Corrected invoice or credit note in France: how to fix an issued invoice

Studio Bastide writes to you two days after you sent the invoice: its VAT number is copied wrong. Or it tells you 50 catalogs arrived damaged. Your first instinct is to fix the file and resend it, which French rules don’t allow. You fix it with a second document, numbered after the others, that points back to the first. That’s a corrected invoice (facture rectificative) or a credit note (facture d’avoir), and the choice mostly depends on one question: has the invoice already been paid?

Can you edit, cancel or delete an invoice you’ve already sent?

You can’t edit or delete it: an issued invoice is only canceled or corrected through a new document. According to Entreprendre Service Public, the French government’s information site for businesses, an invoice can be corrected or deleted until it’s issued, but “once the invoice is issued, it can no longer be changed directly” (page in French).

The reason is numbering. Every invoice has a unique number in a continuous chronological sequence, so deleting one leaves a gap. Redoing it under the same number, or under another one with no link to the first, creates a mismatch between your books and your customer’s. Service Public warns that this mismatch can lead to penalties in a tax audit.

Under the General Tax Code (CGI, art. 289, I-5), any document that changes the original invoice and refers to it “specifically and unambiguously” counts as an invoice. It has its own number, its own date and the mandatory information.

In invoicing software, approving an invoice often issues it, so Service Public suggests checking the customer, amount, VAT and date first.

Credit note or corrected invoice: which one should you use?

It depends on timing. Before payment, a corrected invoice can cancel and replace the wrong one. After payment, the invoice “can no longer be changed or replaced”, Service Public says, and any correction or cancellation goes through a credit note.

The BOFiP, the French tax authorities’ official guidance, accepts both forms for a sale canceled in whole or in part and for a discount granted after the invoice: a new invoice that cancels and replaces the previous one, or a credit note.

An unpaid invoice isn’t wiped out with a credit note: the customer still owes the money, and the BOFiP says the original invoice must not be changed.

What must a French corrected invoice include?

A corrected invoice is a complete invoice that replaces the first one. The BOFiP and Service Public ask for four things.

• A new number, the next one in your invoice sequence.
• The exact reference to the original invoice, with its number and date.
• An express statement that the original is canceled, in practice “annule et remplace la facture n°…”, meaning it cancels and replaces invoice no. ….
• All the mandatory information, correct this time. Our article on mandatory information on French invoices lists every item.

Whatever its amount, and except in special cases, a corrected invoice can leave out the seller’s EU VAT number and any exemption wording, says the BOFiP (CGI, Annex II, art. 242 nonies A, I-2° and 12°).

What must a French credit note include?

A credit note cancels or corrects part or all of an invoice already issued. For Service Public, it’s “a full accounting document in its own right”, with its own number.

• A unique number, in a continuous chronological sequence. The business can keep its invoice series or open one just for credit notes, such as A2026-001.
• The reference to the original invoice, number and date. For a year-end rebate covering several invoices, the BOFiP accepts a reference to the set of invoices or to the contract, with the period covered.
• The amount removed before VAT and the matching VAT, or the seller can’t recover that VAT.
• The names and addresses of both parties, and the total before VAT and the VAT owed after the reduction.

A credit note isn’t a refund in itself. If the invoice was paid, the seller refunds the money, or takes it off a later invoice if the customer agrees.

Example: invoice F2026-0412 corrected three ways

Take the invoice from our article on mandatory information. On October 14, 2026, Imprimerie du Canal, a Paris print shop, bills Studio Bastide in Marseille for 500 A4 catalogs at €2.40 each before VAT, with a 5% discount. It comes to €1,140.00 before VAT, €228.00 of VAT and €1,368.00 in total, due November 13, 2026. Here are three separate scenarios.

Scenario 1, a wrong item before payment. On October 16, Studio Bastide points out that its EU VAT number is copied wrong. Nothing has been paid yet. The print shop issues invoice F2026-0436, identical apart from the right number, with the line “annule et remplace la facture n° F2026-0412 du 14/10/2026”.

Scenario 2, a partial return after payment. Studio Bastide has already paid €1,368.00 when it finds 50 damaged catalogs. The print shop issues credit note A2026-0018 against invoice F2026-0412 of October 14, 2026. The 50 catalogs are worth €120.00 before VAT, less the 5% discount, so €114.00, plus €22.80 of VAT, so €136.80 in total. The sale, now 450 catalogs, comes to €1,026.00 before VAT, €205.20 of VAT and €1,231.20 in total.

Scenario 3, a refused delivery. The catalogs were printed with an old logo, and Studio Bastide refuses the whole delivery. The print shop issues credit note A2026-0019 for the full invoice, then a new invoice after reprinting.

You don’t fix an invoice. You issue a document that cites it.

Corrected invoices and VAT: how do you adjust it?

VAT shown on an invoice is owed simply because it’s there (CGI, art. 283, 3). To recover it after a cancellation, a termination or a discount, the seller has to show the tax authorities that the original invoice was corrected (CGI, art. 272, 1). With no credit note or corrected invoice, the VAT stays due.

The same goes for VAT charged in error, at too high a rate or on a transaction that isn’t taxable. According to the BOFiP, adjusting it “requires first issuing a corrected invoice to the customer”. The customer, for its part, can’t deduct VAT that couldn’t legally appear on the invoice.

On VAT returns, impots.gouv.fr, the French tax authorities’ website, rules out any negative amount.

• The seller reports credit notes granted to customers on line B5, “Régularisations” (adjustments), of its CA3 VAT return. The recovered VAT goes into line 21, “Autre TVA à déduire” (other deductible VAT). Under the simplified regime, the price reduction goes on line 25 of the annual return.
• The customer that already deducted the VAT on the original invoice pays back the VAT shown on the credit note: line 15 of the monthly return, line 18 of the annual one.

In scenario 2, Imprimerie du Canal recovers €22.80 of VAT, and Studio Bastide pays back the €22.80 it had deducted. On January 1, 2027, the VAT articles of the CGI move into the Code des impositions sur les biens et services (CIBS), with no change in substance. According to the BOFiP, references to the old articles then point to the CIBS articles that replace them.

Credit notes and corrected invoices under French e-invoicing

A credit note or a corrected invoice follows the same channel as the invoice it corrects. For transactions covered by e-invoicing, Service Public says the corrected invoice “is issued and sent the same way as the original invoice”. It goes through an accredited platform (plateforme agréée), since September 1, 2026 for large and mid-sized companies, and from September 1, 2027 for small and medium-sized businesses and microbusinesses.

In the file, the document type is a code from the UNTDID 1001 list, used by the European standard EN 16931. The French tax authorities (DGFiP) allow only some of them: the three below, plus 386 for a deposit invoice and 503 for a credit note on a deposit invoice.

The number of the corrected invoice has been part of the data sent to the tax authorities since September 1, 2026. Its date, for a corrected invoice as for a credit note, becomes mandatory in the file and in that data from September 1, 2027.

The reform also separates two statuses. A rejected invoice (“rejetée”) was turned down by a platform, for an invalid format or totals that don’t add up, for example. The DGFiP’s practical guide treats it as an incident: the seller fixes the invoice and sends it again. A refused invoice (“refusée”) was turned down by the customer, for a reason the standard allows, such as an invoice sent to the wrong company, and never for a simple commercial dispute. If the seller accepts the refusal, it cancels the invoice in its own books, with an internal credit note that isn’t sent if needed, and the new invoice gets a new number. If it disputes the refusal, it doesn’t create an invoice or a credit note on the strength of that status alone.

You’ve received a wrong invoice: what should you do?

Don’t fix it yourself, and don’t throw it away. Ask the supplier for a corrected invoice if you haven’t paid yet, or for a credit note if you have. Only the business that issued the invoice can correct it.

• Don’t deduct wrong VAT. VAT charged in error isn’t deductible, and if you deducted it, the credit note means you pay it back.
• On an accredited platform, you can refuse the invoice with a reason, for example if it isn’t meant for you, and the DGFiP’s FAQ says a refusal is final. For a disagreement over one line, statuses such as “En litige” (disputed) or “Approuvée partiellement” (partly approved) alert the supplier without closing the matter.

For a first check, our free Factur-X reader confirms that seven basic fields are present in the XML of a Factur-X, UBL or CII file. It isn’t an official validation, and the price, quantity and rate are yours to check.

Finding an invoice and its correction

With Pro, Clivio issues your invoices and credit notes as Factur-X: an issued invoice can no longer be edited, and a mistake is fixed with a credit note that cites it. The invoices and credit notes you receive, forwarded to your drop address or imported, are read as soon as they arrive, with their amounts and due date. Because their full text is read, a search for “F2026-0412” brings up the invoice and the credit note that cites it, as the Documents feature page explains.

Common questions

Sources consulted on Oct 15, 2026: Entreprendre Service Public, “Tout savoir sur la facturation” (checked Aug 7, 2026); BOFiP, BOI-TVA-DECLA-30-20-20-20, corrected invoices and credit notes (§ 180 to 340); BOFiP, BOI-TVA-DED-40-10-20, recovering VAT on terminated or canceled transactions; BOFiP, BOI-TVA-DECLA-30-20-20-30, VAT invoiced in error (§ 350 to 420); impots.gouv.fr, “Comment traiter une facture d’avoir sur ma déclaration de TVA ?” (updated Oct 14, 2026); impots.gouv.fr, e-invoicing external specifications (version 3.2 of Apr 30, 2026, annex 7, rules G1.01 and G1.31); impots.gouv.fr, table of invoice data sent to the tax authorities (PDF, updated August 2026); impots.gouv.fr, practical start-up guide for e-invoicing on September 1, 2026 (PDF, questions 11 and 12); impots.gouv.fr, fact sheet on issuing e-invoices (PDF); impots.gouv.fr, FAQ “Je découvre la facturation électronique” (PDF); Service Public, “Acompte, avance, arrhes et avoir : quelles différences ?” (checked Aug 5, 2025); BOFiP, BOI-RES-TVA-000253, moving VAT into the CIBS (version of Oct 7, 2026). The BOFiP says “note d’avoir” and Entreprendre Service Public says “facture d’avoir”. Both mean the same document, a credit note.

Published Oct 20, 2026 by the Clivio team. Spotted a mistake, or have a better method? contact@clivio.app