Factur-X and Shopify: France's e-invoicing mandate, explained
Last updated 3 September 2026
France is switching its B2B invoicing to structured data, and the first deadline — 1 September 2026 — is weeks away. If you sell B2B from a Shopify store in France, or you sell into France, two things decide what you actually have to do: the format (Factur-X, UBL or CII) and the route (a state-approved platform, not plain email). This page explains both, and where the French route parts company with Peppol.
What Factur-X actually is
Factur-X is a hybrid invoice: an ordinary PDF/A-3 document with an XML file embedded inside it. A human opens the PDF and sees a normal invoice; the buyer's accounting software ignores the picture and reads the embedded XML — seller, buyer, VAT numbers, line items, tax breakdown, totals — as structured data it can book without retyping.
That XML follows EN 16931, the European standard, in its CII syntax. Factur-X was developed jointly with Germany's ZUGFeRD, and the two are the same specification under different names. So a well-built Factur-X invoice is also a well-built ZUGFeRD invoice — which matters more than it sounds if you sell into both countries.
How France's model works: approved platforms and a fifth corner
Most of Europe leaves delivery to you and your buyer. France does not. Invoices are exchanged through a state-approved platform — the plateforme agréée (PA), the designation that has replaced the earlier plateforme de dématérialisation partenaire (PDP) label most guides still use. Your platform sends the invoice to your buyer's platform, and also forwards the mandated dataset to the public portal (PPF), which acts as the central directory and the tax administration's collection point.
Note what changed along the way: the public portal was originally going to be a free invoicing channel for everyone. It is not. Every business inside the mandate needs a relationship with an approved platform. Emailing a Factur-X PDF to a French buyer, however valid the file, is not compliance.
Alongside e-invoicing runs e-reporting: transaction and payment data that must be reported for the flows the e-invoicing rules do not cover — B2C sales and cross-border B2B.
The timetable
| Date | What becomes mandatory |
|---|---|
| 1 September 2026 | Receiving electronic invoices — for every VAT-registered business in France, whatever its size. |
| 1 September 2026 | Issuing e-invoices and submitting e-reporting data — for large and mid-sized businesses. |
| 1 September 2027 | Issuing e-invoices and e-reporting — for small and micro businesses. |
The French reform has been postponed more than once, and the accreditation framework has moved with it. Treat these dates as the current plan and confirm your own position — particularly your size classification, which decides whether your issuing obligation is 2026 or 2027.
Why this is not Peppol
It is tempting to file France under “e-invoicing, same as everywhere”. The architecture is genuinely different:
- Four corners vs five. Peppol connects you → your provider → your buyer's provider → your buyer. France adds the tax administration as a fifth corner, in the flow, by design.
- Approval is mandatory. Any Peppol access point can carry a Peppol invoice. In France your platform must be approved by the tax administration.
- A central directory. France runs the addressing directory centrally through the public portal, rather than the distributed lookup Peppol uses.
- Reporting is bundled in. Peppol moves invoices. The French mandate moves invoices and a tax dataset, plus payment status for services.
The two are not enemies. Peppol can be the transport underneath a French platform, and the DGFiP became the French Peppol authority in July 2025. But “we're on Peppol” does not answer the French question, and that is the distinction most merchants get wrong.
What this means for a Shopify store
Shopify handles the commerce: B2B customers, company profiles, price lists, tax settings. It does not produce a structured invoice. There is no Factur-X or ZUGFeRD output, no EN 16931 XML, no platform connection, and no record of what was delivered. Whichever country's rules you are under, that gap is the same one — see the EU B2B invoicing hub for the full picture, or what an e-invoice actually is if the terminology is new.
The details that decide whether an invoice is accepted are usually about VAT rather than layout: tax-inclusive pricing converted to net and VAT incorrectly, rounding leaving net + VAT a cent away from gross, a missing or unvalidated buyer VAT number, or a cross-border B2B sale invoiced with VAT instead of reverse charge and its legal note.
Where Zeppol fits — and where it doesn't
Straight answer: Zeppol does not connect to a French approved platform today. We are built for the EN 16931 + Peppol route and focus on Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Nordics. Spain is not on that route either, though for a narrower reason than the others: Royal Decree 238/2026 admits UBL, and counts a Peppol BIS message between private platforms, so the file is not the problem. The exchange still has to run through the AEAT public solution or a certified Spanish platform, which is a separate national integration in the same way France, Italy and Poland are. If your obligation is domestic French B2B invoicing, you need a French approved platform, and we would rather tell you that than sell you a near-miss.
What Zeppol is the right tool for, if you are French:
- Selling B2B into Germany. Those invoices are outside the French e-invoicing obligation — they are e-reporting — but they still have to satisfy German rules. Zeppol issues Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 UBL, EN 16931 by construction, which satisfies the German format requirement without being XRechnung or ZUGFeRD. See Germany's 2027 mandate.
- Selling B2B into Belgium. Structured e-invoicing has been mandatory for domestic Belgian B2B since January 2026, with Peppol as the default channel, and Belgian buyers ask for Peppol delivery as a matter of course.
- Getting the VAT right. Intra-EU B2B is normally reverse charge at 0% with the correct legal note, and the buyer's VAT number should be validated against VIES before you rely on it.
- Receiving. German-style structured invoices arriving from your suppliers, handled rather than printed.
Zeppol is a compliance tool, not a tax suite and not a French PDP. That is a deliberate limit, and it is why the invoices we do produce are the ones we can stand behind.
Go deeper
- Germany's 2027 B2B e-invoicing mandate — dates, XRechnung vs ZUGFeRD, and what Shopify merchants must do.
- What is an e-invoice? — the plain-language starting point.
- EU B2B invoicing on Shopify — every mandate, format and deadline in one place.
- EN 16931 explained — the standard behind Factur-X, ZUGFeRD, XRechnung and UBL.
Frequently asked questions
What is Factur-X?
A hybrid invoice: a PDF/A-3 document with EN 16931-compliant CII XML embedded inside it, so a person and a machine read the same file. It is the French twin of Germany's ZUGFeRD — jointly developed, technically the same specification.
When does the French mandate start?
From 1 September 2026 every VAT-registered French business must be able to receive e-invoices, and large and mid-sized businesses must issue them and report. Small and micro businesses issue from 1 September 2027. The reform has slipped before — confirm the current dates.
Do I have to use a PDP or approved platform?
Yes. Invoices go through a state-approved platform (plateforme agréée, previously PDP). The public portal is the directory and reporting destination, not a free invoicing channel. Emailing a Factur-X file to a French buyer is not compliance.
How is this different from Peppol?
Peppol is a four-corner network with no tax authority in the flow. France adds the administration as a fifth corner, plus mandatory platform approval, a central directory and e-reporting. Peppol can be the transport underneath — the DGFiP has been the French Peppol authority since July 2025 — but being on Peppol is not French compliance by itself.
I'm French and sell B2B into Germany. Which rules apply?
Cross-border B2B is outside the French e-invoicing obligation and falls under e-reporting, so the data goes to the administration via your platform. The invoice itself must satisfy your buyer's country: an EN 16931 invoice for Germany — where the obligation is on the format, not the channel, so Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 UBL discharges it — and structured invoicing over Peppol for Belgium. That part is what Zeppol does.
This guide is general information for Shopify merchants, not legal or tax advice. The French reform has been rescheduled before, and thresholds, platform rules and national requirements change — confirm your own obligations with a qualified tax adviser.
E-invoices from your Shopify B2B orders
Zeppol turns every B2B order into an EN 16931 document, checks it against the EU and the German rules, and sends it over Peppol or by email. Join the list and I'll be in touch before the deadline.