Since 1 January 2026, a Belgian business can no longer simply send its invoices to other businesses as a PDF. They have to go out structured and electronic, via Peppol. I still get questions about it, mostly from clients with a webshop or their own invoicing module on their website. They mainly sell to consumers and assume it doesn't concern them. That's only half true.
What changed in January
All Belgian VAT-registered businesses must use structured electronic invoices with each other. Such an invoice goes directly from one company's software to the other's. A PDF by email or through a platform is no longer enough, as the government explains on efactuur.belgium.be. If your business has an active VAT number, this applies to you.
The difference with a PDF matters. A PDF contains no structured data, so it isn't a structured e-invoice, as VLAIO points out. An e-invoice is data your customer's software can process without anyone retyping it.
Transport runs over the decentralised Peppol network. Your invoicing or accounting software opens a secure connection to that network. According to the European Commission, Belgium uses the European standard EN 16931 and Peppol BIS 3.0, based on the federal law of 6 February 2024 amending the VAT code.
The obligation covers all domestic B2B transactions subject to VAT, including reverse charge ones, unless they are exempt under article 44 of the VAT code. Intra-community supplies and services taxed in another EU country fall outside it. The FPS Finance also accepts that the obligation doesn't apply to businesses not established in Belgium, even if they have a VAT number here (FPS notice).
Even if you only sell to consumers
Invoices to consumers are not covered. E-invoicing to consumers is voluntary in Belgium. But you do have to be able to receive. On 7 April 2026 the government clarified that a business that only invoices consumers but buys from a Belgian company must be able to receive that supplier's e-invoices (notice on the end of the tolerance period). VAT payers under the small business exemption scheme are in principle covered too.
Only businesses that neither issue invoices to nor receive invoices from Belgian VAT payers are out of scope. For a webshop that's rarely the case. You have a hosting provider, an accountant, a packaging supplier.
What it means for a webshop with business customers
This is where the real work is, in my experience. According to the European Commission, the receiving obligation applies to customers who provide their Belgian VAT number for a domestic transaction. If your webshop sells to both consumers and businesses, you need to know which type of customer you're dealing with on every order. If a customer enters a Belgian VAT number, that invoice should go out via Peppol. For a consumer, a regular PDF is still fine.
That is my reading of the rules, not specific government advice for webshops. In practice it means a VAT field for business orders, a check on that number, and a link between your webshop and invoicing software connected to Peppol. If you build invoicing into your own website, you connect it through a certified Peppol service provider.
There is a fallback rule. If the recipient can't receive an e-invoice for technical reasons, you don't have to issue one. You still send an invoice on paper or electronically, for example as a PDF. The recipient must then take steps without delay to be able to receive e-invoices.
The tolerance period is over
In the first three months of 2026, the FPS Finance imposed no penalties, provided you could show you had prepared "in time and in a reasonable way". It was explicitly not a general postponement (tolerance period). That period has ended. For self-billing, where the customer draws up the invoice, a separate tolerance ran until 30 June 2026. That one is over too.
According to VILT, businesses that don't switch risk fines of 1,500 to 5,000 euros. For technical problems beyond your control, the FPS can waive a fine in exceptional cases, but only after an individual review of your file, which you submit through the contact form.
You're not alone in this: by 18 December 2025, more than half a million businesses had already made the switch.
What to do, in this order
- Check with the official tool whether the obligation applies to you.
- Make sure you can receive e-invoices from your suppliers, even if your webshop only sells to consumers.
- Choose invoicing or accounting software connected to Peppol. The government publishes a list of solutions, including some that are partly free or low cost.
- Talk to your accountant and ask your software provider which solution fits the way you work.
- Look at how your webshop identifies business customers and how an invoice gets from your shop to your Peppol software.
- Work through the government's step-by-step guide.
- Explain to your staff what changes in how invoices are created and processed.
- Use the tax support described below.
- If you run into technical problems that aren't your fault, submit your file through the contact form on efactuur.belgium.be.
That tax support is worth having. Since 1 January 2025, the investment deduction for digital investments rises to 20%. For the tax periods 2024 up to and including 2027, small SMEs and self-employed people on subscription plans get an increased cost deduction of 120% for invoicing packages. According to VLAIO, that 120% also covers advisory costs.
What's coming next
This isn't a one-off change. Belgium plans a near real-time electronic VAT reporting system based on e-invoicing by 2028, which should eventually replace the annual client listing. And according to VLAIO, European e-invoicing becomes mandatory for intra-community transactions from 1 July 2030. If you set up your invoicing properly now, you won't have to redo it later.
Do it yourself or outsource it
If you already create your invoices in an accounting package and sell little to businesses, it's often just a matter of enabling Peppol in that software. You can do that yourself, together with your accountant.
It's different if your webshop generates invoices itself, if you serve both consumers and businesses, or if your own platform talks to an ERP or stock system. Then the logic in your shop has to be right and the Peppol link has to run reliably. That's work I do in custom webshops and in platforms and integrations. If you're unsure how your own setup fits together, get in touch and we'll look at it together.
