Do you store inventory at a fulfilment centre in France, such as Amazon FBA, and do you therefore have a French VAT number? Then you are affected by a new French reform around electronic invoicing. It consists of two components: e-invoicing and e-reporting. Fortunately, you only need to remember one of them.
E-invoicing does not apply to you
E-invoicing — the mandatory electronic exchange of invoices — only applies between companies that are both actually established in France. Your business is based in the Netherlands or elsewhere in the EU; you have a French VAT number because of your inventory, but you are not established there. E-invoicing therefore does not apply to you.
E-reporting does
What does apply to you is e-reporting. This is not a new tax return. It is an automatic, digital transmission of sales data to the French tax authority, separate from your regular periodic VAT return, which continues as normal. France no longer wants to see only your final totals — it also wants the underlying transactions, so that fraud can be detected more quickly.
Which sales does this apply to?
For e-commerce entrepreneurs, there are two concrete situations.
The first is domestic B2C sales in France. Do you sell directly to a French consumer from your French inventory? Then that sale falls under this obligation. If stock is held at a French fulfilment centre and a customer in Lyon orders a product that is shipped directly from that warehouse, both your inventory and your customer are in France. This makes it a domestic French sale that you must report via e-reporting.
The second situation is intra-Community acquisitions in France. Do you move your own inventory from another EU country to your French warehouse? That counts too. If you send part of your stock from the Netherlands to an Amazon warehouse in France, the moment that inventory arrives in France it is treated fiscally as an “intra-Community acquisition” — as if your company is selling the goods to itself across the border. This must also be reported.
Doesn’t Amazon do this for you?
No. Amazon and other fulfilment centres do not report this to the French tax authority themselves. What they do provide is exports containing the sales data you need — quantities, amounts, and VAT rates. You extract that data yourself, but forwarding it to the French tax authority is your own responsibility.
What do you need to do in practice?
- Choose an accredited platform (PDP). This is mandatory: without a connected platform accredited by France, you cannot fulfil your reporting obligation.
- Make sure your sales data reaches that platform. Collect the exports from your fulfilment centre(s) and forward them to the platform, either directly or via your accounting or invoicing software.
- Map your sales flows. What proportion of your revenue comes from domestic French sales, and do you move inventory between EU countries? That determines exactly what needs to be reported.
When does this need to be in place?
From 1 September 2026, the obligation applies to large companies and medium-sized enterprises (ETI), measured at a global level.
From 1 September 2027, it applies to most smaller and medium-sized webshops, and in any case to everyone for intra-Community acquisitions. If you are not part of a larger international group, the deadline for you is most likely 1 September 2027.
What if you don’t comply?
Each missing report carries a fine of €500, with a maximum of €15,000 per year. More than enough reason to sort this out in time rather than run into it unexpectedly.
Need help?
The rules are concrete, but the practical implementation requires the right setup. Yarne, our specialist for the French market, is happy to dive into the details with you.
