🧾 French e-invoicing · The Lab · NBN IA

French e-invoicing Course · Module 01

What an e-invoice actually is

You already email your invoices as PDFs, so you're covered? No. And that's misunderstanding number one about this reform. 👇

01 · What an e-invoice actually is02 · What changes on 1 September 202603 · Receiving: everyone's obligation…
The misunderstanding

A PDF sent by email is not an e-invoice

The tax authority spells it out: an image-type invoice — a scan, or a PDF generated from your word processor — sent by email is not an e-invoice under the reform.

It's not about goodwill. It's about form.

The definition

Three conditions, all required

1. Digital end to end. Issued, transmitted and received electronically, without going through paper or an image.

2. Structured data. A minimum set of fields a machine can read directly: the amount sits in an « amount » field, not somewhere inside a picture.

3. Sent through an approved platform. It reaches your customer via an intermediary registered with the tax authority.

Remove any one of the three and you don't have an e-invoice. You have a file.

⚖️ General information, based on impots.gouv.fr as consulted in August 2026. This is not tax or legal advice: for your own situation, talk to your accountant. Official helpline: 0806 807 807.

Check that you got it

2 quick questions

1. Is your invoice PDF sent by email an e-invoice?

Right: the tax authority states that a PDF sent by email is not an e-invoice.

2. What makes a real e-invoice?

Right: machine-readable format and the approved platform go together.

What to remember

  • PDF by email ≠ e-invoice. Everything else follows from this.
  • Three conditions: digital, structured, through an approved platform.
  • It doesn't depend on goodwill but on the file's shape and the route it takes.