How to send e-invoices to France?

E-invoicing in France is a reality. If you are a supplier to the French public administration, then you must send your e-invoices to your customers via Chorus Pro (Directive 2014/55/EU).

What is the Chorus Pro portal?

As mentioned above, e-invoicing in France is already a reality for sending invoices between B2G (private companies and public administration). It will soon be the same for transactions between private companies.

Since 2020, all government suppliers are required to issue e-invoices through a state-enabled portal called Chorus Pro. As a result, the issuer can create and send the invoice file from Chorus Pro, in XML format of the UBL type, so that the invoice can be processed as correct and paid by the recipient. UBL is the e-invoice standard used to exchange electronic documents over the Peppol network to Chorus Pro.

How to create and send e-invoices to France?

The Chorus Pro portal allows you to create a company account to generate the invoice manually and convert the file into the format required by the French public administration. Finally, you can send the invoice to your customer in compliance with the requirements and format dictated by the regulations.

It is connected to the Peppol network and is registered to an Access Point. This means that it receives invoices through the Peppol network and in the format established by this system (UBL). Peppol is an international electronic document exchange network that communicates and exchanges documents between two connected Access Points, where the sender and the receiver are registered. In this way, exchanges can take place securely, following an established standard that must be met by the parties involved in the transaction, in addition to allowing the sending and receiving of communications related to the status of the documents.

Although Chorus Pro is the state-enabled system, there are specialized companies that act as e-invoicing service providers. B2Brouter is a free cloud-based application, with which you can manage your invoicing to send to Chorus Pro, as well as many other recipients.

How to register an invoice in Choryus Pro correctly

There are two main aspects you have to bear in mind when sending and registering an e-invoice to Chorus Pro:

1. Register your company in Chorus Pro

One of the mandatory requirements to be able to send invoices to Chorus Pro is to register on their portal. This is a mandatory requirement for all companies and must be done only once. To proceed, access the official Chorus Pro website and create an account. In this registration you must follow the steps provided by the portal, where you must add your company data (tax ID, tax data, etc.).

2. Service code

All e-invoices that you have to send to the French public administration must contain the service code. This is a prerequisite for your invoices to be registered and processed correctly, as this code is responsible for routing the invoice to the corresponding receiving department within the administration.

3. Create the invoice in an accepted structured electronic formats

Chorus Pro supports the following e-invoice formats:

Facture-X
EDI
CII
UBL Chorus Pro

You must generate your e-invoice in one of the formats above in order to be able to send and register the invoice to Chorus Pro. Doing this, the receiver can process it and pay it correctly.

B2Brouter and Chorus Pro connection

B2Brouter is an online application that allows you to create, send and manage your national e-invoices for free. It allows you to manage the invoice you have to send to the French Public Administration through Chorus Pro, as it is directly connected, without the need to access the French platform. In addition, B2Brouter allows you to receive updated status changes of sent invoices, allowing you to be informed at all times whether your invoices have been accepted or rejected by your client.

Advantages of sending e-invoices to France with B2Brouter

With B2Brouter you can create and send e-invoices to Chorus Pro in a more efficient way, thanks to the easy operation of the platform:

Send e-invoices to Chorus Pro and all your other private clients, national or international.
Obtain easily your customers’ details and service codes thanks to the B2Brouter directory. Just add your costumer’s ID and B2Brouter provides you with all the other information.
Receive notifications of changes in the status of your invoices, without needing to access Chorus Pro.

If your company has a high volume of invoices, B2Brouter offers an integration service that allows you to link your management system with B2Brouter. Doing this, you can automatize the entire e-invoicing process, working directly from your ERP.

How to send e-invoices to France with B2Brouter

Sign up for free at B2Brouter.
Sign up at Chorus Pro.
Create your costumer easily thanks to the directory.
Easily generate your invoice.
Add the service code from the directory.
Send the invoice by pressing a button.
Check your invoices’ status.

Working with B2Brouter you can improve the management of your e-invoicing, centralize all the invoicing of different customers or suppliers from a single platform, automate the process if you need it, be connected to various networks to exchange documents and have a specialized user service.