Invoicing guide
Invoicing in France
VAT — how it works, what an invoice needs, and where the numbers come from.
Data as of 2026-07-19. Sources: www.economie.gouv.fr (opens in new tab), www.compta-online.com (opens in new tab), libeo.io (opens in new tab).
This is general guidance, not tax advice — verify with your tax authority.
The tax regime
France taxes most sales under a VAT system (regime type: vat). The document title Ochre prints is “Invoice.”
Tax registration number
The tax registration number for France is labelled Numéro de TVA intracommunautaire on an Ochre invoice.
Format: "FR", then 2 characters, each a digit or an uppercase letter, then 9 digits.
Registration & thresholds
37,500 EUR — Franchise en base de TVA: €85,000 for goods/sales/accommodation (tolerance €93,500), €37,500 for services/liberal professions (tolerance €41,250). Exceeding the tolerance figure mid-year triggers VAT liability from that day. A proposed single €25,000 threshold was ABANDONED — the dual structure stands as of 2026-07-19 (re-verify, contested area).
Rates
| Standard (20%) | 20% |
|---|---|
| Intermediate (10%) | 10% |
| Reduced (5.5%) | 5.5% |
| Super-reduced (2.1%) | 2.1% |
| Zero-rated (0%) | 0% |
| Exempt | 0% |
| Out of scope | 0% |
Rates shown above are for Domestic supply; this pack also defines Intra-Community B2B (reverse charge) and Export (outside EU) for cross-border or special-case supplies.
This pack also defines an “Intra-Community B2B (reverse charge)” table — intra-EU B2B supplies can qualify for the reverse charge.
Price display
Ochre's default for France is tax-exclusive pricing on a line item.
For consumer-facing (B2C) prices, the displayed price must include tax.
Rounding
Tax is rounded half up, applied once per tax rate on the invoice, to a precision of 0.01.
Mandatory invoice fields
- Seller's tax registration number
- Customer's tax registration number (B2B)
- Sequential invoice number
- Issue date
- Date of supply
- Tax broken down by rate
- Reverse-charge statement (where it applies)
Fiscal year & dates
The fiscal year starts January 1. Dates print in DD/MM/YYYY order.
Currency
EUR (€), shown to 2 decimal places.
E-invoicing
E-invoicing reform via the PPF directory and registered private platforms (PDP). 1 Sep 2026: universal RECEPTION mandate (all businesses) + ISSUANCE for large/mid-size enterprises. 1 Sep 2027: issuance extends to all SMEs/micro-businesses. Historically delayed — treat the 2027 date as most re-check-worthy. Ochre v1 is advisory only.