Directory registration, four new invoice mentions, SIREN clean-up, a pilot phase: the seven tasks to tick off this summer to face mandatory reception without improvising.
In short. Fewer than eight weeks remain before 1 September 2026, when every French VAT-registered business must be able to receive electronic invoices through an approved platform. For an SME, compliance comes down to seven tasks: map your invoicing flows, pick a platform, register in the central directory, clean your partner data, handle the four new mandatory mentions, organise e-reporting, then train and pilot. This checklist works through them in order, with the real lead times we see in the field, from Metz to Strasbourg.
Most Grand Est SMEs we meet are not starting from scratch: they have read the timeline, heard about approved platforms, sometimes collected three contradictory quotes. What is missing is a marching order. Here is the checklist we use on client engagements, task by task. For the full background on the reform (who is concerned, when, with which penalties), see our guide to France's 2026 e-invoicing mandate for SMEs in the Grand Est: here, we execute.
The compliance checklist in 7 points
To be compliant on 1 September 2026, an SME must: map its invoicing flows, choose an approved platform, register in the central directory, verify the SIREN and VAT numbers of its partners, configure the four new mandatory invoice mentions, organise its e-reporting, then train its teams and test on a pilot scope.
1. Map your invoicing flows
Half a day is enough, and everything else depends on it. List who you invoice and who invoices you, then split: domestic French B2B (e-invoicing), sales to consumers (e-reporting), foreign clients and suppliers (e-reporting), public-sector clients (Chorus Pro, unchanged). A Thionville business earning 30% of its revenue from Luxembourg clients often discovers at this step that a third of its activity falls under e-reporting, not e-invoicing. That split sizes the whole project.
2. Choose your approved platform, and not in August
Since the public portal stopped exchanging invoices, going through an approved platform (PA) is the only compliant route, and there is no free public option any more. Pricing models vary widely: monthly subscriptions, per-document fees (often €0.10 to €0.50), or both. Ask three questions before signing: the total cost at your real invoice volume, whether e-reporting is covered, and how it integrates with your management tool. If you run Odoo, the question settles itself: Odoo has been a DGFiP-approved platform since spring 2026, and its e-invoicing is free and unlimited, with no third-party subscription and no per-invoice fee.
3. Register in the central directory
The central directory, run on the Chorus Pro foundation and open since 18 September 2025, is the address book of the whole scheme: without an entry, your suppliers cannot address electronic invoices to you. Registration involves an identity check (KYC) of the legal representative, who must be listed on Infogreffe; the technical identifier takes the form SIREN_SIREN and activation takes around 24 hours. Anticipate the classic friction point: if your director is not correctly listed on Infogreffe (an unpublished change of management, for instance), verification blocks, and fixing it takes weeks, not hours. One last reflex: if a direct Peppol connection is active, disable it before registering to avoid routing conflicts.
4. Verify the SIREN, SIRET and VAT numbers of your partners
This is the longest task, and the most underestimated. The directory routes invoices by identifier: one wrong SIREN and your invoice never finds its recipient. Comb through your customer and supplier records: exact SIREN and SIRET, valid intra-EU VAT numbers, up-to-date delivery addresses. On the files we handle, this clean-up accounts for 60 to 70% of total compliance time. A 12-person services SME we supported completed its entire compliance in three weeks: two of them went into partner records.
5. Handle the four new mandatory mentions
On 1 September 2026, four additional mentions become mandatory on invoices:
| Mention | What to prepare |
|---|---|
| The client's SIREN | Filled in and verified on every B2B customer record |
| Category of operation | Goods, services or mixed: to be qualified on your products and invoice templates |
| VAT-on-debits option | To be stated if you have opted for it |
| Delivery address | If it differs from the billing address, it must appear on the invoice |
In a well-configured tool, these mentions are served automatically from records and sales flows. The work is therefore not on the invoice template; it sits upstream, in data quality, back to point 4.
6. Organise your e-reporting, especially if you work across the border
E-invoicing only covers your domestic B2B invoices. Your sales to consumers and your transactions with foreign parties, Luxembourg clients included, fall under e-reporting: the periodic transmission of transaction data to the administration. Two mistakes to avoid. First: believing e-reporting replaces the VAT return; it comes on top of it. Second: treating it as optional, when the penalty is €500 per missing transmission, ten times the fine per non-compliant invoice. And if your business has an entity in the Grand Duchy, do not mix the regimes: in Luxembourg there is no B2B obligation to date, as we explain in our guide to e-invoicing in Luxembourg.
7. Train your teams and test on a pilot scope
The reform changes daily habits: no more resetting an issued B2B invoice to draft (every correction goes through a credit note), lifecycle statuses to track (deposited, rejected, refused, collected), directory rejections to deal with. Half a day of training for accounting and sales teams saves months of friction. Then test in real conditions on a small batch of willing clients: statuses flow back into your tool and blockages surface immediately, while there is still time to fix them.
Your summer countdown
Starting mid-July, a realistic sequence looks like this: flow mapping and platform choice before the end of July; directory registration and the start of the partner-data clean-up right after; mentions and e-reporting configured by mid-August; training and pilot in the last two weeks of August. Three to five weeks in total for a typical SME, most of it on data quality. Starting in early August is still workable; starting in late August is not.
Frequently asked questions
What does an SME risk if it is not ready on 1 September 2026?
The 1 September 2026 obligation is about reception: without a declared reception platform, the fine is €500 then €1,000 per quarter. On top of that comes a costlier risk: supplier invoices that stop arriving, and deductible VAT the administration can refuse.
How long does full compliance take?
For a typical SME, three to five calendar weeks. The technical side (registration, configuration) is settled in a few days; verifying customer and supplier records absorbs 60 to 70% of the time.
Does registering in the directory cost anything?
No, registration in the central directory is free. What can cost money is the approved platform you choose: some charge subscriptions or per-document fees. With Odoo, a DGFiP-approved platform, sending and receiving are free and unlimited.
My SME only has to issue in 2027, can I wait until next year?
No. From 1 September 2026 you must be able to receive the electronic invoices your suppliers will start sending through the scheme. The September 2027 issuing obligation is a second milestone, not the first one.
Why Advena?
- A turnkey compliance package from €349: flow audit, directory registration, configuration and training, with no hourly billing.
- Zero recurring platform cost: with Odoo, a DGFiP-approved platform, e-invoicing is free and unlimited.
- A foot on each side of the border: the French and Luxembourg regimes handled by the same team, a real issue in the Grand Est.
- Finance and digital under one roof: compliance is wired into your accounting, not handled in a silo.
Read next: France's 2026 e-invoicing mandate: a guide for SMEs in the Grand Est · Odoo as a DGFiP-approved platform: free, unlimited e-invoicing · E-invoicing in Luxembourg: obligations, Peppol and Odoo · Our Odoo integration services
Want all seven boxes ticked before 1 September 2026, without tying up your teams all summer? Our compliance package starts at €349.
Request a compliance audit
