What is an electronic invoice in France?

In practice, in France

The reform makes electronic invoicing mandatory for transactions between VAT-taxable businesses established in France — domestic B2B. Three obligations follow: issuing in a structured format (Factur-X, UBL, or CII), going through an approved platform to send and receive, and letting VAT data flow through to the DGFiP.

The distinction that matters most, and the one most often missed: receiving and issuing do not run on the same timeline. Every taxable business must be able to receive before it is required to issue, and the delay on issuing applies only to SMEs, micro-businesses, and small businesses — mid-sized companies issue on the same footing as large ones.

In Odoo

Odoo produces all three structured formats and handles transmission, since it is itself registered as an approved platform by the DGFiP. No third-party layer is needed on top.

What Odoo does not do for you: identifying your customers in the directory, cleaning up the partner data that makes them reachable, and deciding which format you issue in. An incomplete customer base blocks issuing well before configuration even comes into play.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a signed or timestamped PDF is enough: what matters is the structured format, not digitised paper.
• Preparing to issue while neglecting receiving, when receiving is what applies first, and to everyone.
• Discovering at configuration time that customers’ SIREN numbers, addresses, and VAT identifiers are incomplete — that is the real work, and it comes first.