Electronic invoicing in France: replace your business software or connect it?

For businesses covered by France’s reform, the ability to receive electronic invoices has been required since 1 September 2026. The obligation for small and medium-sized businesses and microenterprises to issue them and carry out e-reporting begins on 1 September 2027. The schedule therefore has two stages.

The system covers, in particular, transactions between businesses established in France and subject to VAT, including those under the basic VAT exemption scheme. Transactions with individuals or international parties have separate treatment, including e-reporting. Have the scope of your transactions confirmed by the professional handling your accounts.

Start by checking the receiving process already in place. Then prepare issuing invoices using your current documents and tools. Replacing a business system in a hurry without examining its connections can add a migration to the invoicing project.

Your business software can prepare a quote, an order and invoicing information. The approved platform has a separate role in the regulatory transmission and receipt of invoices and data. A PDF sent by email does not, on its own, fulfil this process.

An existing tool may include this connection or use a partner. Ask which service is involved, for which functions and with what approval status. Check the platform in the official list instead of relying solely on a marketing statement.

For custom development, Anym can work on the exchange between your application and a suitable platform. That does not make the developed software an approved platform. Responsibilities, access and contracts need to remain clear to the business.

Ask the publisher or provider for a precise answer: platform used, available features, availability date, pricing terms and recovery after an error. Check whether supplier invoices, client invoices and their statuses are covered.

Examine a representative case rather than a demonstration screen. Custom fields, credit notes, deposits or attachments may need adaptation. Have accounting cases validated by the appropriate people and technical possibilities by the publisher.

If the tool covers the business work and offers a usable connection, keeping it may be reasonable. If it cannot retrieve the necessary information or track its processing, compare adaptation, an add-on module and migration.

The website, CRM and invoicing integration guide explains this allocation. In particular, avoid letting the CRM and invoicing software contradict each other on the same reference without an owner able to resolve it.

Use the test environment offered by the services concerned and test cases. Check the prepared document, its transfer and the result available in the business tool. An accepted technical request does not prove that the entire processing journey is complete.

Plan for rejection, missing data, interruption, duplicate sends and a late status response. The owner needs to know which document to correct and where to resume the action. An error must not lead to creating another invoice without checks.

Receiving invoices deserves the same acceptance checks: who sees the supplier invoice, who checks its content and how does it enter the accounting process? Keep the references needed to match records. Merely having an account on a platform does not describe this journey.

Compare keeping and connecting the tool, adding a specialist tool and replacing it. For each option, price data migration, training, exchanges with other software and recurring costs. A cheaper licence does not necessarily offset a heavier migration.

Quote follow-up automation can remain in the CRM while invoice transmission uses a separate process. There is no need to move the entire sales workflow to handle one regulatory stage.

Document the decision and roles: the business, accounting professional, publisher, platform and technical provider. Recheck official sources before launch. Business software should support this work and make exceptions visible without promising compliance on the basis of a send button alone.