Personal trainer invoice in France: what to include

If you coach in France as an auto-entrepreneur, your invoices follow French rules, even when you write them in English for an English-speaking client. A compliant personal trainer invoice needs a precise set of details: your identity, a unique number, a clear description of your sessions and the right VAT line. Here is the full list, the micro-entrepreneur VAT case, and a sample invoice to copy. (Current as of 24 June 2026.)

Do you even need to issue an invoice?

It depends on who you are billing. For a business client (a gym, a company, a VAT-registered association), an invoice is mandatory whatever the amount. For a private individual, it becomes mandatory once the service goes above 25 EUR including tax, for any distance sale, or simply when the client asks. So the moment you sell a coaching programme or a block of sessions, you are almost always in invoice territory.

Plenty of coaches hand over a quick receipt, or nothing at all, for a session paid in cash or by transfer. That habit catches up with you during an inspection or a query from URSSAF, because your invoices are the record of your turnover. One invoice per session or per package, kept for ten years as the law requires, saves you the trouble later.

The mandatory details on every invoice

French law (article L441-9 of the commercial code) sets a list of details without which your invoice is not compliant, and a missing one can trigger a 15 EUR fine, capped at a quarter of the invoice amount. Each invoice must show:

• Your identity: your first and last name followed by the marker “Entrepreneur individuel” or “EI”, your address, and your SIREN number.
• A unique invoice number, assigned in a continuous, chronological sequence.
• The issue date and the date of the service (the session, or the period the package covers).
• The client’s identity: name and address, and the company name for a business client.
• A breakdown of the service: a description of each session or package, the quantity, and the unit price before tax.
• The total amount due.
• The VAT line that matches your situation (see below).
• For business clients only: the payment due date, the late-payment penalty rate, and the fixed 40 EUR recovery fee.

Those last items apply to business clients alone. You cannot charge late-payment penalties or the 40 EUR fee to a private individual, so they do not belong on an invoice addressed to a consumer.

The VAT line if you are under the franchise

Most coaches running a micro-entreprise fall under the VAT franchise (franchise en base de TVA): you do not add VAT, and you cannot reclaim it on what you buy. One line is then mandatory on every invoice, and leaving it off is a common slip: TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI.

That wording is changing. Article 293 B of the general tax code is being moved into the new code des impositions sur les biens et des services. From 1 September 2026, the expected mention points to articles L. 223 and following of that code (the CIBS), while the older art. 293 B du CGI form is tolerated until 31 December 2027. Both are accepted in the meantime, so you may as well adopt the new one now. You can check your position on economie.gouv.fr. Keep this line in French even on an English invoice, since it cites a specific article of French law.

If your turnover passes the franchise thresholds, you become liable for VAT and your invoices change: you add your intra-community VAT number, the VAT rate and amount per line, and the totals before tax, VAT, and including tax. As long as you stay under the thresholds, the exemption line is enough.

Describing sessions, packages and deposits

The description of the service is worth a moment, because it is where coaches’ invoices tend to fall short. “Coaching” on its own is too vague. Spell out what you sold: “Block of 10 one-to-one coaching sessions”, “Training and nutrition follow-up, 12-week programme”, “Trial session”. A clear description means fewer questions and cleaner books.

If you take a deposit before a programme starts, that deposit is invoiced too, with a note that it covers an upcoming service. Your final invoice then recalls the deposit and subtracts it from the total. For a package paid in instalments, you can issue one invoice per instalment or a single invoice with a payment schedule; what matters is that every payment ties back to an invoice.

A sample personal trainer invoice

Here is a minimal but compliant template you can adapt. Names and amounts are examples only.

INVOICE No. 2026-014                         Date: 24/06/2026

Sam Carter, Entrepreneur individuel (EI)
12 rue des Sports, 75011 Paris
SIREN: 812 345 678

Bill to: Ms Léa Petit
8 avenue du Parc, 75012 Paris

Service delivered on 24/06/2026
---------------------------------------------------------------
Description                          Qty   Unit price    Total
Block of 10 one-to-one                1      450.00 €   450.00 €
coaching sessions (1 to 10)
---------------------------------------------------------------
                                          Total due     450.00 €

TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI
Payment on receipt, by bank transfer.

For a business client, you would add the payment due date, the late-payment penalty rate, and the line “A fixed recovery fee of 40 EUR applies in case of late payment.”

Does e-invoicing change these requirements?

These details do not disappear with the e-invoicing reform: they stay mandatory, and only the format changes. From September 2026, then 2027, invoices to your business clients will have to travel in a structured format (Factur-X, UBL or CII) through an approved platform, while your sales to private clients fall under e-reporting. We walk through the full timeline and the e-reporting versus e-invoicing distinction in our guide to e-invoicing in France for sports coaches. The official timeline is published on impots.gouv.fr. The mentions above are the foundation that the new format will sit on.

Let Athletis handle the invoicing

You did not become a coach to copy legal mentions and chase payments on a Sunday night. With Athletis, your invoices go out in seconds, already complete and compliant: the right mentions, the right format, and the e-invoicing reform taken care of for you. Your payments and reminders live in the same place, so you can see at a glance who has paid and who still owes you.

The two slips I see most often among coaches are the forgotten VAT line and invoice numbers that jump around once you juggle a notebook, a spreadsheet and a payment app. Bringing everything together makes them disappear and gives you back the hours the paperwork used to eat. Try Athletis on your next invoices, or tell us about your business.

For the wider picture, our guide to personal trainer software reviews the tools, and our piece on setting your prices helps you decide what goes on those invoices. You can also see how we handle invoicing in the Athletis features.

A compliant invoice comes down to a few things: the right details, a number that runs without gaps, and an up-to-date VAT line. Spend ten minutes comparing your current template against this list and you will be set for a long while.