Complex

The first of September could offer a glimpse into the administrative and economic chaos of a country unprepared for a reform.

Indeed, France is stepping into an era of modernization by shifting to electronic invoicing.

However, not every ticket will disappear, since this concerns transactions between businesses.

For the state, the objective is fairly straightforward: trace the VAT and bring in new revenues, while avoiding a portion of activity from slipping into a gray area.

Yet, in France such maneuvers can sometimes be chaotic.

While they should all be ready, within about six weeks, to receive their invoices electronically, only 2 million businesses, out of France’s 11 million, would actually be operational according to La Tribune.

And even though the State has acknowledged the looming chaos, it has also stated its intention to be supportive toward players who show good faith and face technical or organizational difficulties in meeting the requirements.

Conversely, penalties could be steep for companies that fail to provide evidence of their challenges in converting to the reform, with fines potentially reaching €15 per invoice not properly transmitted.

In light of the urgency of the situation and the mandatory transition that seems misunderstood, we have decided to give a voice to the head of a company that has already lived through several “first Septembers” around the world.

“Voxel has been around for 28 years. We are based in Spain, with clients all over the world.

We began by aiming to solve the problems faced by tourism players who wanted to maximize automation in receiving their invoices and matching them, by creating a network linking hoteliers on one side and tour operators and travel agencies on the other, so they could exchange invoices automatically and electronically, summarizes Maud Christophe, director of development at Voxel.

We connect to the company’s PMS and its accounting system to extract invoice details, validate them, and then send the invoice to the client, she adds.

To read: Electronic invoicing: everything you need to know!

After almost three decades in operation, the company has witnessed electronic invoicing reforms across the globe!

Therefore, for the head of the company, and with the September 1 deadline approaching, there is no need to panic just yet, even if some players in tourism are lagging behind, particularly those that hadn’t started digitizing yet.

Because before France, the next country to adopt this new era is… Chile! Behind it, other Latin American countries will follow.

“In Europe, Italy was a pioneer, as it implemented this reform in 2019 to address VAT controls and combat corruption. In 2026, Poland and Belgium followed in January-February, then France in September, and Germany will follow in 2027, summarizes Maud Christophe.

Progressively, we see that many countries are moving toward this for varied reasons.

The implementation of electronic invoicing in Italy was not neutral.

To understand it, one only has to look at the European VAT Gap indicator, which measures the gap in VAT compliance. It represents the difference between revenues that would be collected if all taxpayers complied with tax rules and revenues actually collected, according to the European Commission site.

In Italy, it dropped from over 19% to 15%. In France, it would be only 5.6%.

Beyond this indicator and, in France, even though the obligation is set by the government, digitalization should still bring benefits to tourism industries by allowing them to stay up-to-date with their cash flow.

Indeed, at present, “as soon as there is a problem in a paper or manual process, the hotelier sends the invoice to the travel agency, which takes two to three weeks to process it. So if, for example, the booking number is missing, they will email or call the hotel to have the invoice resent.

All of this stretches out over time. That lost time equals less cash flow“, explains Maud Christophe.

She continues: “We already had experience in Mexico, in Italy, etc. Each country obviously has its own specifics, but it is not something completely new for us.

There is a lot of worry, but France does not have the most complex legislation on the subject. And we are here to accompany and reassure tourism professionals.

Of course, the major players in the sector have already started ahead; it might be a bit more challenging for smaller ones. And indeed, for tourism professionals who still work in a very manual and not very digital way, this reform requires them to move toward digitization, in addition to updating themselves on this new obligation,“, analyzes the development director.

Thus, starting on September 1, 2026, all enterprises must be capable of receiving electronic invoices.

In addition, large enterprises and mid-sized firms will also need to be able to issue them.

Small businesses, which account for nearly the entire tourism industry with a few exceptions, will have a grace period to issue invoices until the next term.

To read: Tourism businesses: what does 2026 have in store for you tax-wise?

“For SMEs, there isn’t a major change. The first step is that they will be required to select an approved platform to receive invoices. For those who have not done so, they still have until September 1 to do it.

This approved platform will therefore fetch all invoices from the major clients of travel agencies. They will continue to receive paper invoices or emails from their smaller suppliers“, adds Maud Christophe.

The SMEs can then potentially integrate these invoices into their accounting system or retrieve them from the approved platform.

In short, French VAT-liable companies must use an approved platform to receive their invoices by early September. Voxel is, of course, part of this category.

It should be noted that the reform will come with an additional cost at a time when the business models of some players are under pressure. “Travel agencies tell us they paid nothing before to receive their invoices and they wonder: why, tomorrow, should I pay? This is completely legitimate, notes the development director of Voxel.

I advise them to pursue complete digitization of their activities, because today people are employed to manually enter invoices into the accounting system and then reconcile them. All of this carries a very high cost for a business.

With full digitalization, it is possible to have staff truly dedicated to higher-value tasks, she concludes.