E-invoicing and Peppol

E-invoicing is mandatory. The only question left is how you handle it.

Since 1 January 2026, Belgian VAT-registered businesses have had to exchange their B2B invoices electronically over the Peppol network, and a PDF by email no longer counts as an electronic invoice. This page sets out what applies and which routes exist — including the ones that do not end with me.

What has applied since 1 January 2026

Who it covers

VAT-registered businesses in Belgium, for invoices to other VAT-registered businesses. B2C sits outside it, and foreign customers follow their own country's rules.

In what format

Peppol BIS 3.0, built on UBL 2.1 and the European norm EN 16931. It is a structured file that software reads, not a PDF with a nice layout.

What no longer suffices

A PDF attached to an email. You may still send one as a readable copy, but the invoice itself has to travel over the network.

What you get out of it

Invoices that arrive in the accounts rather than in a mailbox, less retyping, and a trail of what was sent and accepted. That is the part that makes the obligation bearable.

The rules as they currently stand, with a transition period through the first months of 2026 and penalties for businesses that structurally fail to comply. There are also tax measures softening the cost of invoicing software. What exactly applies to your company is something your accountant knows better than a web page — check there before deciding anything.

Three ways to solve it

01

A package that already does it

If you already invoice in software that supports Peppol, this is often a matter of switching it on and registering. If that is your situation, I will say so, and there is no project.

02

A connector onto what you use

Invoices come out of your own system — a CRM, an ERP, an application built for you — and need to leave it structured. I build the connector alongside it, without anybody having to change how they work.

03

An invoicing application of your own

For when invoicing is the work itself: drafting, sending, chasing, archiving. That is what Clark does, and it is written up here including the decisions that were awkward.

What I have already built in this

Clark is an invoicing platform that sends Belgian B2B invoices over Peppol. Validation runs against the same artefacts the receiving Access Point uses, the transmitted UBL and PDF are archived exactly as they went out, and what is posted to the transmission provider is our own UBL — so changing provider is not a rewrite.

Own product 2026 — now

Clark

The clerk: writes the invoice, keeps the record, sends it out.

Belgian B2B invoicing over Peppol — UBL 2.1 and EN 16931, validated against the official rule set before anything leaves the building.

Belgian B2B mandate: 2026 Belgian B2B mandate
validated against: EN 16931 validated against
for other applications: API for other applications

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Read the case study

What people ask about this

Do I really have to use e-invoicing?

If you are a VAT-registered business in Belgium invoicing other VAT-registered businesses: yes, since 1 January 2026. For consumers and for some cross-border situations it works differently.

Can I still send a PDF by email?

As an extra readable copy, certainly. But the invoice that counts has to travel over Peppol as a structured file — the PDF alone no longer suffices.

What does it cost to sort this out?

A connector onto existing software is usually a few days of work. An invoicing application of your own is a project in itself and starts higher. You get a fixed number after the scoping step, before anything is committed.

What if my accounting package already does it?

Then that is the answer and you do not need me. It happens more often than you would think, and I would rather say it than have you pay for something already switched on.

How do I know it is genuinely valid?

An invoice is valid when it passes the official rule set, not when it looks right. That is why validation here runs against the same Schematron artefacts as the receiving end, before anything leaves.

Invoicing that is not sorted yet?

Tell me in a few lines how you invoice today and where it comes from. You get an honest answer — including that your package already handles it.

Start a project Or just send an email

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