If your business has a real presence in France — a branch, a subsidiary or a fixed establishment — you are fully in scope from 1 September 2026 and must issue and receive structured e-invoices (Factur-X, UBL or CII) through an approved platform, just like a French company. If you are NOT established in France and only hold a French VAT number, you are generally exempt from the domestic B2B e-invoicing obligation and do not need to set up a receiving platform just for this. You may still have e-reporting duties where you are the one who owes French VAT, for example under reverse charge or on intra-Community acquisitions; buyer-side e-reporting for non-established businesses starts in September 2027, not 2026. Sales to French public bodies (B2G) continue to go through Chorus Pro exactly as they do today. This is the single most misunderstood point of the French reform: check your establishment status before paying for a platform you may not need — and do not assume a foreign parent buys your French subsidiary extra time.
Regulation · 🇫🇷 France
Foreign companies: a French VAT number alone does not put you in scope
UpcomingscopeEffective 2026-09-01
1
Establish whether you have a fixed establishment, branch or subsidiary in France — this single fact decides whether you are in scope.
2
If you ARE established in France, contract with an approved platform (plateforme agreee) now; the obligation to receive starts 1 September 2026.
3
If you are NOT established, confirm with your adviser whether you owe French VAT on any transactions — that is what triggers e-reporting, from September 2027 for buyer-side reporting.
4
Keep using Chorus Pro for invoices to French public bodies; that channel is unchanged.
Sources: Avalara — France e-invoicing rules for foreign companies · VATupdate — Establishment and VAT status matters
✓ Verified against sources on 2026-08-24 · updated when the regulation changes
More France rules
All businesses must be able to RECEIVE e-invoices from Sep 1, 2026 →Large & mid-size companies must ISSUE e-invoices from Sep 1, 2026 →SMEs and micro-businesses must ISSUE e-invoices from Sep 1, 2027 →You must use a private approved platform — the free public portal was abandoned →Invoices must use approved structured formats: Factur-X, UBL 2.1, or CII →Browse the full rules library →
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