According to a report by the FNFE, 74% of companies declare exchanging electronic invoices, but 86% of this share actually make a double sending (electronic + paper invoice). Simple PDF is growing more and more in companies (70% of incoming invoices against 50% of outgoing invoices in electronic format). The fully automated EDI format is used by 40% of companies in transmission and 20% of them use it in reception.
As we know, the state is pushing this transition towards the digitalization of invoicing processes. It is in this spirit that the government has deployed the Chorus Pro Portal. Since 2020, all French companies are required to send their invoices in electronic format to public institutions via this platform Chorus Pro.
Electronic invoicing between private companies: a mandatory implementation between 2023 and 2025?
While electronic invoicing is now only mandatory for issuing invoices to the state, it tends to extend to B2B relations. Indeed, article 153 of the 2020 finance law enacted at the end of 2019 provides for the generalization of the obligation to electronic invoicing in relations between VAT-liable persons.
It would be effective no earlier than 1 January 2023, and no later than 1 January 2025, and would concern all French companies subject to VAT. Like Chorus Pro, the obligation would be progressive and would depend on the size of the companies as well as their sector of activity. We can already imagine that the largest French companies would be the first affected, unlike micro-enterprises which will benefit from a longer period.
The decrees announced will determine the timing of applications and associated modalities. A report from PIFFD with relevant stakeholders and with the support of international experts will be submitted to Parliament by September 1, 2020.
Application of electronic invoicing in the private sector: what does the state say?
This report aims to determine the most appropriate technical, legal and operational solutions for implementing mandatory electronic invoicing in B2B relations. It will detail, for each of the solutions chosen, the organizational constraints that professionals may face as well as the expected benefits on the companies and tax administration side.
The purpose of the electronic invoicing requirement ?
- Simplify VAT returns with online pre-filling
- Reduce payment delays and costs associated with processing paper invoices by digitizing the invoicing process and automatically integrating invoices into company accounting systems
- Fight tax fraud through the collection and exploitation of billing data by PICB.
In this dynamic, tests conducted by the State Financial Information Services Agency (AIFE) were successfully carried out through the Chorus Pro portal, already well known to companies, during February 2020. For the first time, two private entities exchanged invoices via the state platform!
Dematerialization and tax dematerialization of invoices: what are the differences?
It is interesting to differentiate dematerialization and tax dematerialization of invoices to avoid any confusion. Indeed, it is not enough to send your invoices in electronic format (simple dematerialization) for them to be considered as valid tax.
The validity criteria of an electronic invoice
- Prove the authenticity of its origin
You must ensure that the identity of its issuer (your provider for example) is guaranteed. The invoice must have been transmitted by this issuer or must be under its control (by its provider or its customer in case of self-invoicing).
- Attest to the integrity of its content
The invoice must not be modifiable during the process. That is, the data must remain the same throughout its journey to the recipient and until the end of its electronic archiving.
- Ensure good readability.
The generated file must be readable and interpretable by all parties.
A legal electronic invoicing
To ensure that your invoice dematerialization process meets the invoice validity criteria and associated legal constraints, you must adopt one of the following solutions:
- Choice of simple electronic invoice, scanned or not (without signature or manual signature)
A reliable audit trail of the company is required as an internal control for invoices to be admitted for tax purposes. Any business must have a documented and reliable audit trail procedure in place to prove compliance of billing flows and associated invoices.
To know: the use of our platform for dematerialization of invoices facilitates the creation of your reliable audit trail.
- Choice of e-signature invoice with a legal e-signature solution
You don’t have to do anything else, the reliable audit trail is not necessary.
Discover our offer of Supplier Portal and Customer Portal : sending and/or receiving your invoices any format with integrated legal electronic signature solution.
- Choice of EDI invoice (INVOIC)
You don’t have to do anything else either and the reliable audit trail is useless.
Learn more about our EDI solution
