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The Mandatory Electronic Invoice

UNDERSTANDING THE REFORM:

What is an "Electronic Invoice"?

Pursuant to paragraph VI of article 289 of the CGI, "an electronic invoice is an invoice or a flow of invoices created, transmitted, received and archived in electronic form, whatever it is". Thus, for an invoice to be an electronic invoice, the entire invoicing process must be electronic. This implies that:

A simple PDF invoice sent by email is not necessarily an electronic invoice
An electronic invoice is not a scanned invoice

The law provides for several obligations for an electronic invoice to be valid

Authenticity of its origin: the electronic invoice must guarantee the identity of its issuer
Integrity of its content: it must not be modifiable
Legibility: the invoice must be easily readable

mandatory electronic invoice reform 2024

Mandatory electronic invoicing :
Evolve with the legal context

The different actors

The law provides for the differentiation of 3 actors in the dematerialization of invoices in order to support French companies subject to VAT:

Dematerialization Operator (DO): Service providers or management solutions that support companies upstream or downstream of invoice transmission,
Partner Dematerialization Platforms (PDP): registered and the only ones authorized, along with the PPF, to issue and receive domestic B2B invoices between taxable persons and to transmit e-reporting to the PPF on behalf of the companies that decide to use them
The Public Billing Portal (PPF), which concentrates flows to the tax authorities and can be chosen by companies to issue and receive domestic B2B invoices between taxable persons, as well as online reporting.

The 3 accepted formats

The General Directorate of Public Finance has defined 3 electronic invoice formats to be respected for receipt and transmission:

CII (Cross Industry Invoice): Open standard developed by the United Nations Center. This XML data format, based on the EN16931 standard, has already been adopted as the Factur-X data format,
UBL (Universal Business Language): XML-based open standard for electronic data exchange between different business partners and organizations,
Factur-X: This standard, developed jointly by the French Tax Authorities (DGFiP), theInterdepartmental Union for Electronic Billing (UIEE ) and experts from various industries in France, is a so-called 'hybrid' format that consists of the readable part of the invoice (PDF) and the structured data (XML) of the invoice.

Zeendoc will be a major player in electronic invoicing

In addition to offering other value-added services concerning electronic invoicing, we will also comply with the regulations on mandatory electronic invoicing between companies :

As a service provider as Dematerialization Operator ("DO")

As well as PDP ("Partner Dematerialization Platform") through an ISO 27001 and Secnum Cloud certified partner

And compatible with the PPF ("Portail Public de Facturation") as we are already with Chorus Pro

Subject to thedefinitive registration of Doxallia, a PDP candidate provisionally retained like all the other PDP candidates whose applications have recently been validated, Zeendoc will become Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire (PDP) thanks to its partnership with this specialized subsidiary of the Crédit Agricole Group, in order to offer you a complete, high-performance solution meeting the requirements of the new reform.

Zeendoc and Doxallia: simplifying electronic invoicing

Zeendoc, the leading Electronic Document Management (EDM) solution for VSEs, SMEs and local authorities, is strengthening its offering with a new strategic partnership with Doxallia, a subsidiary of the Crédit Agricole Group, currently in the process of being registered as a Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire (PDP). This partnership will enable Zeendoc users to connect directly to the Plateforme Publique de Facturation (PPF) as part of the reform of electronic invoicing.

This alliance reflects our ambition:

Make Zeendoc a key player in document management and a benchmark Dematerialization Operator (DO) in France.
Combine our expertise with that of Doxallia to offer our customers local service and 100% French digital sovereignty.

Mandatory electronic invoicing

In September 2021,Ordinance no. 2021-1190 led to the generalization of electronic invoicing between companies subject to VAT. This measure aims to improve the competitiveness of companies in the marketplace. This new legislation puts forward 4 objectives:

Strengthen the competitiveness of companies,
Simplify, in the long run, the VAT declaration obligations,
Improve fraud detection,
Improve real-time knowledge of business activity.

Mandatory electronic invoicing deployment schedule

After several twists and turns, the French government has just approved the definitive dates for the roll-out of electronic invoicing in France on 22.12.2023.

Here are the dates for the implementation of the new regulations:

▶️ Obligation de réception: Pour toutes les entreprises au 1er septembre 2026 (au plus tard le 1er decembre 2026)
▶️ Obligation d'émission: Grandes entreprises et ETI le 1er septembre 2026 (au plus tard le 1er decembre 2026). VSEs/SMEs: September 1, 2027 (by December 1, 2027 at the latest).