PPF (Portail Public de Facturation)

What is the PPF (Portail Public de Facturation)?

The PPF (Portail Public de Facturation) is the national portal at the centre of France's e-invoicing reform, run by the French tax administration (DGFiP). In earlier plans, the PPF was also expected to exchange invoices between businesses. But under the final model, this job moves to accredited private platforms (such as Inexchange), and the PPF steps back to a supervisory role. It now works as the central hub for tax data and as the keeper of the official company directory, making sure the whole system stays consistent and that the authorities receive the data they need.

What the PPF does

The PPF has three main jobs. It maintains L'Annuaire, which is the the central directory that records which accredited platform (PA) each company uses, keyed to the company's SIREN number. It receives the e-reporting and the subset of invoice data that platforms transmit, giving the tax authorities visibility of all transactions. The PPF also provides the shared registries for VAT, company data and addresses that keep invoices routing correctly across the network. 

The PPF in the French 5-corner model

France uses a 5-corner model. Your platform and your customer's platform (corners 2 and 3) exchange the invoice directly between them. The PPF is the fifth corner, from where the state oversees all transactions. It does not move the invoice, but it makes sure the invoice can be routed via L'Annuaire, and that the required data reaches the tax authorities. In short, the platforms handle delivery, and the PPF provides the directory and the reporting backbone.

What the PPF means for your business

In practice, you do not connect to the PPF yourself. Your accredited platform (PA, such as Inexchange) connects to it on your behalf, registers you in L'Annuaire, and transmits the required data to the PPF for you. This means you work directly with your platform provider, while the PPF operates quietly in the background to keep everything compliant and correctly routed.