Invoicing a French public client through Chorus Pro

A ministry, a city council, a hospital, a university: in France, a public client does not take an invoice by email. Since 1 January 2020 every supplier, a sole trader included, sends it through Chorus Pro, the State's invoicing portal. It is free and takes one account, and most rejected invoices come down to one of three references missing.

Who has to use it

Every supplier of the State, of local authorities and of public bodies sends its invoices to them electronically, and Chorus Pro is where they arrive (articles L2192-1 and following of the French public procurement code). The obligation reached the smallest businesses, micro-entrepreneurs included, on 1 January 2020. It applies to a contract won through a tender and to a small order placed without one alike.

When you are not sure whether a client is public, look up its SIRET in the Chorus Pro directory. If it is listed, its invoices go through the portal, and the directory says which references it requires.

Before the first invoice

Create an account on the Chorus Pro portal with your SIRET; it creates your organisation, to which you add your bank details. Then ask the client for three references, ideally before the work starts:

• the recipient's SIRET: a public body often has several, one per budget or department, and the invoice goes to the one that placed the order;
• the service code, when the recipient requires one: the department inside that SIRET;
• the commitment number (numéro d'engagement), when it is required: the reference the buyer created to authorise this expense, printed on the purchase order or the contract.

An invoice missing a reference the directory marks as required is rejected. The commitment number is the one most often missing, because it only exists once the buyer has recorded the order: if you have none, ask for it before invoicing rather than after the rejection.

Sending an invoice

A freelancer has three ways in:

1. Upload the PDF your invoicing tool produced, then fill in the fields the portal asks for: the recipient, its references, the number, the date and the amounts. The portal reads the fields, not the PDF, so both must say the same thing.
2. Type the invoice in on the portal, which then draws its own PDF.
3. Through your approved platform. Since 1 September 2026, the platform that sends your invoices to businesses can also send those to public clients, when it is connected to Chorus Pro. Chorus Pro stays the channel either way.

Large suppliers also connect by EDI or API; for a few invoices a year, the upload is the quickest.

What happens next

The portal shows the invoice's status, and each step is visible to you:

• Submitted (déposée): the portal accepted the file;
• Made available (mise à disposition du destinataire): the buyer has it, and the payment period starts on this day;
• then, depending on what the buyer chose to report, assigned, recorded, and payment ordered (mise en paiement).

Three statuses ask something of you. Suspended: a document is missing; add it and the invoice resumes. Rejected: the buyer refused it as it is, and you submit a corrected invoice. Recycled: it was sent to the wrong recipient; you correct the SIRET, the service code or the commitment number without changing the invoice's number.

The payment period

A public buyer pays within 30 days, 50 days for public hospitals, counted from the day the invoice is made available, not from the day you issued it (article R2192-10 of the public procurement code). Past that, late-payment interest at the European Central Bank's rate plus eight points and a fixed €40 indemnity are due by law, without you asking.

What changes in 2026

The e-invoicing reform between businesses does not replace Chorus Pro: it remains the platform for invoices to the public sector. What changed on 1 September 2026 is the route. You may send public invoices through the approved platform you use for your business clients, or keep using the portal directly. For a freelancer with a handful of public invoices a year, the portal is still the simpler of the two.

What inlinr does

inlinr prepares the invoice the way it does for any client: from the time tracked on the project or from a quote's schedule, numbered in your series, with the mentions a French invoice requires, the client's SIREN among them. You download its PDF and upload it to Chorus Pro, typing in the three references.

inlinr does not send to Chorus Pro itself, and does not follow the invoice's status there: you mark it paid when the money arrives. With your payment terms at 30 days, the default, the due date inlinr prints falls within a day or two of the buyer's, which counts from the day the invoice is made available. Issuing an invoice is part of the Pro plan.

Sources

• Chorus Pro, the portal: account creation, the directory of public recipients and the upload of an invoice. Checked on 29 October 2026.
• Public procurement code, articles L2192-1 and following (electronic invoicing) and R2192-10 (payment periods), Légifrance. Checked on 29 October 2026.
• Chorus Pro will remain the reference platform for the public sector from 2026, collectivites-locales.gouv.fr. Checked on 29 October 2026.
• Following an invoice, for a private supplier, AIFE: the statuses of an invoice. Checked on 29 October 2026.