Description

This use case addresses the scenario where an invoice must be paid by a third-party payer who is known at the time of invoicing. The seller creates the invoice for the buyer, but designates a specific third party who will make the payment. This is distinct from use case 2 (already paid) because the payment has not yet been made, and from use case 4 (partial third-party) because the third party handles the entire payment.

In practice, this covers scenarios such as corporate purchasing where a parent company pays for a subsidiary, government agencies paying on behalf of other entities, or insurance companies covering the full cost of a claim. The third-party payer is identified in the invoice using the payer block (EXT-FR-FE-BG-02) available in the EXTENDED-CTC-FR profile.

Key characteristics

• Only one third-party payer can be designated per invoice (EXT-FR-FE-BG-02 is not repeatable).

• EXTENDED-CTC-FR profile is required to name the payer in the invoice.

• BT-113 (Prepaid Amount) is used to show the amount to be paid by the third party.

• BT-115 (Amount Due) shows what remains for the buyer to pay (may be zero if fully covered).

• The buyer coordinates payment delegation to the third-party payer.

• If GDPR applies (for example, payer is an individual), use identifier or matricule instead of name.

Relationship to other use cases

Use case 3 is closely related to use case 2 (Already Paid Invoice) in terms of data structure, but differs in timing: The payment has not yet occurred. It is also related to use case 4 (Partial Third-Party Payment), where only part of the invoice is covered by a third party. Use case 5 (Employee Expenses) is a specific variant where the employee acts as a known payer. Use case 13 (Subcontracting with direct payment) extends this concept to construction and public works contexts.

Business and tax context

Legal and regulatory framework

Under Article 289 bis of the Code Général des Impôts (CGI), all B2B invoices between French-established taxable persons must be sent electronically through authorized platforms. When a third-party payer is involved, the invoice still follows the standard e-invoicing flow but must have additional information identifying the payer.

The EXTENDED-CTC-FR profile extends the EN16931 European standard to support French-specific requirements, including the payer block (EXT-FR-FE-BG-02). When this profile is not used, alternative mechanisms such as BT-18 (Subject of Invoice) with code AHK can give payer reference information within the EN16931 profile.

Invoice type code remains 380 (standard commercial invoice) unless combined with other use cases.

Common business scenarios

Parent company paying for subsidiary

A group treasury center pays invoices on behalf of group entities.

Government agency payment

A ministry pays an invoice addressed to a subordinate entity.

Insurance full coverage

An insurer pays the full invoice amount directly to the seller.

Centralized purchasing

A buying cooperative pays on behalf of member organizations.

Tax and accounting implications

The VAT treatment depends on whether VAT is due on delivery (goods) or receipt (services). If VAT is due on receipt (BT-8 absent or indicating cash accounting), the seller must send an Encaissée (Collected) lifecycle status once the third-party payer has made the payment. If payments are received on different dates from different payers, separate Encaissée statuses must be sent with the correct VAT breakdown for each payment.

The buyer keeps the right to VAT deduction as the economic recipient of the goods or services, regardless of who makes the payment.

Important: Only one third-party payer can be designated in EXT-FR-FE-BG-02 (not repeatable). If multiple payers are needed, see use case 4 for the partial payment approach using BT-22 notes.

Key data requirements

Implementation considerations

Seller considerations

• Use the EXTENDED-CTC-FR profile to populate the payer block (EXT-FR-FE-BG-02).

• Alternatively, use the EN16931 profile with BT-18 (Subject of Invoice, code AHK) to reference the payer.

• Track payment receipt from the third-party payer.

• Send Encaissée status when VAT is due on receipt.

• GDPR compliance: Use identifiers instead of personal names when the payer is an individual.

Buyer considerations

• Set up delegation to the third-party payer (referencing on PA-R with appropriate access rights).

• May delegate Payment Transmitted status creation to the third-party payer.

• PA-R can offer an optional service to reference third parties with portal, API, or EDI access.

General considerations

• PA-E must support the EXTENDED-CTC-FR profile for the payer block.

• PA-R may optionally support a third-party referencing service for buyer delegation.

• Both PA-E and PA-R must support minimum base formats and profiles.

  Note: In scenarios where the third-party payer needs visibility into the invoice and its lifecycle statuses, the Sovos solution handles this through its interface with role-based permissions. Third-party payers can be granted read-only or action-specific access to relevant invoices and statuses without needing separate platform integration, making sure multi-party collaboration is secure and auditable.

SCI mapping

Field	SCI path
BG-4 Seller	Invoice/AccountingSupplierParty/Party
BG-7 Buyer	Invoice/AccountingCustomerParty/Party
BT-3 Invoice type	Invoice/InvoiceTypeCode
BG-10 Payee	Invoice/PayeeParty
BT-59 Payee name	Invoice/PayeeParty/PartyName/Name
BT-61 Payee legal ID	Invoice/PayeeParty/PartyLegalEntity/CompanyID
EXT-FR-FE-BG-02 Payer	Invoice/PaymentMeans/PaymentMandate/PayerParty
EXT-FR-FE-43 Payer name	Invoice/PaymentMeans/PaymentMandate/PayerParty/PartyName/Name
EXT-FR-FE-48 Payer legal ID	Invoice/PaymentMeans/PaymentMandate/PayerParty/PartyLegalEntity/CompanyID
EXT-FR-FE-52 Payer e-address	Invoice/PaymentMeans/PaymentMandate/PayerParty/EndpointID
BT-112 Total TTC	Invoice/LegalMonetaryTotal/TaxInclusiveAmount
BT-113 Prepaid amount	Invoice/LegalMonetaryTotal/PrepaidAmount
BT-115 Amount due	Invoice/LegalMonetaryTotal/PayableAmount
BT-84 Payment account	Invoice/PaymentMeans/PayeeFinancialAccount/ID
BT-22 Note	Invoice/Note