E-invoicing:
what the French reform actually changes for you

This page concerns businesses registered in France. If your studio is registered elsewhere, your national rules apply; KIPIK issues the standard invoice in that case.

The timeline, without ambiguity

• 1 September 2026 — all VAT-registered businesses, whatever their size, must be able to receive electronic invoices. On the same date, large and mid-sized companies must issue them.
• 1 September 2027 — the obligation to issue extends to SMEs, very small businesses and micro-enterprises. This is the date that concerns almost every tattoo and piercing studio.

A tattoo artist under the micro-enterprise scheme therefore receives supplier invoices (ink, equipment, studio rent) in electronic format from 2026, and issues their own in the same format a year later.

"I'm VAT-exempt, so it doesn't apply to me" — it does

This is the most common mistake. The VAT exemption scheme (franchise en base) frees you from collecting the tax; it does not remove your status as a taxable person. Every taxable business is within the scope of the reform, exempt or not. A tattoo artist who invoices without VAT will have to issue electronic invoices in September 2027 like everyone else.

What an electronic invoice is — and what it is not

A PDF sent by email is not an electronic invoice in the sense of the reform. The invoice must be issued in a structured format (Factur-X, UBL or CII), transmitted through a platform certified by the tax administration, and carry new mandatory details on top of the usual ones:

• The SIREN number of the business client
• The delivery address if it differs from the billing address
• The nature of the transaction: supply of goods, supply of services, or both
• Where applicable, the option to pay VAT on debits

Sales to consumers: e-reporting

Most of your revenue comes from private individuals. These sales do not give rise to an electronic invoice sent to the client — a consumer has no platform — but their transaction data must be sent to the administration: that is e-reporting. Amount, date, VAT rate where applicable, at a frequency that depends on your tax regime. The e-reporting timeline follows the invoicing one.

In practice, this is the point that changes a studio's daily routine the most: every payment taken must be reported, not only invoices to businesses.

The special cases of tattooing and piercing

The deposit

The deposit taken when the quote is signed is a payment: it enters e-reporting when it is received, and the final invoice shows it as a deduction.

Selling jewellery

A piercer who sells the jewellery on top of the piercing performs a mixed transaction — supply of goods and supply of services. The nature of the transaction, now a mandatory detail, must reflect that.

Guest spots and conventions abroad

A service performed outside France follows the VAT territoriality rules. These transactions must still be declared, under their own regime, in e-reporting.

The studio with several artists

Each independent artist invoices on their own behalf. If the studio is a company that re-invoices, it issues its own electronic invoices — two flows, two obligations.

Penalties

A fine of €15 per invoice not issued electronically, capped at €15,000 per calendar year, and €250 per missing e-reporting transmission, with the same cap. A first offence is not penalised, which leaves some margin — but not a second one.

What KIPIK does for you

• Every accepted quote and every payment generates the invoice in the compliant format, with the mandatory details filled in from your profile and the client's.
• The receipts ledger keeps itself, from actual payments.
• E-reporting data is prepared from transactions, with no re-entry.
• Deposit, balance and jewellery sale are distinguished on the final invoice.

You don't learn a second piece of software. Compliance is a by-product of your calendar.

This page summarises the framework of the reform as published at the time of writing. Implementation details may change; it does not replace the advice of your accountant.