Electronic Invoicing Becomes Mandatory in Belgium starting January 2026
The proposed law for electronic invoicing in Belgium has been approved by the Belgian Parliament. It will come into effect on January 1, 2026, for all businesses.
The electronic invoice model will use the Peppol network and standard, which is already being used in the B2G context.
B2B e-Invoicing in Belgium
The Belgian Parliament has approved the Electronic Invoicing law, confirming its effective date for all businesses on January 1, 2026. The bill will now pass to the King for signature and will afterwards be published in the Belgian Official State Gazette.
Belgium is still awaiting the EU's exception to make its B2B electronic invoicing mandatory.
The law will require the use of structured electronic invoices starting from 2026 for Belgian businesses established and registered for VAT purposes. Taxpayers will be mandated to send and/or receive structured electronic invoices through the Peppol network and in the Peppol-BIS standard. Paper invoices and unstructured formats (e.g., PDF) will not be allowed. The B2C sector is outside the scope and exempt from the application of this law.
Companies that already have another means of communication in an EDI context, can maintain it if both parties agree or if the invoices issued comply with European standards on semantics and syntax EN 16.931-1 and CEN/TS 16.931-2.
e-Reporting in Belgium
For the development of this system, Belgium intends to follow the proposals of the European Union published in the VAT in Digital Age - ViDA project to promote interoperability of information exchange between the countries of the Union.
Watch our webinar on e-Invoicing in Europe in collaboration with PwC and access the answers to all the questions that arrived during the webinar.
Objectives of the tax reform
From the outset, the objective of adopting electronic invoice and VAT reporting models is to combat tax fraud, which in 2018 accounted for 10.8% less revenue than estimated, about 3.6 billion euros. Specifically, the objectives of the current tax reform presented are:
- Increase the employment rate.
- Encourage entrepreneurship
- Stimulate investments
- Combat poverty
- Increase the purchasing power of families.
The digital plan looks to embrace digital transformation with a particular interest in the dematerialization of transactions and relations between the government, citizens, and companies.
The electronic invoice for B2B transactions results in major improvements in VAT collection by the government and provides major upgrades for companies in terms of cost reduction, efficiency and security. The electronic invoice is also a gateway for business digitalization making them more competitive.
B2G e-Invoicing in Belgium
All suppliers of public entities in Belgium must issue electronic invoices and public entities must be able to receive electronic invoices.
Electronic invoices in Belgium are sent to the public administrations following the Peppol interoperability model. The reception of invoices is conducted through the Mercurius platform which gives access to government entities or directly to the Peppol AP of the public entity.
Electronic invoicing solutions are scalable, and for those companies that have begun the process of digitization of B2G invoices, issuing B2B electronic invoices will not be a major leap.
EDICOM’s Global e-Invoicing Platform
EDICOM has an international e-invoicing and e-reporting solution that opens the door to over 70 public countries: EDICOM’s Global e-Invoicing Platform.
Among the many capabilities of EDICOM’s Electronic invoicing platform, the connection with the Peppol network stands out. This is thanks to its certification as a Peppol Access Point which makes it the ideal solution for invoicing in the Belgian market.
EDICOM coordinates GOVEIN2019 project (Action No: 2019-EU-IA-0046)
*The contents of this publication belong solely to EDICOM GROUP and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.
