French e-invoicing directory: role and how to check it

With the reform, an invoice between French businesses no longer goes straight to the customer: it passes from the supplier's approved platform to the customer's approved platform. To know where to send it, the supplier's platform relies on the directory, whose purpose is precisely to address each electronic invoice to the right receiving platform.

In practice, the directory shows for each business or public body:

• whether it is covered by the reform, based on its SIREN number;
• whether it has declared one or more active receiving addresses with an approved platform;
• at which level it receives its invoices.

When declaring its connection, the business chooses one of the three addressing levels described by francenum.gouv.fr:

• by SIREN: all invoices arrive in the same place;
• by SIRET: each establishment receives the invoices that concern it, which means the supplier must know which establishment placed the order;
• by internal code: a specific department or unit of the business.

The name of the receiving platform and the details of the billing addresses are only accessible to approved platforms, to protect business confidentiality.

The directory is provided by the DGFiP (direction générale des Finances publiques) and the AIFE (Agence pour l'informatique financière de l'État). The State manages the directory and sets the rules; invoices, however, are not centralised by the administration: they travel between approved platforms.

It is fed by the approved platforms. A business does not register on its own: it chooses one or more approved platforms, signs a formal agreement with them, and the chosen platform designates it as a recipient in the directory. To declare that choice or update its information, francenum.gouv.fr refers businesses to their accountant or the publisher of their invoicing solution.

A business can change approved platform at any time, and choose different ones for sending and for receiving.

According to the DGFiP, 150 platforms had been approved by the State as of 1 August 2026; their list is published and kept up to date on impots.gouv.fr.

The lookup is free and open to anyone concerned by the reform: business, customer, supplier, accountant.

Since 1 September 2026, every business liable for VAT in France must be able to receive electronic invoices, and large and intermediate-sized companies must issue them. SMEs and micro-businesses will issue them from 1 September 2027.

If a customer has not yet chosen a receiving platform, its address does not appear in the directory: the supplier's platform reports that the invoice was rejected or could not be delivered. The DGFiP states that, exceptionally, the invoice may then be sent by email or post, with no effect on the enforceability of the debt or on payment.

Before concluding that an address is missing, the DGFiP's practical guide recommends checking the information used (SIREN, SIRET, receiving establishment), contacting your platform, then the customer, and keeping a record of the steps taken.

For the start-up phase, the administration has announced that it will not penalise businesses engaged in a serious compliance effort; this tolerance does not suspend the obligation.