Belgium's B2B e-invoicing mandate: Peppol since 1 January 2026
Since 1 January 2026, invoices between Belgian businesses liable to VAT must be structured electronic invoices, sent over the Peppol network. A PDF by email is no longer an invoice in that case. Facts below come from the FPS Finance's site einvoice.belgium.be and the legal texts, unless another source is linked.
Updated 19 October 2026
Timeline
- 1 January 2026: structured e-invoices between businessesEvery invoice drawn up from that date between Belgian VAT-liable enterprises must be a structured e-invoice, whatever the date of the underlying transaction.
- January to March 2026: tolerance period (ended)No penalties for missing e-invoicing capability during the first three months, if the business could show it acted in time and reasonably. No general postponement. For self-billing the FPS Finance allowed until 30 June 2026.
- 2028: e-reporting (planned)The federal coalition agreement plans reporting of e-invoice data to the administration from 2028; the FPS Finance FAQ notes it still has to be written into law.
- 1 July 2030: intra-EU transactionsUnder the EU's VAT in the Digital Age directive, Belgium will extend reporting to intra-community transactions by 1 July 2030 at the latest.
Legal basis: law of 6 February 2024 introducing the obligation, and the royal decree of 8 July 2025 on structured electronic invoices.
Who is covered
- Covered: enterprises established in Belgium and liable to VAT, for invoices to each other. That includes small businesses using the VAT exemption scheme for small enterprises; farmers under the special agricultural scheme are covered at least for receiving.
- Not covered: invoices to private individuals (B2C), and VAT-registered businesses that are not established in Belgium and have no permanent establishment there (the FAQ notes that the law is still being amended on this point).
Unsure about a specific company? The FPS Finance has a self-check tool.
Format and network
- The structured e-invoice is the invoice. A PDF or paper copy can still be sent as a courtesy, but it is not the legal invoice.
- Peppol BIS is the standard. The royal decree of 8 July 2025 makes Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, sent through the Peppol network, the default. Other formats are allowed only if both parties agree and the format follows the European standard EN 16931; even then a business must be able to send and receive Peppol BIS (KPMG Belgium).
- Peppol access point. Your invoicing software connects to Peppol through an access point provider. Belgian companies are usually addressed by their enterprise number, Peppol scheme
0208(for example0208:0123456789).
Penalties
Fines for not complying with the e-invoicing obligation are €1,500 for a first offence, €3,000 for a second and €5,000 for each further one, with at least three months between offences (KPMG Belgium). Both a supplier and a customer that are not ready risk penalties.
What to do, as a developer
- Produce Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 UBL from your invoice data, with both parties' Peppol electronic addresses.
- Validate every invoice against the CEN and Peppol rules before sending; access points and receivers reject invalid files. The errors that come up most are on the Peppol BIS page.
- Connect to an access point to send and receive. Invoir validates (and will generate) the file; it does not send it.
Check a file in your browser, or over the API. The free validator runs the official rules (KoSIT, CEN and Peppol Schematron, Mustang, veraPDF) and lists every error with its rule ID. Nothing is stored. The same check is one HTTP call with a free API key: 25 documents a month, no credit card.
Sources
- FPS Finance: structured e-invoices between companies compulsory since 2026; FAQ on the B2B obligation; tolerance during the first three months of 2026; FAQ on e-reporting.
- Law of 6 February 2024; royal decree of 8 July 2025 (Belgian Official Gazette).
- KPMG Belgium: new royal decree on structured electronic invoicing (format rules, penalties).
- Council Directive (EU) 2025/516 (ViDA).