Glossary of expense reports, VAT and e-invoicing
The reference definitions of Travel & Expense: the 2026 e-invoicing reform, VAT recovery, receipt fraud, works council spend control. Every term is defined concisely and actionably.
Expense report (note de frais)
The document through which an employee claims reimbursement of business expenses paid out of pocket (meals, transport, accommodation…). Each line must be backed by a compliant receipt to be reimbursable and to qualify for VAT deduction.
T&E (Travel & Expense)
The set of processes for managing business travel and expense reports: booking, travel policy, expense submission, approval, reimbursement, control and accounting.
E-invoicing (facturation électronique)
The obligation to issue and receive invoices in a structured electronic format, transmitted through platforms certified by the tax authority. In France, the obligation to receive e-invoices applies to all companies from September 1, 2026.
→ E-invoicing and expense reportsE-reporting
Transmission to the tax authority of transaction data that falls outside e-invoicing (B2C sales, international transactions, below-threshold expenses). For expense report items under €150 excl. VAT, the e-reporting regime applies.
Plateforme Agréée (PA, formerly PDP)
A private dematerialization platform registered with the French tax authority, authorized to transmit electronic invoices and e-reporting data. Formerly called PDP (Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire). Most companies will go through a certified platform to benefit from connectors to their ERP and T&E tools.
Portail Public de Facturation (PPF)
The portal operated by the French State (built on Chorus Pro) that centralizes the recipient directory and the collection of tax data for the e-invoicing reform. Since the reform's evolution, the PPF acts as a data concentrator; invoice exchange goes through the certified platforms (Plateformes Agréées).
Factur-X
The Franco-German hybrid e-invoice format: a human-readable PDF embedding a machine-readable structured XML file (EN 16931 standard). One of the three core formats of the French reform, alongside UBL and CII.
UBL (Universal Business Language)
An international XML standard for business documents (invoices, orders, dispatch advice), standardized by OASIS. UBL is one of the structured formats accepted by the French e-invoicing reform and widely used across Europe (notably on the Peppol network).
CII (Cross Industry Invoice)
A structured e-invoice format defined by UN/CEFACT (United Nations). Like Factur-X and UBL, it is part of the core formats of the French reform. The XML embedded in Factur-X is in fact a CII profile.
€150 excl. VAT threshold
The amount above which a supplier invoice tied to a business expense (hotel, car rental, restaurant…) must be a structured electronic invoice under the French reform. Below €150 excl. VAT, only transaction data is transmitted (e-reporting).
→ The €150 threshold explainedDeductible VAT
The share of VAT paid on business expenses that the company can recover from the tax authority, under conditions: the expense serves the business, the receipt is compliant with mandatory mentions, and category-specific deductibility rules apply (fuel, meals, accommodation…).
→ MULTI TVA — automatic recoveryMulti-rate VAT
The coexistence of several VAT rates within one expense category or one receipt (in France: 20%, 10%, 5.5%, 2.1%). A restaurant bill can mix 10% (dine-in) and 20% (alcohol). Computing recoverable VAT correctly requires breaking down each line at the right rate.
8th Directive (intra-EU VAT refund)
The European procedure that lets a company recover VAT paid in another EU member state (hotels, fuel, trade shows abroad…), through a national electronic portal. Deductibility rules vary by the country where the expense was incurred.
Continuous auditing
A control approach that checks 100% of transactions in real time, before payment, rather than a sample after the fact during a periodic audit. Applied to expense reports, continuous auditing catches anomalies before reimbursement.
→ Continuous expense auditingOCR (optical character recognition)
Technology that extracts text from an image or scanned document. Applied to expense receipts, OCR reads merchant, date, amounts and VAT. Modern AI audit solutions combine OCR with semantic and visual analysis to understand and verify the expense, not just read it.
Image Delivery Extract (SAP Concur)
A SAP Concur service that delivers, at regular intervals and by SFTP, a zip file containing receipt and invoice images from every Concur channel and module (Expense, Invoice, Travel), with an index file. It cannot filter images; a historical extract can be requested through SAP Concur support (billable).
→ How to export SAP Concur receipts in bulk: the 5 methodsReceipt extraction
Retrieving receipts (images or PDFs) out of the expense tool, together with their expense data, for an audit, a VAT inspection, rebilling or archiving. Not to be confused with OCR, which reads the content of a receipt image at submission time.
→ SMART ExtractC2PA
An open standard (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) that attaches cryptographically signed metadata to files, describing their origin and modifications. Used to trace image provenance, it helps identify AI-generated or retouched receipts.
AI-generated receipt
A fake receipt created from scratch by a generative image model, visually indistinguishable from a real one. Detection relies on metadata analysis, visual artifacts and correlation with the expense data (dates, locations, history).
→ Expense fraud detectionDuplicate receipt
The same receipt submitted for reimbursement more than once: by the same employee on two different reports, or by two different employees (a shared meal claimed in full by each). One of the most common fraud patterns, undetectable without cross-referencing all expense reports.
Expense splitting (split billing)
Deliberately splitting an expense into several lines or several expense reports to stay under control or approval thresholds. Example: a €210 dinner declared as three €70 lines.
ASC (French works council social benefits)
Benefits funded by the French works council (CSE) for employees: trips, sports activities, show tickets, holiday camps… ASC reimbursements are subject to eligibility rules and URSSAF tolerance thresholds; controlling them requires receipt verification.
→ EVA CSE — works council receipt auditingBenefit in kind & URSSAF thresholds
A reimbursement or benefit granted outside the tolerances admitted by URSSAF (the French social security collection agency) can be reclassified as a benefit in kind, reintegrated into the social contribution base — with back-payments for the employer or the works council.
KSeF
Krajowy System e-Faktur, the Polish national e-invoicing platform. Mandatory for companies in Poland on a phased schedule, it is the Polish equivalent of the French PA/PPF system.
→ CONNECT and KSeF in PolandSdI (Sistema di Interscambio)
The Italian national e-invoice exchange platform, mandatory in Italy since 2019 for nearly all B2B and B2C transactions. A precursor of European e-invoicing systems.
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