The French government has recently announced its plan to postpone the country’s B2B electronic invoicing mandates.
The original mandates were due to commence on the 1st of July 2024. From this date, all French companies had to be able to accept the receipt of invoices in an electronic format, and all large companies had to adapt their outbound invoicing business processes to the new electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) and e-reporting requirements.
Large companies are classified as companies with more than 5,000 employees. Or if the company has fewer than 5,000 employees, but an annual turnover of more than EUR 1,500 million and a balance sheet total of more than EUR 2,000 million, they are too classed as a large company.
So why the unexpected delay?
The French government’s announcement states that the country has chosen to postpone the mandates in order to successfully structure the reform for the economy. The postponed dates provide the government with more time to adapt their finance laws, so that when the mandates come into place, businesses will transition to electronic invoicing processes more efficiently.
There is still work to be done for French businesses to have the best success when beginning their electronic invoicing journey.
New proposed dates
The government has not yet stated the new regulation dates. At Unifiedpost Group, we will be keeping a close eye on any developments.
We expect the delays to have a knock-on effect for all businesses from their original proposed start date.
July 2024 was the original start date for all large companies. January 2025 included medium-sized companies and January 2026 included all remaining French companies.
When other European countries have announced similar e-invoicing regulation delays, all phases (and businesses in scope) tend to have a further 6-12 months from their original start date to prepare. At this moment, we expect a similar delay for all the phases detailed within France’s mandatory e-invoicing plan.
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