactions will pass through the public platform modeled after the CHORUS system currently in place for all invoices issued in connection with public procurement (B2G).
Invoices, credit memos, corrected invoices, and a directory for identifying customers, suppliers, and payment status will be posted on the public platform.
Some features that are planned
The public platform will thus centralize all of the company’s invoicing to VAT-registered entities (B2B)—this is known as e-invoicing. The company will also be required to report transactions it has conducted with consumers (B2C) and international transactions (B2B)—this is known as e-reporting.
The customer must notify the platform once the payment has been made. The supplier must confirm that the payment has been received.
What are the acceptable formats for invoices?
Currently, data exchange is possible via EDI and application programming interfaces (APIs) in accordance with the European standard EN 16931 (structured formats). Plain PDF files no longer appear to be a viable option, as their digital integration entails significant costs.
Comments
Companies must prepare without further delay
- For example, by choosing a private platform —preferably one that is certified—that enables the conversion of their invoicing data streams into the correct format and manages electronic archiving on their behalf
- By setting up the right infrastructure to be able to upload their electronic billing data to the public platform and maintain an internal digital archive
By the end of 2021, the Ministry of the Economy should be able, in collaboration with the ecosystem, to provide all the necessary operational details.