Check if your French customer is ready for e-invoicing
Here is what is happening. Since 1 September 2026, every VAT-registered business established in France must be able to receive electronic invoices. Here is what to do about it. Search for your customer below. We find their SIREN, the 9-digit French company number. Then we walk you through the official French directory, step by step, in English.
Which one is your customer?
French groups often register a lot of legal entities under very similar names, so this list can look confusing. Pick the one whose address and SIREN match what is printed on your customer's invoices or purchase orders.
Your customer
That button copies the SIREN to your clipboard and opens the official directory (l'annuaire) in a new tab. We do not query the directory for you — it is CAPTCHA-protected and its API is reserved for approved platforms, so the last click has to be yours.
One thing to know about the issuing date: the "company size" above is the statistical class INSEE publishes in the company register, computed for the enterprise as a whole. The obligation to issue is assessed per legal entity — under the LME criteria (décret n° 2008-1354) on that entity's own last closed accounts. So a small subsidiary of a large group can show up here as large and still only have to issue from 1 September 2027. Treat the issuing date as a strong hint, and confirm it with your customer. The obligation to receive on 1 September 2026 is simpler: no size test, every VAT-registered business established in France.
How to read the official directory
The directory is French-only, so here is exactly what you will see, in the order you will see it. Nothing here is hard — it is just in another language.
- A security check comes first. Complete the CAPTCHA. This is completely normal — the directory is public but protected against automated lookups. There is no way to skip it, and no tool may legitimately bypass it.
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Paste the SIREN into the search field.
It is already on your clipboard:
. Search by SIREN rather than by name — the names in there are legal names, not the trading names you probably know them by. -
Read the registration line.
Plateforme(s) agréée(s) rattachée(s) : Oui "Approved platform(s) attached: Yes" — good news. They are registered with at least one approved platform (a Plateforme Agréée, PA, formerly PDP), which means they can receive structured e-invoices.Plateforme(s) agréée(s) rattachée(s) : Non "No" — they have not linked a platform yet. Since 1 September 2026 every business must be able to receive e-invoices, so this is worth raising with them directly.
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Check the billing address line.
Aucune adresse de facturation active "No active billing address." Do not read too much into this one on its own: directory entries are still being published bit by bit, so it can lag behind a platform your customer has already chosen. It means there is no live routing address to send to yet, so ask them which platform they use.
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Note the routing granularity.
This is just the directory telling you how precisely your customer
wants invoices addressed.
SIREN The easy one. There is one routing address for the whole legal entity, so address invoices to the 9-digit SIREN.SIREN_SIRET Routing per establishment. Use the 14-digit SIRET of the specific site you are billing. Watch out here: the head-office SIRET is not automatically the right one.SIREN_SIRET_CODE_ROUTAGE (suffix / routing code) Routing per department or cost centre. You need the SIRET plus a routing code, and only your customer can give you that. Ask for it by name — nobody volunteers it.
- Write down what you found. Save the SIREN, the routing level and the platform name onto the customer record in your accounting system while it is in front of you. You will need all three the moment you start issuing structured invoices, and future you will be grateful.
Open the official directory again · Browse the 148 approved platforms
Do you have more than one French customer?
Then you will do this again. Leave your email and we send you the same checklist as a list you can forward to a colleague. That is one email.
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You can also read the whole checklist right now, without giving us an address, on the checklist page.
Who made this. We are Attestwire, and this checker is free. We also make an EN 16931 validation API for developers. EN 16931 is the European standard the French formats are built on. You post an invoice as JSON or UBL/CII XML. It answers with the rule you break and how to fix it. Free tier, 100 documents a month, no card needed: api.attestwire.com.
What this means for you
If you invoice a French business from outside France, take a breath: this reform changes how your invoices arrive, not whether you get paid. Here is the short version. The longer one, with the scope exceptions and a step-by-step plan, lives on what non-French suppliers need to do for French e-invoicing.
Your French client will receive invoices through a platform
From 1 September 2026, every VAT-registered business established in France has to be able to receive electronic invoices. They do that by registering with an approved platform — a Plateforme Agréée (PA), the term that replaced "PDP". Think of the platform as the new front door: it takes the structured invoice, validates it, and drops it into their accounts-payable system.
The duty to issue arrives in two waves
Large and mid-size French companies (grandes entreprises and ETI) also have to issue structured e-invoices from 1 September 2026. Small companies and micro-businesses get an extra year, until 1 September 2027. The receive side is not staggered like that — it applies to everybody from day one. See the full timeline, with days remaining.
One thing that takes some of the pressure off: the tax administration has said it will not reach straight for penalties at launch. In July 2026, David Amiel, ministre de l'Action et des Comptes publics, announced an approach of "tolerance and goodwill" — a business that runs into a real difficulty, documents it, flags it, and gets on with fixing it should not expect an immediate sanction. Read the announcement. The same announcement opened a help line, 0806 807 807, and a practical guide on impots.gouv.fr.
Read that carefully, though, because it is softer than it sounds. It is not a grace period: there is no fixed date it runs to, and no promise that nothing before some cut-off is fined. What is protected is good faith — a documented problem you are visibly working through. Doing nothing is not protected, and it is not a reason to wait, because your invoices still have to arrive either way.
Which wave a company lands in is decided per legal entity, on the headcount and turnover thresholds of the loi de modernisation de l'économie (décret n° 2008-1354), using that entity's own last closed accounts. It is not decided by the group it belongs to. The size class this checker shows you comes from the register's statistical classification, which is computed at enterprise level — a good indicator, but not the legal test. If the date matters to you commercially, just ask the customer to confirm it.
Emailing a PDF will slowly stop working
Nothing switches off overnight. But a PDF attached to an email is not a compliant electronic invoice under the reform, and as your customers migrate, their platforms and AP teams will increasingly bounce or quietly ignore emailed PDFs. Expect the tolerance to keep shrinking through 2026 and 2027. If this has already happened to you, you are not behind — start here: my French client rejected my PDF invoice — what now?
What to ask your client
Copy these five questions into an email and send them. That is genuinely most of the work. They are steps 7 to 11 of the full fourteen-point checklist, which also covers what you can look up on your own first.
- Which approved platform (PA) do you use? Ask for the platform name in writing so you have it on file.
- What is your routing address, and at which level? SIREN, SIRET, or SIRET plus a routing code — the guide above shows you what each one means.
- Which format do you want? Factur-X, UBL, CII or Peppol BIS. Most platforms take several, so you may already be fine — see which format is which.
- Can we run one test invoice first? One dry run catches routing mistakes while they are still cheap to fix. If you already produce the XML, you can check it against EN 16931 before you send it at attestwire.com/playground — it runs in your browser, and the file is not uploaded.
- Who do we contact if an invoice gets rejected? Rejections come back through the platform now, not by email, so you want a name before you need one.
A note on scope, because it matters: as a non-French supplier you are generally not obliged to issue through a French platform yourself. But your customer's ability to receive is what decides whether your invoice lands, and that is what this checker is for. The full scope question — including the French-establishment exception — is set out on the non-French suppliers page.
Want the checklist, and a note when the rules change, by email?
No catch, and nothing is hidden behind this form — the questions to ask your client are right there on this page, and the full version is on the checklist page. Leave your address and we will email you that same checklist, in a form you can forward to a colleague. That is one email. After that we only write if the French rules or the approved-platform register change in a way that actually affects you, and every email has a one-click unsubscribe link.
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The checklist is not waiting for your address either. It is free, right now, on the checklist page.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if a French company is registered in the annuaire?
Start with the company's 9-digit SIREN — search for it by name at the top of this page. Then open the official directory at facturation.chorus-pro.gouv.fr/annuaire, complete the security check, and paste the SIREN in. The result tells you whether an approved platform is attached (Plateforme(s) agréée(s) rattachée(s)) and at what level invoices should be routed. Do not worry about the French — the step-by-step guide above translates every line for you.
Which PDP does my customer use?
Quick terminology note first: "PDP" is the old name, and the official term is now Plateforme Agréée (PA). The official directory shows whether a platform is attached to a company, and where the company has published it, which one. If the directory does not name it, just ask your customer — their finance or AP team will know off the top of their head. You can also browse all 148 approved platforms here.
Is the French e-invoicing directory available in English?
No — the official directory (l'annuaire) is French-only, with no English interface at all. That is exactly why this page exists. We help you find the right SIREN and translate every phrase you will run into, so you can read the official result yourself rather than take anybody's word for it.
What is a Plateforme Agréée?
It is the middleman, and it is a good thing. A Plateforme Agréée (PA, formerly PDP) is a service provider registered by the French tax authority (DGFiP) to transmit, receive and validate electronic invoices, and to report the required data to the tax administration. Every French business needs one to receive e-invoices from 1 September 2026. Registration is granted provisionally first, then confirmed after interoperability testing.
Why does the directory say "Aucune adresse de facturation active"?
It simply means the company has no active billing address published yet. Directory entries go up as businesses onboard to their platforms, so the entry can lag behind reality. Ask your customer which platform they use rather than waiting for it to appear.
Do I have to issue e-invoices if I am not French?
Probably not, and that is worth knowing. The French obligation to issue applies to businesses established in France, so as a foreign supplier you are generally outside it. What does affect you is the receive side: your French customer will be taking invoices through a platform, so emailed PDFs will keep getting less workable. Agree a format and a routing address with each French customer and you are in good shape.
When exactly does my customer have to start issuing e-invoices?
Large enterprises and ETI issue from 1 September 2026; SMEs, micro-businesses and the self-employed from 1 September 2027. Which category a company falls into is assessed per legal entity, on the headcount and turnover thresholds set by décret n° 2008-1354 under the loi de modernisation de l'économie, using that entity's own last closed accounts — not its group's. The size class we show on the result card comes from the register's statistical classification, which is computed for the enterprise as a whole, so treat it as a strong indicator rather than the legal answer. Where the difference matters to you, ask your customer to confirm their date. The obligation to receive is much simpler: 1 September 2026, everyone, no size test.
What is the difference between a SIREN and a SIRET?
Easy one. A SIREN is the 9-digit identifier of the legal entity. A SIRET is 14 digits: that same SIREN plus a 5-digit establishment code identifying one physical site. E-invoice routing can be defined at either level, and the directory tells you which. One trap to avoid: if your customer routes at SIRET level, the head-office SIRET is not automatically the right one.
Is this tool official?
No, and we would rather be straight with you about that. We are not affiliated with the DGFiP or Chorus Pro. What we do is resolve company identities using the French government's open company register API, then send you to the official directory so you can read the authoritative answer yourself. We never automate or scrape that directory.
Who made this, and why it is free
We are Attestwire. We build software for electronic invoicing. This checker is free, has no account and shows no ads. We made it because the official French directory is French-only, and most people who need it do not read French.
If you write the software that sends the invoices, we also make something for you. It is an EN 16931 validation API. EN 16931 is the European standard the French invoice formats are built on. You post an invoice as JSON. It answers with the rule you break, the field that breaks it, and how to fix it. There is a free tier of 100 documents a month, and it needs no card.
You can try the same engine on your own file first, with no account and no key, at attestwire.com/playground: paste UBL or CII XML and it runs in your browser, so the document is not uploaded anywhere. api.attestwire.com has the documentation, and the pricing is on one page. If none of that applies to you, ignore it — the checker above stays free either way.