Invoicing in France at a glance

Documents created on this page default to EUR and are laid out for France. Set the tax rate on each line to match the supply.

• Currency: EUR
• Tax: TVA
• Rates: 20% standard, 10% and 5.5% reduced
• Tax identifier on the invoice: SIRET and numéro de TVA

The facture and French requirements

French invoicing rules are among the most detailed in the EU, and penalties for a non-compliant facture are levied per invoice. The standard TVA rate is 20%, with reduced rates of 10% on restaurants and transport and 5.5% on most food and books.

Two obligations catch foreign suppliers out: the late-payment penalty rate and the fixed recovery indemnity must both be stated on the invoice itself, and every invoice must carry a unique number in an unbroken chronological sequence.

Mandatory mentions on a facture

Put these on the document; several are legally required wordings rather than data fields.

• The word "Facture", a unique sequential number and the issue date
• Your business name, address and SIRET number
• Your numéro de TVA intracommunautaire where registered
• The customer's name, address and TVA number for B2B supplies
• The date of the supply and the payment due date
• Unit price excluding tax, quantity, TVA rate and total per rate
• The late-payment penalty rate applied to overdue amounts
• The fixed indemnity for recovery costs on late B2B payments

Auto-entrepreneurs and TVA franchise

Auto-entrepreneurs under the franchise en base de TVA charge no tax. If that applies to you, set every line to 0% and add the mandatory mention to the notes field stating that TVA is not applicable under article 293 B of the CGI.