Electronic invoicing in France: a silent turning point for international business
- Noham Layani
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Why the French reform will have an impact far beyond its borders — and what companies operating in the United States and Canada need to anticipate now.
A French reform… with global consequences
At first glance, electronic invoicing in France looks like a technical, almost administrative, reform: a new invoice format, a mandatory platform, and a phased rollout. But for companies doing business internationally, the reality is quite different.
From September 2026, electronic invoicing will become a strategic gateway between France and the rest of the world. Not because the United States or Canada are suddenly imposing new rules, but because France is changing the way it collects, controls, and uses international transaction data .
And this change affects all businesses, including the smallest ones.
September 2026: an often underestimated obligation for very small and small businesses
There is a persistent misconception:
“Electronic invoicing is mainly for large groups.”
That's wrong.
From September 1, 2026, all businesses subject to VAT in France must be able to receive electronic invoices, without exception. Micro-enterprises, SMEs, startups, subsidiaries of larger groups, and independent companies: everyone is affected. Even a small business that only issues a few invoices per month.
Why? Because the obligation does not work by company size, but by business relationship .
Let's take a very concrete case: a French SME works as a service provider for a large group, which is itself subject to the obligation to issue electronic invoices from 2026.
👉 The SME must be able to receive these invoices, via a partner electronic invoicing platform (PDP), from the first invoice.
The reform therefore spreads through the value chain, from major clients to their suppliers. This mechanism explains why the impact will be massive, even on companies that appear to have little international structure.
E-invoicing, e-reporting: when internationalization enters the French tax radar
The French reform rests on two pillars, one of which directly concerns international operations.
For strictly domestic transactions, we speak of electronic invoicing: the invoice is issued in a structured format, transmitted via a PDP, and the data is automatically shared with the tax authorities.
But as soon as we move outside the France-France perimeter (sales abroad, exports outside the EU, American or Canadian customers) another mechanism applies: e-reporting.
In practical terms, this means that:
An invoice sent to a client in the United States or Canada can remain a PDF or an EDI feed.
but the key data of this transaction will have to be transmitted to the French tax authorities.
This is a major change: 👉 international flows, historically little visible, become fiscally traceable , in a much more precise and regular way.
EDI: an international standard… that is no longer enough
Many internationally active companies feel reassured:
“We already use EDI with our US and Canadian clients.”
It's an operational advantage, certainly. But it's not tax compliance.
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a long-established and robust standard, widely used in relationships with large accounts, particularly in North America. It allows for the automatic exchange of invoices, orders, or shipping notices between systems.
However, EDI was designed for private exchanges between companies, not to meet tax obligations to transmit data to the State.
Result: a company can be perfectly integrated in EDI with its international clients, while being non-compliant with the French electronic invoicing reform.
The challenge for international companies is therefore not to replace EDI, but to make it coexist intelligently with the new flows of e-invoicing and e-reporting.
ViDA: Why France is just a starting point
The French reform is part of a much broader movement at the European level: ViDA – VAT in the Digital Age.
Behind this acronym lies a clear ambition of the European Commission: 👉 to overhaul VAT around transactional data, in near real time.
ViDA specifically plans to:
a gradual generalization of electronic invoicing for intra-EU cross-border transactions,
a reduction, or even eventual elimination, of traditional VAT returns in favor of transaction-by-transaction reporting.
a harmonization of formats and rules at the European level.
Note that several countries in Europe already apply strict obligations (Italy, Spain, Portugal) or are preparing to do so (Germany, Belgium, Poland).
For a French company that is expanding internationally, the message is clear: electronic invoicing will not stop at French borders.
The choices of tools and architecture made today will determine the ability to absorb future European obligations… without rebuilding everything.
United States, Canada: no local obligation, but a very real impact
Neither the United States nor Canada currently mandates standardized B2B electronic invoicing at the national level. Practices remain largely contractual, often based on PDF or EDI.
However, the French reform profoundly changes the situation for the French. Thus, a company selling in North America will have to:
to continue adapting to the requirements of its local customers,
while ensuring compliant, automated and reliable tax reporting in France .
This implies tools capable of:
To properly classify each transaction
distinguish between domestic, intra-EU and extra-EU flows,
to produce data that can be used for tax purposes, without manual re-entry.
Otherwise, electronic invoicing becomes not a lever for efficiency, but a source of risk: reporting errors, inconsistencies, more frequent tax audits.
Managers: Don't treat electronic invoicing as a mere accounting matter.
For a manager, the temptation is great to see electronic invoicing as a technical subject to be delegated: a tool to choose, a deadline to meet, a “finance” project.
That would be a strategic mistake.
Electronic invoicing is not just a technical reform. It is an indicator of financial and digital maturity.
From 2026 onwards, electronic invoicing will become a new point of friction—or acceleration—for international growth . It directly impacts:
the ability to work with large groups,
the fluidity of financial flows,
the quality of the management data,
and, increasingly, the company's credibility in the eyes of tax authorities.
For leaders of SMEs, startups, and growing tech companies, the real question is therefore not “will we be compliant?” but rather:
“Is our finance organization robust enough to support our development in France, Europe and North America without being affected by regulations?”
Companies that address this issue early transform a regulatory constraint into a lever for structuring , reliability, and trust. Others discover too late that electronic invoicing is not a detail… but a revealer.
With Blendy , international CPA based in France, Canada and the USA, take advantage of digital accounting and tailor-made advice to accelerate your financial process and develop your business.
Pennylane, Dext, QuickBooks and Stripe certified, we support digital and IT companies, e-Commerce, SaaS in France and internationally.
