How to prepare for compulsory electronic billing of 2026?

A major change!

Electronic invoicing reform is fast approaching! Despite its implementation from September 1, ²⁰²⁶ , many companies have not yet prepared for it. Worse, some are not even aware of this new reform which will nevertheless change the management of invoices within ANY company subject to VAT.

Don't be surprised by this new reform and act now thanks to our article! Principle of the law, key dates, process for managing invoices received and issued, required formats, new mandatory information... we explain everything to you from A to Z to make this modernization of invoicing practices a successful transition.

Why is electronic invoicing becoming mandatory?

As part of European directive 2014/55/EU and the 2020 finance law , more and more European public administrations, including French ones, are requiring the use of electronic invoices for any company operating in BtoB.

This regulation has several objectives:

Fight against VAT fraud through better traceability
Control VAT in real time
Simplify VAT declaration procedures with pre-filling
Strengthen the competitiveness of businesses through processing automation to increase productivity, reduce invoice processing costs and payment times

What is electronic invoicing?

Electronic invoicing or E-Invoicing represents the issuance, transmission and reception of invoices in dematerialized format complying with standards defined by the tax administration. Indeed, these invoices must contain structured data in order to be read by management software and allow their automatic processing.

As a result, the entirely PDF invoice will no longer be accepted, and only 3 formats will be accepted:

Factur-X , a hybrid format combining a readable PDF file and structured XML data.
UBL (Universal Business Language), a standardized format widely used in Europe.
CII (Cross Industry Invoice), a format developed by ISO for cross-industry exchanges.

What are the new mandatory information on invoices?

In order to comply with the standards of this new regulation, invoices must include 4 new mandatory information . Otherwise, they will be rejected.

The company’s SIREN number
The nature of the transactions invoiced : sale of goods, provision of services or combination of the two
The delivery address of the goods
VAT payment method .

Which companies will be subject to electronic invoicing?

Electronic invoicing will concern all companies operating in BtoB, subject to VAT, regardless of their size and sector of activity. Transactions with the administration will also be included. In addition, companies that trade with individuals (BtoC) and/or with companies not established on French territory will have to transmit an E-Reporting of their transaction data.

Despite common obligations, not all companies will be subject to the same deadlines.

Electronic invoicing dates

Large Companies & ETIs:

1 ^, 2026: Receipt and Issue of invoices (as well as E-Reporting if necessary)

SMEs & VSEs:

1 ^, 2026: Receipt of invoices
1 ^, 2027: Issuance of invoices (as well as E-Reporting if necessary)

As a reminder :

Large companies: Workforce > 5,000 and turnover > €1.5 billion or balance sheet > €2 billion
ETI: Workforce < 5,000 and turnover < €1.5 billion or balance sheet < €2 billion
SME: Workforce < 250 and turnover < 50 M€ or balance sheet < 43M€
VSE: Workforce < 10 and turnover < 2 M€ or balance sheet < 2M€

PDPs to issue and receive electronic invoices

In order to ensure the transmission of electronic invoices to a third party, as well as the use of data by the Tax Administration, companies will have to choose a Partner Dematerialization Platform (PDP).

This PDP, which will act as an intermediary, must be registered by the DGFiP , and meet 5 obligations:

Check the conformity of the documents submitted.
Transmit electronic invoices while guaranteeing the original nature of the invoices transmitted.
Extract billing, transaction and payment data on behalf of the tax administration.
Send the 4 notifications on the status of an invoice (deposited, rejected, refused, collected). Other statuses may be added depending on the PDP's service offering.
Offer a service for storing electronic invoices , but without probative value.

How to prepare for electronic invoicing?

The transition to electronic invoicing is a complex project that requires several months of preparation and support . The first chapters of our article allowed you to discover the main principles of electronic invoicing. Now it's time to establish the steps to take internally in your company.

Step 1: Carry out an internal audit

The first step (and surely the longest) to carry out is that of the internal audit . It takes up a lot of time for the employees involved in managing the electronic invoicing project. To successfully complete your internal audit, we advise you to carry out the following tasks.

Take inventory of the management solutions used (accounting, commercial, ERP, etc.) and identify the necessary modifications to ensure their compliance with the new obligations.
Evaluate your volume of customer and supplier invoices , and therefore the number of transactions linked to e-invoicing and e-reporting.
Define your area of activity (national or international)
Identify your management processes regarding purchase and sales invoicing. 36 use cases were notably referenced by the DGFIP. Each of them describes a billing circuit: context, circuit diagram, details of the steps with their description and the actors involved.
Identify your VAT regime
Establish a project budget in order to define the appropriate PDP providers subsequently
Evaluate your (human) resources available for the development of the project

This audit will allow the different PDP suppliers to have an inventory of your company in order to be able to offer you an offer and a price adapted to your needs.

Steps 2: Identify and update customer and supplier data

The second step consists of making a list of all customers and suppliers for whom invoices issued and received must be in electronic format . In order to ensure the transmission of these, it will be essential to update or complete the data necessary for the identification of the customer or supplier such as the SIREN or SIRET . Also check that there are no duplicates!

Steps 3: Ensure the conformity of its invoices

Sending invoices to the customer is good, but they still need to be accepted by the PDP platform. Therefore, remember to check that the format of your invoices is eligible (Factur-X, UBL, CII) and that the mandatory information is included :

SIREN/SIRET
Delivery address
VAT rate
nature of the service (goods or services).

Step 4: Adapt your information system

The integration of electronic invoicing will probably require technical adaptations within your information system.

Updating accounting management and ERP software to ensure compatibility with new invoice formats.
Implementation of Electronic Document Management (EDM) to centralize and archive invoices securely. (You can opt for the DocuWare GED which, in addition to that, has 2 PDP partners)
Integration of data flows with PDPs

Be sure to follow this step before taking any action with a PDP service provider.

Step 5: Choose your PDP

Choosing your Partner Dematerialization Platform (PDP) is one of the most important steps since it determines your compliance with electronic invoicing. Beyond the regulatory aspect, choosing your PDP means choosing a tool adapted to the specificities of your company in terms of invoice management. In order to make the right choice, several parameters must be taken into account.

Technical capabilities

One of the main criteria is the technical capabilities of the platform. Check that the proposed solution can manage your company's current but also future invoice volume, with optimal response times even during peak activity. The platform must obviously be able to manage the standard invoice formats imposed by the Tax Administration. Some PDPs have Optical Character Recognition which makes it possible to transform a non-compliant invoice for the Tax administration into a document accepted in very specific cases.

Interoperability with your existing tools

To simplify invoice exchanges and your compliance, opt for a PDP that is interoperable with your existing information systems (ERP, CRM, accounting, EDM, etc.). So make sure it has API connectors to facilitate automation, and can handle multiple data streams from different sources.

Data security

Who says electronic invoice means processing sensitive data. Therefore, choose a platform that complies with the ISO27001 standard, the GDPR and which uses recognized algorithms such as AES-256. To ensure complete security, favor platforms that have access rights management and action traceability functionalities. In addition, equip yourself with a solution that offers secure archiving of invoices via an electronic safe, for example.

Ergonomics and handling

What's the point of investing thousands of euros in a PDP if no one uses it? To avoid this and encourage everyone's adoption, choose a platform with a modern and intuitive interface. Customizable dashboards, advanced search tools, mobile access and responsive interface… all these features will contribute to the support of your teams and ultimately, to the success of your transition to electronic invoicing. Add to that e-learning modules, and use of the platform is guaranteed!

Costs

Costs… this is undoubtedly the crux of any business, especially for those with tight budgets. The first element to examine is the adequacy between the services offered and the price. To do this, you can study competitors' offers.

Beyond the cost of the platform itself, be sure to take into account additional costs such as: implementation, cost per transaction (invoice issued/received) , data storage, technical support, etc.

Added value

Once the previous criteria have been evaluated, you have the option to choose a PDP that offers more features. These sometimes allow you to optimize your processes. Some Partner Dematerialization Platforms offer, for example:

- Management of the validation circuit for incoming invoices.
- Sending additional status notifications (other than the 4 mandatory ones)
- Transmission of sales invoices to non-taxable parties: individuals and companies domiciled outside France.
- Centralization of information necessary for e-reporting.
- Archiving of invoices with probative value.

Step 6: Carry out a testing phase

Before final deployment, it is imperative to carry out a testing phase to:

Check the conformity of electronic invoices sent and received.
Identify possible malfunctions in automated processing.
Adjust internal procedures if necessary.

Therefore, we suggest that you carry out pilot tests with a few customers and suppliers to ensure effective deployment with complete peace of mind.

Once this step is completed, all you have to do is gradually deploy electronic invoicing!

Belharra Numérique, your trusted DocuWare integrator partner

Leader in EDM & workflow solutions, DocuWare also has 2 PDP partners to support you in your transition to electronic invoicing! Belharra Numérique is the leading DocuWare production capacity in France, with a team of 17 certified consultants, 150 active clients and more than 200 projects over the last few years.

Belharra, Platinum Partner DocuWare, supports you in your dematerialization projects.

National presence
Networking
Certified team
Continuous innovation approach