Tax-compliant electronic invoicing

By Jennifer Montérémal

Published: 19 October 2024

With tax-compliant electronic invoicing, take your company's electronic invo icing processes to the next level!

Find out about the many business benefits, the legal environment, the key tips for successful deployment and which software solution to choose for fully compliant electronic invoicing!

See all software Electronic Signature

What is tax-compliant electronic invoicing?

Tax-compliant electronic invoicing: definition

Tax-compliant electronic invoicing refers to the process of exchanging invoices solely by electronic means.

In other words, no more paper invoices. This is why tax-compliant paperless invoicing is distinct from simple electronic invoicing (or simple tax-compliant paperless invoicing), in which only the paper invoice issued before being converted to an electronic medium serves as legal proof.

In addition, tax-compliant electronic invoicing requires the integration of a number of advanced security features to ensure that the electronic documents generated comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

What are the advantages?

There are many advantages to tax-compliant electronic filing:

Saving time when processing invoices and improving the productivity of your organisation. For example, you no longer need to physically manage VAT tracking.

A significant reduction in the costs associated with printing, postage, storage and handling of paper documents.

It is estimated that dematerialisation reduces the cost of issuing an invoice to less than ten euros.

The ability to easily integrate tax invoicing data into the organisation's other information systems, improving operational transparency and customer knowledge.

Support for your company's sustainable development commitments by significantly reducing the carbon footprint associated with support functions.

What are the legal requirements for tax-compliant electronic invoicing?

The 3 rules of tax-compliant electronic invoicing

Whether the "tax" electronic invoice takes the form of a structured file (XML, EDI, etc.) or not (PDF, image, etc.), it must comply with the characteristics defined by French and European regulations.

While the eIDAS directive insists that it must be legible by the recipient, articles 289 bis and 289V of the General Tax Code also set out the following 3 obligations:

to prove the authenticity of its origin, generally by means of the electronic signature of its issuer ;
guarantee that its content cannot be altered;
it must be capable of being stored in the long term in an "electronic safe" by each of the parties.

Consequently, tax-compliant dematerialisation requires the use of the following processes.

Tax-compliant electronic filing in the private sector

In order to comply with regulatory requirements, the tax authorities allow 3 methods of dematerialising invoices:

EDI, or Electronic Data Interchange. This is a process that replaces the physical exchange of documents, using a computer file structured and standardised to comply with current tax standards.
Signed PDF with an advanced, certified electronic signature that guarantees the authenticity and integrity of the document.
The simple PDF and the reliable audit trail (PAF): this makes it possible to certify the validity of the invoice and make the link with the transactions and payments made by means of permanent control deployed within the company.

Tax-compliant electronic invoicing in the public sector

From 1 January 2020, any company supplying products or services to the public sector will be obliged to send the invoices concerned in electronic form.

To do so, they must submit and transmit dematerialised documents via the Chorus pro portal.

How do you implement tax-compliant electronic invoicing in your business?

The implementation of tax-compliant electronic invoicing must be based on a unified system capable of guaranteeing, from generation to storage, the absolute integrity of documents exchanged with your customer or supplier.

Standardised and automated, software applications are the tool of choice, but their deployment requires a joint decision with your business partners.

Choose the electronic system that ensures compliant invoices

Using a fully electronic invoice management solution ensures that you comply with the key points of tax-compliant electronic invoicing mentioned above.

In fact, this type of tool often makes it possible to guarantee that invoices are exchanged :

time-stamped, so that it can be used for legal purposes and traced in detail ;
validated by your certified electronic signature
archived in accordance with standard NF Z42-013, which sets out stringent requirements in terms of back-up (redundancy, etc.) and digital retention periods.

What's more, it means you're already up and running when it comes to the electronic invoicing requirement for public procurement contracts.

Obtaining the agreement of your business partners

Don't forget that the decision to dematerialise your invoice flows in line with tax requirements cannot be taken alone!

At every stage, the procedure requires the agreement and involvement of your business partner (customer or supplier) if it is to work perfectly.

Choosing, installing and then using the electronic gateway required between your 2 companies must therefore be the result of a shared desire and, for maximum success, be part of a win-win partnership.

In this context, the help of a service provider specialising in tax-compliant electronic filing is highly recommended if you are unsure about which transmission protocol to share, or if you have to deal with interoperability issues between your systems.

How do you choose your tax-compliant e-filing software?

The selection of your dedicated tax-compliant electronic invoicing tool should be based on both technical and operational criteria, to make your document management really simple, more secure, faster and less costly.

What criteria should you take into account?

Regulatory compliance of the planned application. For example :
- dual approval by the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance and GS1,
- RGS2 level electronic signature,
- and ISO certification of IT facilities,
  are very reassuring factors.

Security and adaptability to your working environment: these are essential parameters to take into account when choosing an electronic invoice processing tool.
Quality of archiving services: give preference to solutions capable of providing access to your back-ups for at least 10 years.

In operational terms, consider whether the software's features are consistent with :

your working methods (manual entry or complete automation of the invoicing cycle),
the volume of your business, in order to control your investment and the time required for deployment,
the potential complexity of your customer or supplier relationships (sending invoices internationally, for example).

PDF or EDI?

As we saw earlier, both methods are accepted by the tax authorities. And each has its advantages:

PDF: the PDF format is easier to deploy, even when it incorporates a certified electronic signature. Documents can then simply be sent by e-mail.
EDI: although this option is more complex to set up (both sender and receiver must use Electronic Data Interchange), it is particularly well suited to organisations that process a large number of invoices. What's more, some customers only want to receive their documents in this way: as EDI is already operational in their company, they prefer to receive invoices from their suppliers in a single format to simplify processing.

☝️ Some customers can only receive their dematerialised invoices in PDF format, because they are not equipped to use EDI. Others, on the other hand, only wish to use Electronic Data Interchange. We therefore advise you to turn to a tax-compliant paperless solution that combines the two processes.

Examples of software for tax-compliant electronic filing

The collaborative solution, an essential asset for producing your e-bills

Designed by Generix Group, Generix Invoice Services gives you the benefit of the technical and legal expertise of one of Europe's leaders in document dematerialisation.

Advantages of Generix Invoice Services :

compatibility with all signed files, audit trails or EDI channels,
ease of deployment, whatever the size of the company,
collaborative management and monitoring functions to enhance the quality and traceability of the data exchanged,
support for over 30 transfer protocols in 20 countries to guarantee maximum interoperability,
easier management of updates and maintenance with its distribution in SaaS mode (service on demand).

Electronic signature software to ensure the compliance of your electronic invoices

DocuSign is a key player in electronic signatures.

It offers a range of packages to meet all types of tax-compliant electronic invoicing needs, whatever the size of the company.

Advantages of DocuSign :

Simplification of electronic signature processes, with a focus on the user experience,
Highly compliant with security standards, thanks in particular to its compliance with eIDAS regulations,
tool performance, with a high level of availability,
electronic signature management from all types of device (tablet, smartphone and computer) and environments (iOS, Android, Windows),
over 350 integrations and APIs available (Salesforce, Oracle, etc.),
dashboards to monitor the status of your invoices at a glance.