Since 1 January 2026, your SME can no longer send a simple PDF or paper invoice to another Belgian professional. Every VAT-registered company established in Belgium must now send and receive its business-to-business (B2B) invoices in the structured electronic format, via the Peppol network. This is no longer an option or a recommendation: it is the only legally compliant invoice.

This obligation stems from the law of 6 February 2024, which inscribed the requirement into the VAT Code, later clarified by the royal decree of 8 July 2025. According to the FPS Finance, the invoice must comply with the European standard EN 16931 and travel by default over the Peppol network. A PDF sent by email, however readable, no longer satisfies the obligation.

For a self-employed person or a small structure, the change looks administrative, but it is above all operational. Properly connected, electronic invoicing saves time and makes your payments more reliable. Poorly prepared, it blocks your collections and exposes you to fines. The good news: it is precisely the kind of flow that lends itself to automation.

What concretely changes since 1 January 2026

The central idea: an invoice is no longer a document that a human reads, but a piece of data that software exchanges. The structured format (Peppol BIS, compliant with the EN 16931 standard) lets your accounting and your client's accounting process the invoice automatically, without re-entry.

Who is concerned, and who is not

The obligation targets B2B operations between VAT-registered Belgian companies. If you invoice other professionals established in Belgium, you are concerned, both for sending and for receiving. Sales to individuals (B2C) are not affected at this stage.

The FPS Finance provides a few exceptions: bankrupt taxable persons, operations exempted under article 44 of the VAT Code, non-residents without a fixed establishment in Belgium, and taxable persons under the flat-rate scheme (exempt until 1 January 2028 at the latest). Outside these cases, the rule applies to everyone, including the smallest structures.

A PDF invoice is no longer enough

This is the point that surprises most business owners. You can still send a PDF or paper as a complement, for reading comfort, but it no longer has legal value on its own. The invoice that counts is the structured version that travels through Peppol. Concretely, if you keep invoicing only in PDF, your invoices are not compliant, and your client can refuse to process them.

How the Peppol network works

Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line) is a decentralized network on which companies exchange structured documents. It is often compared to a secure postal service between software applications: you do not know the servers the invoice passes through, but it reaches the right recipient, in the right format.

To use it, you go through an access point (Access Point), generally provided by your invoicing or accounting software. You have no server to install and no technical skill to acquire: your tool connects to the network, sends your invoices and retrieves those of your suppliers. The role of a partner like NTO Digital is to check that your chain (quotes, invoice, accounting, collection) is correctly connected to that network and that nothing gets lost between two tools.

This is the direct extension of what we already explained in 2025 about the value of automating your quotes, invoices and reminders: the legal obligation only accelerates a movement that was saving time anyway.

Automating the transition without spending your evenings on it

The transition plays out less on the technical side than on organization. Here are the steps that matter:

1. Check your current software. Most Belgian invoicing solutions already include a Peppol access point. Confirm that yours sends AND receives in the structured format, not only in PDF.

2. Register your company on Peppol. This is the prerequisite to be reachable by your clients and suppliers. Your software or your accountant usually handles it.

3. Connect your tools to each other. If your quotes, your invoicing and your accounting live in different applications, that is where data gets lost. Connecting your tools to stop retyping everything by hand avoids double entry and errors.

4. Test with a real client. Send a first structured invoice to a trusted partner and check that it arrives and is processed correctly before generalizing.

5. Automate the reminders. A structured invoice received faster is an invoice paid faster, provided you also connect the follow-up of payments.

How much it costs, and what the State reimburses

Pleasant surprise: the State has provided a tax incentive to cushion the move to compliance. According to information from hub.brussels, SMEs can benefit from an enhanced tax deduction of up to 120% of the costs related to setting up and using electronic invoicing, for tax years 2024 to 2027. In other words, part of your investment in good software or in support comes back in the form of a tax advantage.

Conversely, doing nothing is expensive. The royal decree of 8 July 2025 sets progressive fines: according to hub.brussels, 1,500 euros for a first offence, 3,000 euros for the second, and 5,000 euros for subsequent ones. On top of that comes a sneakier risk: the loss of the right to deduct VAT on non-compliant invoices, which can weigh far more than the fine itself.

The calculation is quick. The cost of a clean move to compliance, partly deductible, is out of all proportion to the accumulation of fines and non-recoverable VAT.

Frequently asked questions

I am self-employed as a natural person, am I really concerned?

Yes, as soon as you are VAT-registered and invoice other professionals established in Belgium. The size of the structure does not matter. Only the special schemes (flat-rate, exempt under article 44, bankrupt) benefit from a postponement or an exemption.

Can I keep sending a PDF alongside the Peppol invoice?

You can send a PDF as a complement for your client's comfort, but it has no legal value on its own. The official invoice is the structured version transmitted through Peppol. The PDF alone does not make you compliant.

What happens if my client is not yet ready to receive Peppol?

The obligation has applied to both parties since 1 January 2026: your Belgian VAT-registered client must also be able to receive structured invoices. In practice, the vast majority of accounting software has adapted. If a partner is lagging, it is the right moment to check your respective settings together.

How long does the concrete setup take?

If your software already handles Peppol, activation is counted in hours: registration, settings, test. The real work is connecting your tools cleanly to each other to avoid double entry. That is where support saves the most time.

Priority action plan

1. Confirm your compliance: check that your software sends and receives in the structured Peppol format, not only in PDF.

2. Register on Peppol: make your company reachable for your clients and suppliers.

3. Map your tools: list where your quotes, invoices and accounting entries originate, and spot the manual re-entries.

4. Automate the connections: connect these tools to remove double entry and make the data more reliable.

5. Activate the tax deduction: document your costs to benefit from the enhanced deduction provided until tax year 2027.

Electronic invoicing is not just one more constraint: it is the opportunity to clean up, once and for all, administrative flows that too many Belgian SMEs still keep by hand. The structures that take the obligation as the starting point of real automation gain time they would never recover otherwise.

Do you want to connect your invoicing to Peppol without spending your weekends on it? We help Belgian SMEs cleanly automate their administrative flows: let's talk about your situation.