Since 2020, millions of electronic invoices have passed through the Chorus Pro portal. What is Chorus Pro? How do you get started with Chorus Pro? Are businesses obliged to use the platform? This article answers these questions about the e-invoicing portal and explains how to use it.

What's in this article?

• Compulsory e-invoicing
  
• What is the Chorus Pro portal and what is it used for?
  
• Who is the Chorus Pro portal for?
  
• How do you create an account with Chorus Pro?
  
• How do you submit an invoice to Chorus Pro?
  
• How do you create an electronic invoice?
  

Compulsory e-invoicing

Since 1 January 2020 (in accordance with Ordinance No. 2014-697 of 26 June 2014), public entities have been using a fully dematerialised invoicing process to receive invoices from their suppliers. The aim of this transition is to standardise the format of invoices, simplify their management, speed up the transmission of invoicing data to the tax office and modernise the end-to-end process.

From 2026 (according to Ordinance No. 2021-1190 of 15 September 2021), the electronic invoicing of transactions between businesses subject to value-added tax (VAT) will gradually become mandatory. Initially scheduled for 2024 and 2025, the law's entry into force has been postponed until 2026 and 2027. E-invoicing will reduce the total cost of administrative processing by at least €4.5 billion and improve fraud detection.

The transition to e-invoicing depends on the size of a business and its annual turnover. Learn more about the specifics of business-to-business (B2B) e-invoicing.

What is the Chorus Pro portal and what is it used for?

The French government created Chorus Pro in 2016 in response to legal requirements for e-invoicing. It is a free public portal that simplifies the processing of e-invoices and allows users to:

• Receive, create, edit and send e-invoices in portal mode
  
• Integrate Chorus Pro without an external application programming interface (API) in service mode
  
• Send invoicing data and automate end-to-end invoicing in electronic data interchange (EDI) mode
  

Who is the Chorus Pro portal for?

All French public services and their private suppliers are currently required to use Chorus Pro.

Businesses established in France, subject to VAT and trading with other taxable French entities (i.e. B2B transactions) will eventually have to adopt either the Chorus Pro portal or one of the tax office's partner dematerialisation platforms (PDP). PDPs are an alternative to the public invoicing portal: registered with the tax office, they issue, send and receive electronic invoices and their transaction data.

In addition, French businesses subject to VAT and making sales to private individuals (or B2C transactions) must send their transaction data through the Chorus Pro portal, a process known as "e-reporting". The same applies to French businesses operating internationally.

How do you create an account with Chorus Pro?

To get started with Chorus Pro, you will need a valid email address and your business's SIRET number. On the Chorus Pro portal website, click on the "Create an account" option. You will be taken to an online form where you will need to fill in your personal information and the details of your structure or legal entity. If you don't have a SIRET number, you can select one of the other options from the drop-down list. Once you've completed the fields, review your information and create your account. You will be emailed an activation link to create your password and validate the creation of your account. To help you further, the government offers an online tutorial and a fact sheet.

How do you submit an invoice to Chorus Pro?

Once your account has been created, you can send your invoice. You will need to have a PDF of the invoice saved on your computer beforehand with the information clearly printed in black and white.

In your Chorus Pro account, click on "Invoices issued" and then on "Submission of invoices". You will be prompted to import the invoice file from your computer. The "Submission format" field is automatically populated once the file has been uploaded. Select the "A1" option to submit your invoice and select your business structure. Once the invoice has been uploaded, verify that the pre-filled information is correct.

In the "Recipient" section, identify the recipient of your invoice using their SIRET number, business name and department code. In the "Reference" section, fill in the required fields, such as the invoice's unique number and submission date. In the "Total amounts" section, check that the information that you've entered is correct and fill in any blanks.

You can attach an additional document to your invoice by clicking the "Add attachment" button. Note that this step is optional.

Finally, click "Validate and send" to send the invoice to the recipient. You can track and view the processing of the invoice once it has been sent. To learn more about submitting invoices through the Chorus Pro portal, consult the tutorial and fact sheet provided by the government.

How do you create an electronic invoice?

To create your e-invoices more quickly (before sending them through Chorus Pro), you can use automated invoicing software such as Stripe Invoicing to optimise your invoicing workflows while boosting your productivity. With this integrated solution, you can create and customise invoices – no code required. Get started using Stripe today to achieve your business goals.