It is one of the most ambitious, perhaps even courageous, but definitely one of the most intrusive, fiscal and digitsation programmes withing the EU – and it is on everyone’s agenda: the French e-invoicing and e-reporting mandate.

Over the past weeks it became increasingly apparent that the French Directorate General of Public Finance (DGFIP) might be considering delaying the implementation date of the French e-invoicing and e-reporting requirements. The delay was confirmed on July 28 PM via this press release:

The original start date of what we named ‘the French Mandate’ was July 1, 2024. No new dates have been communicated in the press release. The delay raises many questions, including, critically, how the PDP registration will now progress (Plateforme Dematerialisation Partenaire); there will be questions about the market pilot planned to start on January 3, 2024. And there is still the nagging question as to whether we will see further changes to the requirements, which is not uncommon when e-invoicing/e-reporting obligations are delayed.

Some of the details in the press release, particularly the link to adopting the Finance Law for 2024, could suggest that the delay may be considerable. We will provide more information on the postponement as soon as we learn more.