What is an invoice, and when must you issue one?
An invoice is a document recording a sale or a service provided between two parties. It serves as accounting evidence, tax documentation and proof of debt all at once. In a restaurant, it comes into play as soon as a business customer asks for one.
The bill you hand over at the end of a meal is not an invoice in the strict sense. It is a till document intended for the end consumer. The two follow separate rules, and confusing them is expensive if you are inspected.
The bill given to a private customer
Under the French order of 8 June 1967, you must give a bill to any individual customer once the total exceeds 25 euros including tax. Below that threshold, it remains mandatory if the customer asks for it. It must state the date, the name and address of the establishment, an itemised list of food and drinks, the price of each item and the total amount payable.
That bill also commits you on your displayed prices. The prices shown on your menu must match those on the bill to the cent. This is the point most often flagged by the DGCCRF, the French consumer protection authority, well ahead of any VAT issue.
The invoice issued to a business customer
As soon as the buyer is a company, a works council or an association, you must issue a full invoice. Article 289 of the French General Tax Code and Article L441-9 of the Commercial Code set out the list of mandatory details. A seminar, a business lunch, a catering job: all of these fall under this regime.
The invoice must be drawn up in two copies, the original for the customer and a copy you keep for 10 years. It is due when the service is delivered, not several weeks later.
| Item | Bill given to a private customer | Invoice for a business customer |
|---|---|---|
| Issuing threshold | Mandatory above 25 euros including tax | Mandatory from the first euro |
| Customer identity | Not required | Name or company name and billing address |
| Numbering | Till receipt number is enough | Sequential invoice number with no gaps |
| SIREN and legal form | Not required | SIREN number, trade register entry, share capital |
| Payment details | Not required | Payment terms, late payment interest, fixed recovery fee |
| Retention period | 6 months for the duplicate | 10 years |
Mandatory invoice details, line by line
The list is long, but it is easier to remember in blocks: who is selling, who is buying, what, how much, when and on what terms. A single missing piece of information makes the document non-compliant.
The identity of the seller and the business
The seller's name opens the invoice. For a company, that means the registered company name followed by the legal form and the amount of share capital. For a sole trader, the surname comes before or after the letters EI.
- Registered office address and, where different, the address of the establishment providing the service
- Nine-digit SIREN number, or fourteen-digit SIRET number
- Town of the registry of incorporation followed by the RCS trade register number
- Intra-EU VAT number where you are VAT registered
The SIREN number identifies the business, the SIRET number identifies the individual premises. Both are accepted, but SIRET is more precise if you operate several locations.
The invoice number and issue date
Every invoice carries a unique number, assigned in an unbroken sequence. You can use separate series by year or by activity, as long as you stay consistent. To an inspector, a skipped number suggests a deleted invoice.
The issue date is the day you draw up the document. You must also state the date of the service or delivery where it differs. For a banquet served on the 12th and invoiced on the 15th, both dates must appear on the invoice.
Service details and amounts
The itemised detail is the part restaurant owners rush most. Simply writing "catering services" is not enough. You must describe the exact nature of the transaction, the quantity, the unit price excluding tax and any discounts applied.
The foot of the invoice repeats the total excluding tax, the VAT amount per rate and the total including all taxes. Where several rates appear on the same invoice, each line must clearly point to its rate.
Out of ten seminar invoices checked in one establishment, seven lumped alcoholic drinks and food onto a single line. The customer can no longer reclaim VAT properly, and it is the restaurant that gets the complaint.
VAT: the tax details specific to food service
Food service combines several rates on the same ticket. That is what makes your invoices more technical than those of an ordinary retailer.
Rates applying to on-site consumption
Food and soft drinks consumed on the premises are taxed at 10%. Alcoholic drinks fall under the standard rate of 20%. Products sold to take away in packaging that allows them to be stored drop to 5.5%.
On a business lunch invoice, it is therefore common to have two or even three rates. Each applicable VAT rate must appear with its taxable base and its amount, with no lumping together.
VAT not applicable: the small business exemption
Some businesses do not charge tax at all. A caterer registered as a micro-entreprise under the small business VAT exemption neither collects nor deducts VAT. In that case a specific wording applies: TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI (VAT not applicable, Article 293 B of the French General Tax Code).
That wording is not decorative. Without it, the tax authorities take the view that the tax was due and will come after you for it. Writing only "not applicable", without the article reference, offers no protection.
VAT numbers and foreign customers
For a service invoiced to a business established in another EU country, your intra-EU VAT number and the customer's must both appear on the invoice. You add the wording "reverse charge". The same principle applies to exempt transactions, which must reference the relevant article of the tax code.
Payment, penalties and settlement details
The payment block is the one most often forgotten, even though the Commercial Code specifically penalises its absence.
- Payment due date and the credit period granted
- Rate of late payment interest applied if payment is overdue
- Fixed recovery fee of 40 euros, payable by every business customer
- Early settlement discount rate, or a statement that no discount applies
The default term between businesses is 30 days after the service. It can go up to 60 days if the contract provides for it. For a restaurant working with monthly customer accounts, these details are your only leverage when an invoice goes unpaid.
Credit notes, corrected invoices and other special cases
You never fix a mistake by editing an invoice that has already been issued. You issue a credit note, which carries every mandatory detail of the original invoice.
The credit note has its own number, its own issue date, and explicitly references the number of the invoice being cancelled or corrected. Amounts are shown as negatives, with the matching VAT. A partial credit note covers only the sum actually refunded.
Another common case: the deposit invoice for a private hire. It follows the same rules and must be deducted from the total on the final invoice. Also bear in mind the requirements attached to your menu: information on allergens and meat origin falls under a duty to inform customers about allergens in restaurants, which is separate but enforced by the same inspectors.
E-invoicing: what changes for your establishment
The e-invoicing reform is progressively requiring invoices between businesses to be exchanged through approved platforms. Receiving them becomes mandatory for all businesses on 1 September 2026. Issuing them follows on 1 September 2026 for large companies and mid-sized firms, then on 1 September 2027 for SMEs and micro-businesses.
An electronic invoice is not a PDF sent by email. It is a structured, machine-readable file transmitted through a platform. Free-form documents disappear for transactions between VAT-registered businesses established in France.
Four extra details arrive with the reform: the customer's SIREN number, the delivery address where it differs, the nature of the transaction (goods, services or mixed) and the option to account for VAT on payments received. Build them into your templates now.
Your till software should already be certified as meeting the tamper-proofing and data retention requirements. Check with your provider that it will also handle electronic invoice flows. Many digital restaurant menu tools now connect to the till, which cuts down on re-keying between the menu, the receipt and the invoice.
Penalties: what does a non-compliant invoice cost?
There are two separate regimes. On the tax side, Article 1737 of the French General Tax Code provides for a fine of 15 euros per missing or inaccurate detail, capped at a quarter of the invoice amount. A 400-euro invoice with six omissions will therefore cost no more than 100 euros, but repeat that across a full year and the scale changes.
On the commercial side, the Commercial Code provides for an administrative fine of up to 75,000 euros for an individual and 375,000 euros for a company. These amounts double for a repeat offence within two years.
The real risk lies elsewhere: a non-compliant invoice can cost your customer their VAT deduction. They will come to you for it. To check that an invoice is compliant, read it back with the list of required details in hand, block by block, before you send it.
These compliance habits apply across all your customer-facing material. Price display inside and outside the restaurant follows the same traceability logic: what the customer reads must match what they pay, and what you invoice.