France E-Invoicing/E-Reporting unraffled – Part 4: Scope of E-Invoicing, acceptable invoice formats

Scope of E-Invoicing

B2B – Supplier and buyer are both taxable persons established in France
Supply of goods and services
The transactions are deemed to be located in France for VAT purposes
(French VAT is due on the invoice)

Exceptions :

Transactions exempted under articles 132 and 135 of VAT directive
Defence and security contracts (public procurement code).

Invoice format compliant with EU e-invoicing EN 16931 standard

Cross industry invoice (CII)
Universal Business Language (UBL)
Mixed format (XML + PDF/A3)

E-Reporting: Subset of structured data to be sent for the use of tax administration in real time

Which transactions are subject to electronic invoicing?

Electronic invoicing concerns all transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and/or the supply of services carried out between companies established in France and subject to VAT when they are so-called domestic transactions, i.e. those concerning the national territory. Such transactions are called business-to-business (BtoB) transactions. However, mandatory electronic invoicing does not apply to transactions that are exempt from VAT under Articles 261 to 261 E of the General Tax Code, and exempt from invoicing. This applies in particular to transactions in the field of health (Article 261, 4, 1°), education and training services (Article 261, 4, 4°), real estate transactions (Article 261, 5), transactions carried out by non-profit associations (Article 261, 7), banking and financial transactions and insurance and reinsurance transactions (Article 261 C).

Source impots.gouv.fr