E-invoicing in France 2026-2027: what changes for your online shop
Since 1 September 2026, every French business registered for VAT has had to be able to receive electronic invoices. On 1 September 2027, your shop will also have to issue them and report its sales to consumers.
Many of the online retailers we work with assume Wix or Shopify will sort this out on their own. They will not. Here is what really changes, what it costs and where to start.
The two dates to remember, and what they mean for you
The reform comes in two stages. The timetable has already slipped twice, but this time the dates are written into the 2026 Finance Act and the first one has already passed.
1 September 2026: every business, including micro-businesses under the VAT exemption scheme, must be able to receive electronic invoices through an approved platform. Large companies and mid-caps must already issue them.
1 September 2027: small and medium businesses and micro-businesses must in turn issue their business-to-business invoices electronically and transmit their sales data, known as e-reporting.
In practice, if you sell online from a Wix or Shopify store, you are already affected for receiving. Your suppliers (hosting, carriers, wholesalers) will sooner or later send their invoices through this channel.
A PDF sent by email is no longer an electronic invoice under the reform. The expected format is structured: Factur-X (a readable PDF with embedded data), UBL or CII. Your software handles it, but you need the software.
An approved platform, not a free public portal
The public invoicing portal does not let you issue or receive invoices. It acts as a directory: for each company number, it says which platform to go through. So there is no free government tool for invoicing.
You must choose an approved platform (called PDP until 2025). The French tax authority listed 149 of them on 1 September 2026, according to Presse-citron's count. Your accountant almost always has one to offer, often included in their subscription.
Expect anything from zero euros, when your accounting firm includes it, to a few dozen euros a month for a small business. Common invoicing and accounting tools such as Pennylane, Sage or Sellsy already have their connection.
A home decor shop we look after settled the matter in twenty minutes: their accounting firm registered them on its platform and in the directory. They changed nothing on their Wix site.
Wix and Shopify are not approved platforms, and that is normal
Neither Wix nor Shopify appears on the list of approved platforms, and they are not meant to. They are the commerce layer: they take payment, manage orders and send the confirmation to the customer.
The invoice in the tax sense must come out of a compatible invoicing tool connected to your approved platform. The French-speaking Shopify community thread puts it bluntly: Shopify is not, and will not be, an approved platform. The same logic applies to Wix.
Two traps we see often in the shops we look after:
The order number cannot serve as the invoice number. Numbering must be chronological and unbroken, which an order number does not guarantee.
A home-made PDF invoice generated by a store app is not an electronic invoice unless it is transmitted through an approved platform in a structured format.
The business customer who orders like a consumer: without a company number collected at checkout, you cannot issue a compliant invoice afterwards.
Good news: the order-to-invoice connection already exists between Wix Stores or Shopify and the main accounting tools. The real work is checking that it is in place and that it produces the right legal details.
Your sales to consumers: no invoice, but e-reporting
If you mostly sell to consumers, do not panic: you will not send them any electronic invoice. The customer gets their receipt or invoice exactly as today.
However, from September 2027 you will have to transmit to the tax authority the total of your consumer sales, per day, through your approved platform. The frequency depends on your VAT regime: every two months under the exemption scheme, up to three times a month under the standard monthly regime.
The key point is the reliability of the source. The figures you report must match your payments received and your refunds. A shop selling on Wix, on Instagram and in a physical store must consolidate its channels in a single tool.
For sales to businesses, four details become mandatory on the invoice, including the customer's SIREN company number. Your store therefore has to tell a business buyer from a consumer and collect that number at checkout.
What it costs if you do nothing
The penalties are set by the 2026 Finance Act, and Journal du Net details them. They are moderate, but they add up quickly for a shop that invoices many business customers.
Invoice not issued electronically: 50 euros per invoice, capped at 15,000 euros per calendar year.
No platform designated: 500 euros after a formal notice left unanswered for three months, then 1,000 euros per additional quarter.
E-reporting not transmitted: 500 euros per missing transmission, capped at 15,000 euros per calendar year.
A first offence is not penalised if you put things right on your own or within 30 days of a request from the tax authority. The immediate risk is therefore limited.
The real cost lies elsewhere: the supplier whose invoices you no longer see because you are not in the directory, and the year-end closing that goes off the rails for lack of clean data.
Where to start
This week: ask your accountant which approved platform you are registered on and check that you appear in the directory. If the answer is vague, that is the first job.
By the end of November: list your sales by type (consumers, businesses, abroad) and your current tools: store, till, invoicing software, bank.
By early 2027: choose your issuing software with your accountant. Check that it handles e-reporting of consumer sales and connects to your Wix or Shopify store.
First half of 2027: adapt the store. A "I am a business" tick box and a company number field at checkout, and up-to-date legal details on your invoice templates.
Before summer 2027: test on real orders, one to a consumer and one to a business, and have your accountant validate the result.
What we take away
The reform is not played out inside your Wix or Shopify store but around it: an approved platform, a connected invoicing tool, and clean sales data.
Receiving has been mandatory since September 2026; issuing and e-reporting arrive in September 2027. Ten months is comfortable if you start now, and unmanageable if you wait until June.
Clearing this ground once and for all will spare you penalties, and above all hours of re-keying at every closing.
Do you run a Wix Stores or Shopify shop and have no idea where your invoicing chain stands? At les défricheurs agency, we set it up for you: an audit of your sales flows, your invoicing software connected to the store, a company number field and business tick box at checkout.
We finish with a full-scale test alongside your accountant. Book a slot or discover our Wix services.
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