France's approved e-invoicing platforms (PA, ex PDP) explained

In France, e-invoices do not go from your software straight to your customer. They pass through plateformes agréées (PA), approved platforms registered by the tax administration. Since 1 September 2026, every business established in France needs one to receive invoices, and larger companies already use one to issue them. SMEs and micro-businesses will issue through theirs from 1 September 2027.

You will still see the old name, PDP (plateforme de dématérialisation partenaire), in many articles and vendor pages. It means the same thing. This guide explains what platforms do, where the official list is and how to choose one.

What an approved platform does

Under the French tax code (art. 289 bis), issuing, transmitting and receiving e-invoices must go through an approved platform. In practice your platform:

• Sends your invoices to your customer's platform, after looking up the routing in the State's central directory (annuaire).
• Receives invoices addressed to you from other platforms.
• Extracts the tax data from each invoice and transmits it to the administration (art. 289 E).
• Transmits e-reporting data for consumer sales, international sales and payments.
• Supports the common base of formats: UBL, CII and the hybrid Factur-X, so platforms can exchange with each other.
• Supplies routing data to the central directory, so that invoices addressed to you reach it.

The State does not run a free invoicing portal. It chose not to create a single public portal, to avoid concentrating technical risk in one place, and acts as regulator instead.

The official list

The DGFiP publishes the list of platforms at impots.gouv.fr/je-consulte-la-liste-des-plateformes-agreees. On 9 November 2026 it showed:

Registration (immatriculation) lasts three years and can be renewed. Final registration is granted only after the platform passes interoperability tests in real conditions. The DGFiP said 150 platforms were approved on 1 August 2026, and that more than ten of them offered free or no-extra-cost plans.

Platform or "compatible solution"?

Not every invoicing app is an approved platform. Many apps connect to a partner platform that does the regulated exchange in the background. Both routes are fine for you as a user, as long as there is an approved platform at the end of the chain. What matters is that you know which platform receives your invoices, because that is the one registered in the directory.

The DGFiP's start-up guide confirms that you can arrange a platform directly or through the tool you already use: invoicing or accounting software, your accountant or your bank.

How to choose a platform

Questions to ask any provider:

1. Is it on the official list, or which listed platform does it rely on?
2. Does it cover receiving and issuing? Receiving has been mandatory for everyone since 1 September 2026.
3. Does it handle e-reporting for your consumer, foreign and payment data?
4. Does it fit your accounting? Check that it connects to your accountant's tools.
5. What does it cost per month or per invoice, and what is the free tier's limit?
6. How does switching work? You can change platform; the old one must keep providing minimum services for at least one year.

Approved platforms among popular invoicing tools

These tools appear on the official DGFiP list as registered platforms, with the registration date shown there. Notes on plans come from the vendors (as of Nov 2026):

Other tools work through a partner platform, according to their own sites: Evoliz, Libeo and Facture.net, among others. Check with the vendor which platform they use.

Plans and prices change often. Our French e-invoicing software comparison goes into more detail, and the free options page focuses on €0 plans.

What happens without a platform

A business with no receiving platform first gets a formal notice with three months to comply. After that, the fine is €500, and €1,000 for each further three-month period. Platforms have their own penalties if they fail to transmit data, but those fall on the platform, not on you.

During the start-up phase, the DGFiP says it will not sanction businesses that have real, documented difficulties and are actively working towards compliance. Choosing or contracting an approved platform is the first item on the DGFiP's list of evidence for that.

For the full reform, dates and penalties, read the France e-invoicing guide. This page is information, not advice on a specific provider.