E-invoicing compliance Belgium

Timeline

The updated timelines will start in January 2026 without a gradual rollout. This means that when the requirement goes into effect, all affected taxpayers will have to issue, exchange and receiving invoices electronically.

Model

Initially, Belgium will only implement the Interoperability Model, which means that all invoices must be exchanged electronically, but there will be no real-time communication with the tax authorities (DRR). Eventually, we foresee the model being upgraded to the Decentralized CTC- and Exchange Model (DCTCE), with the central platform collecting invoice data subsets according to ViDA specifications.

Technical framework

Belgium has plans to make the Peppol framework, widely used for B2G e-invoicing, the standard to be supported by all taxpayers. Based on mutual agreement, the parties can agree on other frameworks or standards, provided the European standard is met.

To ease the transition, Belgium offers all companies the opportunity to receiving e-invoices through a solution called "Hermes." This is a simple solution that can send Peppol BIS invoices through the Peppol Network receiving and convert them into PDFs that are further sent to the company via e-mail. Apart from the fact that Hermes is very simple, it will be discontinued within a few years. Therefore, all companies are encouraged to start looking for a preferred service provider (for issuing and exchanging e-invoices) today.