French Invoice Requirements: Mandatory Mentions 2026

Quick answer: A French invoice (facture) must include the mentions obligatoires: a unique sequential number, issue date, seller and buyer names and addresses, SIREN, VAT numbers, sale or service date, detailed line items, prices excluding tax, VAT rate and amount, total, due date, late payment penalty rate and the 40 euro recovery fee. Since September 2026, four new mentions apply too.

France has some of the most detailed invoice rules in Europe, and it is in the middle of a nationwide switch to electronic invoicing. This guide lists every mandatory mention with its French term, explains the new 2026 fields, walks through an example invoice with real numbers, and covers penalties, payment terms and the most common errors. It is written for French businesses, micro-entrepreneurs and foreign suppliers billing French clients.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Rules change, so confirm details with an expert-comptable or the official sources linked below.

What are the mandatory invoice mentions in France?

French invoice content comes from two sets of rules: the General Tax Code (Code général des impôts, article 242 nonies A of annex II) and the Commercial Code (Code de commerce, article L441-9). Together they define the mentions obligatoires. The official list is published on entreprendre.service-public.fr.

Mandatory mention	French term	Notes
Invoice date	Date d'émission	The date the invoice is issued
Invoice number	Numéro de facture	Unique, chronological, no gaps; separate series allowed
Seller identity	Nom ou dénomination sociale, adresse	Plus billing address of the buyer if different
Buyer identity	Nom et adresse du client	Legal name and address
Company identifier	SIREN or SIRET	Seller's number; buyer's SIREN required from Sept 2026 (see below)
Legal form and share capital	Forme juridique, capital social	For companies, e.g. "SAS au capital de 10 000 €"
Trade register	RCS + city, or RM number	For registered traders and artisans
VAT numbers	Numéro de TVA intracommunautaire	Seller's, and buyer's for B2B and EU transactions
Date of sale or service	Date de la vente ou de la prestation	If different from invoice date
Description	Désignation, quantité	Precise description of each product or service
Unit price excluding tax	Prix unitaire hors taxes (HT)	Plus any discounts (rabais, remises, ristournes)
VAT rate and amount	Taux et montant de TVA	Per rate, if several rates apply
Totals	Total HT, total TVA, total TTC	Excluding tax, VAT, including tax
Payment due date	Date d'échéance	Required for B2B
Early payment discount	Conditions d'escompte	Or "Pas d'escompte pour paiement anticipé"
Late payment penalties	Taux des pénalités de retard	Rate applied if paid late
Recovery fee	Indemnité forfaitaire de 40 €	B2B only
Legal notes when relevant	Mentions spécifiques	Exemption, reverse charge, margin scheme, insurance

Special mentions that apply only in some cases

• VAT franchise: "TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI" for micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses under the franchise en base.
• Reverse charge: "Autoliquidation" when the buyer accounts for VAT, for example on B2B services to EU businesses. See our guide to the reverse charge invoice.
• Intra-EU supply of goods: "Exonération de TVA, article 262 ter I du CGI".
• Exports outside the EU: an exemption reference such as article 262 I of the CGI.
• Construction artisans: details of the mandatory professional insurance (assurance décennale), including insurer and coverage area.
• Management centers: members of an approved management body (organisme de gestion agréé) mention it and accept payment by cheque or card.

What changed in September 2026? The four new mentions

France's e-invoicing reform started on 1 September 2026. From that date every VAT-registered business established in France must be able to receive electronic invoices, large and mid-sized companies must issue them, and small and micro businesses follow from 1 September 2027. The reform also added four mentions to invoices:

1. The buyer's SIREN number (numéro SIREN du client), used to route the e-invoice to the right business.
2. The delivery address (adresse de livraison des biens), when it differs from the buyer's billing address.
3. The category of the transaction (catégorie de l'opération): delivery of goods, provision of services, or both.
4. The option to pay VAT on debits (option pour le paiement de la TVA d'après les débits), when the supplier has chosen it.

The timing of these new mentions is tied to the reform, so check the latest guidance from your platform (plateforme agréée) or accountant. Our France e-invoicing reform guide covers the calendar, approved platforms, e-reporting and the Factur-X, UBL and CII formats. For the structure behind those formats, see the EN 16931 e-invoice template.

Example French invoice with VAT

A Lyon web agency (SAS) bills a Paris client for a website project. Standard VAT in France is 20%; reduced rates are 10%, 5.5% and 2.1% for specific goods and services. The rates are listed on impots.gouv.fr and in our table of EU VAT rates for 2026.

FACTURE N° 2026-0187 | Date d'émission: 29/10/2026 | Date de la prestation: 01/10/2026 au 24/10/2026 | Catégorie: prestation de services
Vendeur: Atelier Rhône Digital SAS au capital de 5 000 €, 12 rue de la République, 69002 Lyon, SIREN 123 456 789, RCS Lyon, TVA FR12123456789
Client: Maison Lefèvre SARL, 40 boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris, SIREN 987 654 321, TVA FR45987654321

Désignation	Qté	PU HT (€)	Total HT (€)
Création site vitrine, 6 pages	1	4 200,00	4 200,00
Rédaction de contenus (par page)	6	150,00	900,00
Formation à l'outil de gestion (heures)	3	90,00	270,00
Remise commerciale 5%			-268,50
Total HT			5 101,50
TVA 20%			1 020,30
Total TTC			6 121,80

Échéance: 28/11/2026 (30 jours). Pas d'escompte pour paiement anticipé. Pénalités de retard: taux BCE majoré de 10 points. Indemnité forfaitaire pour frais de recouvrement: 40 €. Paiement par virement: IBAN FR76 ...

Check the math: 4,200 + 900 + 270 = 5,370; a 5% discount is 268.50, giving 5,101.50 excluding VAT; VAT at 20% is 1,020.30; total 6,121.80 euros.

Payment terms and late payment penalties in France

France caps payment terms between businesses under the Code de commerce (article L441-10):

• Default term: 30 days after receipt of the goods or performance of the service, if nothing is agreed.
• Maximum agreed term: 60 days from the invoice date, or 45 days end of month if expressly agreed in the contract.
• Late payment interest: the rate in your terms cannot be lower than three times the legal interest rate. If no rate is stated, the default is the European Central Bank refinancing rate plus 10 percentage points.
• Recovery fee: 40 euros per late invoice, owed automatically by business customers.

Late payment is a well-known issue in France, so stating these terms clearly on every invoice matters. If you need a template for chasing, our guide to an overdue invoice covers reminder wording and timing.

What are the penalties for incorrect French invoices?

Two different authorities can sanction invoice errors:

Breach	Possible sanction	Source
Missing or incorrect tax mention	Tax fine per missing or inaccurate mention (article 1737 CGI), capped relative to the invoice amount	Tax administration (DGFiP)
Missing commercial mentions (due date, penalties, 40 € fee)	Administrative fine, with higher maximums for companies than for individuals	DGCCRF
Payment terms beyond legal limits	Administrative fine, often published	DGCCRF
Failure to issue e-invoices once mandatory	Fine per non-compliant invoice, with an annual cap	Reform rules (from 2026/2027)

The amounts are revised from time to time, so check the current figures with your accountant or on service-public.fr. Beyond fines, a client's accounts payable team will often simply reject an invoice that lacks its SIREN, VAT number or due date, which delays payment.

How to issue a compliant French invoice: step by step

1. Collect the client's details: legal name, billing address, SIREN, intra-EU VAT number and delivery address if different.
2. Assign the next number in your sequence. No gaps, no reuse. A separate series per year (2026-0001) is common. Our invoice number generator helps keep the format consistent.
3. State the date of sale or service and the category of the transaction.
4. List each item with quantity, unit price HT and any discount.
5. Apply the right VAT rate or the correct exemption or reverse charge mention.
6. Show totals: HT, VAT per rate, TTC.
7. Add the commercial mentions: due date, escompte, penalty rate, 40 € fee.
8. Issue through an approved platform once the e-invoicing obligation applies to you; until then, a PDF invoice remains acceptable for businesses not yet in scope.
9. Keep the invoice for 10 years in its original format.

For corrections, never edit an issued invoice: issue a credit note (avoir) referencing the original, then a new invoice.

How do French businesses invoice foreign clients?

The mandatory mentions still apply, but the VAT treatment changes:

• B2B services to an EU business: no French VAT; show both VAT numbers and the mention "Autoliquidation". Declare the service on the monthly European services declaration (DES).
• B2B services to a business outside the EU: usually no French VAT, with a note such as "TVA non applicable, article 259-1 du CGI".
• Services to consumers abroad: often French VAT applies, but digital services and some others follow the customer's country rules and may go through the One Stop Shop. Our guide to the EU VAT One Stop Shop explains when.
• Invoices in a foreign currency: allowed, but show the VAT amount in euros when French VAT is charged, and keep a record of the exchange rate used.

For bilingual invoices, keep the French mandatory mentions and add English labels; foreign clients appreciate it and French auditors still see the required wording. A quick way to draft one is our free invoice generator, where you can rename every label.

Common mistakes on French invoices

• Forgetting the late penalty rate and the 40 euro fee. These are the mentions most often missing on B2B invoices.
• No due date or a due date beyond the 60-day limit.
• Charging VAT under the franchise or forgetting the 293 B mention.
• Not validating the client's VAT number. Check intra-EU numbers in VIES before applying the reverse charge; see our VIES check guide.
• Gaps in numbering after deleting a draft invoice.
• Missing the buyer's SIREN now that it is used for e-invoice routing.
• Using a non-French template without the commercial mentions. Generic US-style templates rarely include escompte or penalty terms.

French invoice requirements checklist

• Unique sequential number and issue date.
• Seller: name, address, SIREN/SIRET, legal form, capital, RCS/RM, VAT number.
• Buyer: name, address, SIREN, VAT number; delivery address if different.
• Date of sale or service and category (goods, services or both).
• Line items with quantity, unit price HT and discounts.
• VAT rate and amount per rate, or exemption/reverse charge mention.
• Total HT, VAT and TTC.
• Due date, escompte terms, late penalty rate, 40 € recovery fee.
• VAT on debits option, if chosen.

Compare with neighboring rules in our guides to German invoice requirements and VAT invoices in general, or browse invoice requirements by country.

Meeting French invoice requirements comes down to a complete set of mandatory mentions, correct VAT treatment and clear B2B payment terms, plus the new SIREN, delivery address, transaction category and VAT-on-debits fields under the 2026 reform. For businesses not yet required to issue e-invoices, our free invoice generator needs no sign-up, lets you add every mention, and downloads a PDF built in your browser. Start with the free invoice generator.