Country deep dive
Belgium built its B2B mandate directly on top of infrastructure it had already spent years rolling out for the public sector — B2G e-invoicing arrived first, in stages, before B2B arrived all at once.
Belgium's central hub for business-to-government e-invoicing goes live, built on the Peppol network from the start and powered by Babelway's integration technology — the same infrastructure the 2026 B2B mandate would later extend.
Parliament writes the structured e-invoicing obligation into Belgian law and sets 1 January 2026 as the mandatory start date for domestic B2B transactions. A Royal Decree issued in 2025 then sets Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 as the required technical standard.
November 2022: contracts/concessions ≥€215,000. May 2023: ≥€30,000. November 2023: below €30,000. March 2024: all federal public contracts and concessions above €3,000, transposing EU Directive 2014/55/EU in full.
Structured e-invoicing became mandatory for domestic B2B transactions between Belgian VAT-registered businesses, using the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 / EN 16931 standard.
The three-month administrative tolerance period ended; a progressive penalty regime (€1,500 / €3,000 / €5,000) now applies to non-compliant invoicing.
Belgium plans to introduce near-real-time digital VAT reporting through a five-corner Peppol model, reporting invoice data to the tax authority automatically.
Belgium leans almost entirely on the existing Peppol ecosystem rather than inventing a national format from scratch.
Belgium is one of the few EU markets that hasn't layered its own national CIUS on top of Peppol BIS — using the standard European profile as-is is fully compliant, which keeps cross-border trade simple.
Scheme 9925 is a Peppol "extended value" rather than an official ISO 6523 code — it's valid for network routing but has more limited support than 0208. If you have a KBO number (almost every registered business does, including foreign companies trading in Belgium), use 0208.
Duplicate invoice numbers and mismatched line-level VAT categorisation are the two most common causes of Access Point validation failure — both are checked automatically before the invoice ever reaches the network.
If you switch Access Point providers, download your original XML files and processing logs before closing your old account — you may lose portal access to historical invoices once you leave, and you're the one who needs them for a future audit.
There's no Belgian government clearance platform for B2B invoices — Mercurius handles B2G only. B2B traffic moves peer-to-peer over Peppol.
Don't confuse the two: Mercurius is specifically for invoicing public bodies. Ordinary B2B invoices travel directly between businesses' Access Points and never touch Mercurius at all.
One enterprise number can only be linked to one Access Point at a time. To switch providers, your old Access Point must first "unpublish" your KBO number from the directory before your new provider can register it.
In practice almost everyone defaults to Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, since it needs no bilateral agreement between trading partners — any two Peppol-connected businesses can exchange invoices automatically.
The 5-corner model builds directly on the 4-corner network already in place — if your Access Point integration is solid today, the 2028 upgrade should mostly be your provider's problem, not yours.
There's no separate "e-invoicing account" to open with FPS Finance — registration happens through a commercial Access Point, using your existing enterprise number.
Check the KBO Public Search if you're unsure of your number — nearly all VAT-registered entities operating in Belgium have one, including foreign companies with a Belgian establishment.
Pick a standalone provider or confirm your existing accounting/ERP software already includes Peppol connectivity — many mainstream Belgian platforms do.
Your provider verifies your business details and publishes your Peppol Participant ID (scheme 0208 + KBO number) to the global Peppol Directory, making you discoverable to any trading partner.
Validate that your ERP produces correctly structured UBL XML — unique invoice numbers, correct line-level VAT category codes, and complete party identification. Most Access Points offer a sandbox for this.
The mandate requires you to receive structured invoices, not just send them — make sure inbound Peppol documents flow into your accounting system without manual handling.
Confirm your retention solution meets the 7-year statutory minimum with genuine audit-grade integrity — not just file storage, but demonstrable protection against alteration.
Belgium's penalty ladder is progressive and applies per infringement — not per invoice — which keeps it manageable if you fix the underlying issue quickly.
Other countries in the same region, ordered by their next dated milestone. Each links to a full briefing.