Belgium’s mandatory e-invoicing requirement is reshaping how businesses manage invoices. Learn about the key details of Belgium’s e-invoicing regulations and discover how SNI’s solution ensures comprehensive compliance with the local mandates.
Invoicing Regulation Overview
Belgium has stepped up its actions to enact legislation to support B2B e-invoicing. We can understand this from the approval of Bill No. 55K3743001 by the Chamber in January 2024.
As of January 1, 2026, structured electronic invoicing is mandatory for transactions between Belgian VAT-registered businesses. Invoices must be issued, sent, and received in a structured electronic format that allows automatic and electronic processing.
PDF invoices sent by e-mail, paper invoices, Word, Excel, or other unstructured formats are no longer sufficient for in-scope B2B transactions. The default exchange method is the Peppol network, and Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, compliant with EN 16931, is the reference standard.
Scope of the e-Invoice Regulation
The Belgian B2B e-invoicing obligation applies to domestic transactions between Belgian VAT-registered businesses, taking into account the supplier, customer, and transaction type.
The obligation generally covers Belgian-established VAT taxpayers, Belgian permanent establishments of foreign entities, members of Belgian VAT groups, and certain Belgian taxable persons under special VAT schemes.
Foreign entities that are only VAT-registered in Belgium without a Belgian establishment are generally outside the issuing obligation. Certain VAT-exempt activities, bankrupt entities, and specific special VAT schemes may also be excluded.
B2C e-invoicing remains voluntary and is not subject to a legal mandate. Transactions with natural persons for private use are therefore outside the mandatory B2B e-invoicing scope.
Intra-community supplies and services taxed in another EU Member State are not included in the Belgian domestic B2B e-invoicing mandate.
Structure of Belgian e-Invoicing System
Belgium follows a phased digitalisation approach for e-invoicing.
The first phase, effective from January 1, 2026, introduces mandatory structured B2B e-invoicing. In this first phase, invoice data is not sent to the Belgian tax administration in real time. The invoice is exchanged directly between the business systems of the supplier and the customer.
Belgium also plans to introduce a near real-time VAT e-reporting layer from 2028. This future reporting obligation has not yet been fully transposed into Belgian law and is expected to replace the annual customer listing over time.
Belgium’s framework is aligned with the European e-invoicing standard EN 16931 and the broader EU VAT in the Digital Age — ViDA — initiative.
Peppol and HERMES
PEPPOL is the primary format and transmission method in Belgium. Businesses cannot unilaterally require another method if the counterparty wants to use Peppol.
Alternative formats or transmission methods may be used only if both parties mutually agree, and the alternative format must be convertible to EN 16931. However, the Peppol route must always remain available.
Belgium previously used HERMES as a temporary support platform for recipients that were not yet equipped to receive structured electronic invoices. HERMES converted structured invoices into readable formats such as PDF and provided tracking features.
HERMES was designed as a transitional solution and has been phased out as Belgium moves to mandatory structured e-invoicing through Peppol-compatible solutions.
Compliance and Penalties
The Royal Decree of July 8, 2025 confirms the practical implementation framework for structured electronic invoicing in Belgium.
Penalties may apply where a business does not have the technical means to issue or receive structured electronic invoices. The penalty starts at EUR 1,500 for the first offence, EUR 3,000 for the second offence, and EUR 5,000 for the third and subsequent offences.
The same decree also clarifies VAT rounding rules: where the VAT amount has more than two decimal places, rounding must be applied to the total VAT amount of the invoice, not to each individual invoice line.
How can SNI help you?
SNI offers an solution, which allows you to effortlessly produce invoices in the necessary format and seamlessly transmit them through service provider to recipients for the B2B transactions in Belgium. Within the solution, you can streamline the processes of creating invoices and converting them into desired files through automotion. SNI’s comprehensive solutions cover tasks such as data extraction, mapping, processing, and communication with the service provider, ensuring a seamless end-to-end e-invoicing experience.
SNI’s solution covers both outbound and inbound invoice processes. Outbound invoices are generated in the required structured format and exchanged through the applicable Peppol-based infrastructure. Inbound invoices are retrieved and processed through the relevant service provider connection, enabling automated monitoring and reconciliation.
All inbound invoices are displayed on SNI’s Inbound Cockpit, a dedicated interface designed to enhance the user experience and allow efficient management. Each invoice is available in both XML and (human-readable) HTML/PDF formats, ensuring detailed insight and compliance with regulatory requirements.
SNI’s invoice reconciliation feature offers seamless validation of incoming invoices by automatically matching them with purchase orders, delivery notes, or other internal records. This feature simplifies the validation of incoming invoices, reduces manual effort, and minimizes errors thus offering a quick resolution. With enhanced accuracy and efficiency, businesses can gain better control over their financial workflows and ensure smooth operations.
SNI solution integrates with clients’ systems without the need for updates to existing system versions and is independent of SAP versions. SNI’s SAP solution is compatible with SAP ECC 4.7 and above, as well as SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), SAP R3 and SAP S/4HANA. In addition, SNI provides ERP-independent solutions designed to integrate with any ERP system clients may use.