E-invoicing: how SAP DRC prepares your compliance

In brief

Since 1 September 2026, all companies in scope must be able to receive electronic invoices.
Large and mid-sized companies have been issuing since that date; SMEs and micro-businesses by 1 September 2027 at the latest.
Invoices must go through an accredited platform, which also sends the data to the tax authorities.
SAP Document and Reporting Compliance produces the electronic documents from the ERP and tracks their statuses.

The e-invoicing reform changes the way French companies issue and receive invoices between businesses. For a company running SAP, the question is not only regulatory: the ERP must produce structured invoices, exchange with a platform and process the responses, without disrupting accounting.

The official timeline

1 September 2026: all companies in scope must be able to receive electronic invoices.
1 September 2026: issuing obligation for large and mid-sized companies.
1 September 2027 at the latest: issuing obligation for SMEs and micro-businesses.

In its practical guide of July 2026, the administration states that no penalty applies during the start-up phase to companies engaged in a serious compliance path. This tolerance does not remove the need to act: you must be able to show a real project.

E-invoicing and e-reporting

E-invoicing covers transactions between companies established in France: the invoice is issued in a structured format and sent through an accredited platform. E-reporting covers other transactions, such as sales to consumers or international trade, as well as payment data: transaction data is sent to the tax authorities, without an electronic invoice.

Accredited platforms and the public portal

Each company chooses an accredited platform, registered by the tax authorities for a renewable three-year period. The platform issues, sends and receives invoices, and transmits the data to the authorities. The public invoicing portal maintains the directory of recipients and acts as the data concentrator. Invoices travel in one of the three base formats: UBL, CII or Factur-X.

What SAP Document and Reporting Compliance does

SAP Document and Reporting Compliance, or DRC, creates an electronic document for each sales invoice posted in SAP, converts it to the expected format and exchanges it with the platform; on the receiving side, it brings in the supplier invoices delivered by the platform. A single monitor shows each document, its status and any rejections, so that accounting can handle exceptions without leaving the ERP. SAP was also validated as an accredited platform in February 2026; DRC can also work with another platform of your choice.

Receiving: an often underestimated opportunity

Projects often focus on issuing. Yet receiving all supplier invoices in a structured format changes accounts payable processing: the data arrives machine-readable, with no re-keying or character recognition. It is an opportunity to automate matching with purchase orders and goods receipts in SAP, and to shorten approval times. You do, however, need to decide the route early: direct receipt in SAP through DRC, or through an invoice processing tool already in place.

The steps of a compliance project

Map the flows: invoices issued and received, sales to consumers, international transactions, payment data.
Choose the accredited platform and check how it connects to SAP.
Clean up master data: customer SIREN numbers, addresses, transaction categories.
Configure DRC, test end to end with the platform, then go live in waves.

Frequently asked questions

Does my company have to issue e-invoices from 2026?

Yes if it is a large or mid-sized company: issuing has been mandatory since 1 September 2026. SMEs and micro-businesses have one more year, until 1 September 2027. However, all companies in scope have had to be able to receive electronic invoices since 1 September 2026.

Can we go directly through the public portal?

No. The public invoicing portal maintains the directory and centralises the data sent to the authorities, but invoices are issued and received through an accredited platform. Each company chooses one, or two if it wants to separate issuing and receiving.

Does SAP DRC replace the accredited platform?

No, the two are complementary. DRC prepares the documents in the ERP, sends them and tracks their statuses; the accredited platform delivers them to the recipient and the authorities. SAP itself has been an accredited platform since February 2026, but DRC also works with other registered platforms.