France's Public Invoicing Portal (PPF) in 2026: What It Actually Does After the Free Platform Was Scrapped

France's Portail Public de Facturation (PPF) — the public invoicing portal — is no longer a free platform for issuing or receiving invoices. That part of the project was officially abandoned on 15 October 2024. The PPF still exists, but its scope has been radically narrowed: it now manages a central business directory and acts as a fiscal data concentrator, relaying structured invoice data from accredited platforms to the DGFiP (France's tax authority). Every B2B invoice must now flow through an immatriculated PDP (Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire — accredited private platform).

Under the original design set out in the ordinance of 15 September 2021, the PPF was to combine three functions: a business directory, a fiscal data hub, and a free invoicing service open to any business that did not wish to use a commercial operator. The free tier was explicitly aimed at sole traders and micro-enterprises.

In October 2024, the government announced it was scrapping the free invoicing component, citing the complexity of building a production-grade transmission layer on top of the shared infrastructure within the required timeline. The directory and data concentrator functions were kept because they underpin the entire reform architecture.

These three systems are frequently confused. The table below clarifies who does what.

The PPF infrastructure is publicly funded, but businesses have no direct access to it for invoicing. There is no portal to log into, no upload function, no inbox. The PPF operates in the background: PDPs consult the directory when routing invoices and push fiscal data to the concentrator automatically.

The practical consequence is straightforward: every business subject to French VAT needs a contract with at least one immatriculated PDP. Costs vary by operator and volume, typically ranging from a monthly subscription model to per-transaction pricing. There is no free fallback.

Chorus Pro is France's B2G (business-to-government) portal, operational since 2017. It handles invoices from private suppliers to the State, local authorities, hospitals, and other public entities. It is maintained and unaffected by the B2B reform.

The PPF concerns only private-to-private (B2B) transactions. The two channels run in parallel. A company that invoices both public and private clients must operate on both: Chorus Pro for public-sector clients, a PDP for private-sector clients.

A situation we see regularly in practice: construction firms and IT services companies that primarily invoice public bodies assume they are already fully compliant because they use Chorus Pro. That is only true for their public-sector flows. Any private client receiving an invoice after 1 September 2026 must receive it via a PDP.

For a detailed look at Chorus Pro, see our guide on Chorus Pro: the public-sector invoicing portal.

A PDP (Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire) is a private operator granted immatriculation by the DGFiP after an audit of its processes, security standards, and technical capability. Over 70 operators had entered the immatriculation process by late 2024.

A PDP handles:

• Issuing invoices in the mandatory structured formats: Factur-X, UBL (Universal Business Language), or CII (Cross Industry Invoice)
• Receiving invoices from counterparties and decoding the structured data
• Compliance checking: mandatory fields, VAT rates, identification numbers
• E-reporting: transmitting the fiscal data extract to the PPF, which forwards it to the DGFiP
• Probative archiving: timestamped storage preserving document integrity for the legally required retention period
• Status tracking: reception acknowledged, approved, disputed, paid

Choosing the right PDP requires evaluating ERP or accounting software integration, pricing structure, cross-border capability if you have international flows, and the robustness of the archiving solution. On the engagements our firm handles, businesses that began testing PDP integration in 2025 had time to resolve parameterisation issues before the compliance deadline. Those who wait until Q3 2026 face a compressed, higher-risk transition.

For more on selecting an accredited platform, read our article on accredited platforms and reliable audit trails.

• 1 September 2026: all businesses must be capable of receiving electronic invoices via a PDP. Large enterprises (GE) and mid-market companies (ETI) must also be issuing from this date.
• 1 September 2027: SMEs (PME), small businesses (TPE), and micro-entrepreneurs must be issuing electronic invoices.

These categories follow the standard French employee-headcount and turnover thresholds. If you are uncertain which category applies to your business, verify against the INSEE size criteria or discuss with your accountant.

1. Map your invoicing flows: volume of invoices issued and received, current formats (PDF, spreadsheet, accounting software export), mix of B2B and B2G clients. This mapping determines the scope of your PDP requirement.
2. Check your Chorus Pro status: if you invoice public bodies, confirm that channel is live and up to date. It does not cover your B2B flows.
3. Select and contract with an immatriculated PDP: confirm the operator holds full immatriculation (not provisional) and test the integration with your existing accounting or ERP system.
4. Review your VAT parameterisation: VAT rates, exemptions, and reverse-charge rules must be correctly coded in your system, as this data feeds the DGFiP's pre-filling process.
5. Brief your finance and operations teams: invoice statuses (received, approved, disputed, paid) carry legal weight under the reform. Workflows and response times need to be defined and communicated.

Our article on e-reporting and e-invoicing mechanics explains how the data flows between PDPs, the PPF, and the DGFiP in detail.

The mandatory e-invoicing reform changes the relationship between businesses and the tax authority in ways that go beyond document format.

VAT pre-filling: PDPs transmit structured invoice data — amounts, VAT rates, identification numbers, dates — to the PPF, which forwards them to the DGFiP. The administration can progressively pre-fill VAT returns (CA3 declarations) using this data, cross-referencing what you declare with what your PDPs have reported and what your counterparties' PDPs have reported on their side. This is not an automatic VAT collection mechanism; it is a reconciliation and verification tool. The difference matters: businesses retain responsibility for filing accurate returns, but errors become much easier for the DGFiP to detect.

Accounting workflow: probative archiving handled by the PDP replaces the need for on-premises or local server storage. Documents are timestamped and integrity-certified by the operator. In practice, this simplifies tax audits: documents are available on demand in a machine-readable format. Month-end VAT reconciliation can be automated more reliably when input tax and output tax data flow directly from the PDP into the accounting ledger.

A practical example: a manufacturing SME near Paris with approximately €8 million in turnover, issuing around 400 invoices per month and receiving around 600. Before the reform, VAT reconciliation required manual exports and cross-checks. With a correctly parameterised PDP integrated into the accounting software, output and input VAT data populates automatically, reducing month-end closing time and lowering the risk of input errors. The operational benefit materialises from the first full month of live operation.

For a full overview of the reform's impact on SMEs, see our 2026 e-invoicing guide for SMEs.

The 2026 Finance Act set out the following penalties:

• Failure to receive invoices via an immatriculated PDP, after formal notice and a 3-month grace period: €500 per breach, then €1,000 per breach renewed each quarter.
• Failure to issue electronic invoices via a PDP: €50 per invoice, capped at €15,000 per year.

Penalties do not apply immediately and require a formal finding by the administration. However, their existence confirms that the reform is mandatory and that the risk increases as deadlines approach. Businesses in a "wait and see" posture face an accelerating compliance gap.

Two patterns emerge consistently across the client files we handle on this topic.

First: many business owners assume their existing invoicing software will become compliant automatically through a software update. That is not guaranteed. Software publishers must either integrate with a PDP or obtain their own immatriculation. Verify your editor's status directly — do not assume the issue is handled.

Second: the PPF directory entry is often overlooked. To receive invoices, your business must be correctly registered in the central directory with your PDP's address. A missing or incorrect entry can silently block incoming invoices, affecting payment timelines and cash flow without any immediate error notification.

Up to date as of 2026-05-26. This article is for information purposes and does not replace personalised professional advice. For your specific situation, consult a registered chartered accountant (expert-comptable inscrit à l'Ordre).