E-Invoicing - Overview

France is introducing mandatory electronic invoicing (E-Invoicing) for B2B transactions. From 1 September 2026, all VAT-registered businesses in France must receive structured electronic invoices from other VAT-registered businesses. The obligation to issue e-invoices will extend progressively to cover all domestic B2B transactions. All invoices must comply with the French E-Invoicing standard and be submitted through an approved platform (Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire, or PDP).

The reform also covers e-reporting for B2C invoices and cross-border transactions. B2C invoices are reported individually through e-reporting. Zoho Books will support e-reporting for applicable France edition transactions before 1 September 2026.

What Is an E-Invoice?

An e-invoice is a machine-readable invoice issued in a structured electronic format (such as Factur-X, CII, or UBL) that can be processed automatically. In France, B2B e-invoices must be transmitted through an approved platform (Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire, or PDP), which routes the invoice between the supplier’s and buyer’s systems.

How E-Invoicing Works in Zoho Books

When you enable E-Invoicing in Zoho Books, the following workflow applies to your transactions:

Convert to Structured Format

The transactions you create in Zoho Books are automatically converted into the structured electronic format required for E-Invoicing in France. The system checks that all required fields are present, such as your SIREN, SIRET, VAT Registration Number, and the customer’s details, before the invoice is pushed.

Send Transactions

Once an invoice is marked as Open, you can push it to your customer through the e-invoicing network by clicking Push Invoice. The invoice is transmitted through B2Brouter to the customer’s system and awaits their acceptance.

If your customer is not registered on the e-invoicing network, the invoice will show a Not Eligible status and you can send the invoice in PDF format via email instead. Once the customer becomes registered, future invoices can be sent electronically through the network.

Track and Handle Rejected Transactions

After a transaction is pushed, Zoho Books tracks and updates its status. When the customer accepts the invoice, the status updates to Accepted. If the customer rejects it, you will be notified of the reason. Since you cannot edit or delete an invoice once it is marked as Open, you can create a correction invoice to issue a revised version, or create a credit note to cancel it.

Receive Transactions

When a vendor sends you an invoice through the e-invoicing network, it will automatically be added to your organisation under Purchases > Bills. You can review the bill and then accept or reject it.

Role of B2Brouter in E-Invoicing

Zoho Books has partnered with B2Brouter, an approved platform (PDP), to provide native e-invoicing connectivity for France. B2Brouter handles the submission and routing of transactions through the e-invoicing network on your behalf.

Zoho Books connects to B2Brouter using your organisation details, such as your VAT Registration Number and SIRET, which you provide during the e-invoicing setup. You do not need to create a separate B2Brouter account.

Zoho Books also supports exporting invoices in Factur-X format, which you can use for B2G invoicing through Chorus Pro. For B2B e-invoicing and e-reporting, use the B2Brouter connection configured in Zoho Books.

Using Another Approved Platform

B2Brouter is not mandatory. If you use another approved platform, you can continue creating invoices in Zoho Books and export them for e-invoicing through that platform. You are responsible for managing the submission and compliance workflow outside Zoho Books.

After enabling e-invoicing, you can configure push and fetch settings independently. If you use a separate approved platform for outgoing invoices, disable push transactions in Zoho Books. This does not affect your fetch configuration.

Set Up E-Invoicing in Zoho Books

Setting up E-Invoicing in Zoho Books is a one-time process. Here is how you can set it up.

Prerequisite: You can set up E-Invoicing only if you’ve enabled taxes in your Zoho Books organisation. Make sure to enter your VAT registration number in the tax settings.

Go to Settings.
Select E-Invoicing under Taxes & Compliance in the Organization Settings pane.
Click Setup E-Invoicing.
Enter the required details:

Field	Description
Registered Name	The legal name of your organisation.
SIREN	Your 9-digit SIREN number (organisation identifier).
SIRET	Your 14-digit SIRET number (establishment identifier).
VAT Registration Number	Your VAT registration number.
Enterprise Size	The size category of your enterprise (for example, SME, large enterprise).
NAF Code	Your NAF (Nomenclature des Activités Françaises) activity code.

Note: The VAT Registration Number and SIRET you enter here are also used by the e-invoicing network to identify and route transactions to and from your organisation’s contacts. Ensure these details are accurate before pushing any e-invoices.

Verify your organisation address details, including address, city, state, postal code, and mobile number.
Choose whether the updated organisation address should apply only to new transactions or to both existing and new transactions.
Enter the Tax Reporting Start Date.
Read and accept the terms and conditions.
Click Save & Continue.
In the Set Up Transaction Push step, configure your push and fetch preferences, then complete the setup.

Sender and Receiver Configuration

After setup is completed, you can configure your organisation to both send and receive documents via the e-invoicing network, or restrict it to sending only, depending on your business requirements:

Configuration	Description
Push sales transactions	Push invoices and credit notes to your customers registered in the e-invoicing network.
Fetch purchase transactions	Fetch bills from your vendors registered in the e-invoicing network.

You can enable or disable each of these options independently from the E-Invoicing settings page at any time.

Configure Field Mapping

You can map your Zoho Books fields to the corresponding e-invoice fields to ensure your existing data is submitted correctly when e-invoices are generated. To do this:

Click Configure Field Mapping at the top-right of the E-Invoicing settings page.
In the Configure E-Invoicing Fields pop-up, you can map the following:

Peppol Field	Description
Purchase Order Number	The purchase order reference associated with the invoice.

Click Map Fields to save the mapping.

Note: You can update this field mapping at any time. Ensure the Zoho Books field value matches the specified format, as incorrect formats may cause errors when submitting transactions.

Send Transactions via the E-Invoicing Network

Note:

You can push e-invoices only to customers who are registered in the e-invoicing network. If the customer is not registered, the e-invoice status will show as Not Eligible and you can send the invoice by email instead.
E-invoicing push and fetch are currently supported for contacts within France only. Overseas customers and vendors are not eligible.

To send e-invoices to a customer through the e-invoicing network:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar and select Invoices or Credit Notes.
Enter the required details.
Click Save as Draft.
Click Mark as Open to open the invoice.
Click Push Invoice at the top of the invoice’s Details page.

Zoho Books transmits the invoice to your customer through B2Brouter. The invoice awaits the customer’s acceptance, and the e-invoice status updates when they respond.

Insight:

E-invoices can also be pushed through the Zoho Books Invoice API. If you need an automated push workflow, you can build it using the e-invoicing APIs. Existing Zoho Books APIs will continue to work.
Recurring invoices will continue to be created as per the recurring invoice schedule. They must be reviewed and pushed through the e-invoicing network as you would for regular invoices. Once the recurring invoice is created, open it, review the details, mark as open and then click Push Invoice.

Note:

Once an invoice is marked as open, it cannot be edited or deleted. To make corrections, create a correction invoice and push it through the e-invoicing network. To cancel it, create a credit note and push it through the e-invoicing network.
If there are any errors while pushing an invoice, you will be notified both in the app and by email.
Invoices created through Zoho Forms, Zoho Checkout, or Stripe must be pushed manually for e-invoicing. They are not pushed automatically.
Once e-invoicing is enabled, you can add payment modes and the respective bank IBAN number at the invoice level.

Create a Correction Invoice

If an open invoice needs to be updated (for example, due to an error in the item details, quantity, or rate), you can create a Correction Invoice for it. A correction invoice references the original (preceding) invoice and issues a revised version through the e-invoicing network.

To create a correction invoice:

Go to Invoices under Sales.
Open the invoice that needs to be corrected.
Click the More icon at the top of the invoice detail page.
Select Create Correction Invoice from the dropdown.

A new invoice form will open with the heading New Correction Invoice and the original invoice’s number listed as the Preceding Invoice Number. The form is pre-filled with the items, taxes, and details from the original invoice.

Note: The transactions associated with the original invoice will not be reflected in the correction invoice automatically. You can associate them manually if required.

Review and update the invoice details as needed.
Click Save as Draft.
Click Mark as Open to open the correction invoice.
Click Push Invoice to send the correction invoice through the e-invoicing network.

Receive Transactions via the E-Invoicing Network

When a vendor sends you an invoice through the e-invoicing network, it is automatically added to your organisation under Purchases > Bills in Draft status. When a vendor sends a credit note, it is added under Purchases > Vendor Credits in Draft status. Invoices and credit notes in CII, UBL, and Factur-X formats can be received through the network. Zoho Books will notify you when a new transaction is received.

If the vendor does not exist in Zoho Books, it will be created automatically. If the vendor already exists, the incoming transaction will be associated with the existing vendor record.

To accept an incoming transaction:

Go to Bills or Vendor Credits under Purchases.
Select the transaction.
Review the details and click Show PDF View to view the document if needed.
Click Accept.

Once accepted, the transaction is confirmed in Zoho Books.

To reject an incoming transaction:

Go to Bills or Vendor Credits under Purchases.
Select the transaction.
Click Reject.
Select the reason for rejection.
Click Reject to confirm.

Once rejected, the rejection is communicated back to the vendor.

Statuses of Transactions in E-Invoicing

The e-invoice status of each transaction is displayed on the transaction’s detail page. The statuses are:

Status	Description
Not Eligible	The transaction is excluded from e-invoicing. This occurs when the customer is not registered in the e-invoicing network. You should send the invoice by email instead.
Yet To Be Pushed	The transaction has been created for a customer registered in the e-invoicing network, but has not yet been pushed.
Push Initiated	The push to the e-invoicing network has been initiated after clicking Push Invoice.
Pushed	The transaction has been successfully sent to your customer through the network.
Failed	The transaction could not be sent due to errors such as missing required fields. You can rectify the errors and try again.
Accepted	Your customer has accepted the transaction.
Rejected	Your customer has rejected the transaction.

You can filter invoices based on these statuses by clicking the All Invoices dropdown at the top and selecting the desired e-invoice status. You can also create a custom view to filter invoices by your own criteria.

Allow Users To Push and Cancel Invoices

You can allow users in your organisation to push transactions through the e-invoicing network by assigning the appropriate roles. This ensures that only authorised users can push transactions. To do this:

Go to Settings.
Select Roles under Users & Roles in the Organization Settings pane.
Create a new role or edit an existing one.
Check Push and Cancel Transactions under e-Invoicing to allow users with this role to push and cancel transactions.

After enabling the permission for a role, users assigned to that role will be able to push transactions through the e-invoicing network. You can uncheck this option at any time to restrict users from performing these actions.

Disable E-Invoicing

You can disable push or fetch transactions separately in Zoho Books without disabling E-Invoicing entirely. For example, if your organisation is not yet ready to receive bills in Zoho Books, you can keep Fetch purchase transactions disabled until you are ready. If you use a different approved platform for sending outgoing invoices, you can disable Push sales transactions in Zoho Books and manage outgoing e-invoices through that external platform.

Go to Settings.
Select E-Invoicing under Taxes & Compliance in the Organization Settings pane.
Slide the toggle near Push sales transactions to Disabled if you don’t want to push invoices and credit notes to customers through the e-invoicing network.
Slide the toggle near Fetch purchase transactions to Disabled if you don’t want to fetch bills and vendor credits from vendors through the e-invoicing network.

You can enable them anytime by sliding the toggle to Enabled.

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