How companies operating in France can prepare for upcoming e-Invoicing mandates?
France recently adopted mandatory e-invoicing and real-time reporting reform for all companies in France that are subject to value added tax (VAT). With this reform, France aims to reduce its estimated VAT gap of €13 billion, help businesses reduce invoice and payment processing costs and boost overall productivity.
In our blog, we’ll define these e-Invoicing mandates, which businesses are affected, timelines to comply, and how Sidetrade ensures our customers meet these regulatory requirements.
What Are the e-Invoicing Requirements in France?
The French Government states that this reform has four objectives:
- To simplify business, reduce administrative burden, reduce payment times, and increase productivity resulting from e-invoicing. The adoption of these mandates will represent a gain for at least
- To simplify VAT reporting obligations by pre-filling the declaration form.
- To improve fraud detection, in the interest of economic operators acting in good faith.
- To improve real-time knowledge of business activity.
On 1st July 2024, all companies subject to VAT (Value Added Tax) in France will be obligated to accept e-invoices. Additionally, depending on company size, the sending of B2B invoices in specified electronic formats will become mandatory between 1st July 2024 and 1st January 2026.
Following the same schedule as the e-invoice sending obligation, e-reporting will become mandatory for the transmission of non-domestic business-to-business transactions, known as B2B International, and transactions between businesses and end consumers in France, known as B2C (business-to-consumer), along with transmission of transaction payment data.
Who is Affected by These Requirements? What Is the Timeframe to Comply?
The first changes will affect large businesses in France. For all large taxpayers, e-invoicing and e-reporting will be mandatory in France starting from July 1, 2024. All businesses in France should prepare to enable e-invoicing and e-reporting capability as soon as possible. It will be mandatory for all businesses by January 2026.
The following table defines company size and their timeline to comply with these mandates.
How Can Sidetrade Help?
With governments driving invoicing mandates, e-Invoicing is becoming the standard for business transactions across the globe. Regions such as Central and South America, and parts of Asia, have already implemented these requirements.
Europe has also seen an uptick of adoption as well, with countries such as Spain, Belgium, and Poland either already having mandates in place or will have mandates go into effect in the next couple years.
The problem for suppliers is that the path to complying with these government mandates is complex and unstandardized from country to country. This is where Sidetrade can help.
As an automated, electronic invoicing provider like Sidetrade can help ensure maximum compliance and eliminate risk with e-invoicing government mandates, by providing transparency and process optimization. Approval workflows, role-based views, and dynamic updates to processes when regulations change mean you can quickly adapt while maintaining fast, secure payments.
Additionally, Sidetrade has committed to become a PDP, or a certified private platform, in France. This means we’ll be ready to help French companies in their compliance journey.
For more information about Sidetrade’s e-Invoicing solution and how we can help you comply with global regulatory requirements, please contact Aimie from Sidetrade.