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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

Belgium — PEPPOL-exclusive mandate as of 1 January 2026

Belgium has chosen the PEPPOL network as the exclusive channel for B2B electronic invoicing: no national clearance hub, but a duty for every VAT-registered resident to issue and receive via PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0.

Regulatory timeline

  • Royal Decree of 9 March 2003. First Belgian framework for the electronic archiving of invoices, transposing EU Directive 2001/115.
  • 1 April 2019. B2G obligation for suppliers to federal bodies — Mercurius becomes the unique entry point.
  • 1 March 2024. B2G extension to every public body (Regions, Communities, municipalities, CPAS) for procurement > €30,000.
  • Law of 6 February 2024 (M.B. 20 February 2024). Establishes the B2B obligation: structured e-invoicing becomes mandatory between VAT-registered Belgian taxpayers from 1 January 2026. The reference format is PEPPOL, except by bilateral agreement to use another EN 16931-compliant format.
  • Royal Decree of 27 February 2024. Adopts the supporting tax regime: 120% enhanced deductibility of transition costs for SMEs until 31 December 2027.
  • Circular 2024/C/65 of 1 October 2024. Clarifies the scope of taxpayers concerned, the exceptions (notably article 44 exempt taxpayers under the VAT Code), and archiving duties.
  • 1 January 2026. B2B mandate goes live. FPS Finance opens the public Hermes access point for small taxpayers.

Deep dives — 10 dedicated pages

Ten dedicated pages drill into every dimension of Belgian e-invoicing — the 2026 B2B reform (Royal Decree of 20 March 2025, Mercurius, Hermes, VAT regimes), the technical specs (PEPPOL-BIS 3.0 CIUS Belgium, BCE/KBO ICD 0208, 15 access points) and the real-world B2B usage in retail (Delhaize/Carrefour/Colruyt/Aldi), automotive (Audi Brussels/Volvo Gent/Punch Powertrain) and financial EDI (CODA, OGM/VCS, SEPA).

2026 reform (B2B)

  • Royal Decree of 20 March 2025 — legal basis · Text published in the Moniteur belge of 31 March 2025, mandatory B2B mandate from 1 January 2026, PEPPOL-BIS 3.0 sole permitted format, ~1.1M companies in scope.
  • Mercurius — federal B2G platform · Operated by FPS BOSA, public procurement > EUR 30,000 since 2017, PEPPOL-BIS 3.0 since July 2020, ~2.3M invoices/year, 870+ connected entities.
  • Hermes — Brussels-Capital platform · Operated by Talan Belgium for Bruxelles Economie et Emploi, Mercurius mirror for STIB/Actiris/Bruxelles-Proprete/Bruxelles-Mobilite. ~450,000 invoices/year, Ordinance of 17 May 2018.
  • Belgian VAT regimes — VAT Code · Rates 21/12/6/0%, SME franchise EUR 25,000, art. 58 margin, art. 56 flat-rate, reverse charge art. 51 §2 VAT Code (construction, waste, telecoms). PEPPOL BT-* mentions.

Technical specs

  • PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 — CIUS Belgium · Mandatory format from 1 January 2026, UBL 2.1, OpenPEPPOL profile poacc:billing:3.0, ~10 BOSA BE-* rules, AS4 transport over PEPPOL network, ICD 0208 identifier.
  • BCE/KBO — enterprise number and ICD 0208 · Format 0NNN.NNN.NNN, modulo 97 checksum, ~1.1M active companies, monthly OpenData, VAT-BE link (BE + 10 digits), PEPPOL ICD 0208 for routing.
  • PEPPOL Access Points — 15 operators · Mercurius (free for SMEs), Hermes (Brussels B2G), Belfius, Unifiedpost, CodaBox, Combell, Cegeka, Basware, Tradeshift, Billit, Pagero, EDICOM. 4-corner model.

Real-world B2B usage

  • EDIFACT retail Belgium · Delhaize, Carrefour BE, Colruyt Group, Aldi BE, Lidl BE, Spar BE, Cora BE, Albert Heijn BE. GS1 Belgilux EANCOM 2002, ~250M messages/year, coexistence with PEPPOL 2026.
  • EDIFACT automotive Belgium · Audi Brussels (Q8 e-tron, closure 2027), Volvo Cars Gent (XC40/EX30), Van Hool, Punch Powertrain, Daimler Buses. VDA 4905/4906/4913, OFTP2 over ENX, ~120M messages/year.
  • CODA, OGM/VCS and SEPA · Febelfin CODA format since 1991, modulo 97 structured communications, SEPA SCT/SDD/Inst, ISO 20022 camt/pain. BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC, Belfius, ING BE, Argenta.

Technical schema

The format is PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0, UBL 2.1 syntax compliant with the EN 16931 semantic model. See the dedicated PEPPOL page for BR-* and BR-CO-* rules. The Belgian profile adds no national CIUS: standard PEPPOL business rules suffice. The law nevertheless prescribes two usage references: the OGM-VCS structured communication (in cbc:PaymentID) for payment, and the BCE/KBO unique company identifier in cac:PartyLegalEntity/cbc:CompanyID.

Minimal compliant PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 invoice:

xmlpeppol-billing-be.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Invoice xmlns="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2"
         xmlns:cac="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2"
         xmlns:cbc="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2">
  <cbc:CustomizationID>urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0</cbc:CustomizationID>
  <cbc:ProfileID>urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:01:1.0</cbc:ProfileID>
  <cbc:ID>BE-2026-04219</cbc:ID>
  <cbc:IssueDate>2026-05-16</cbc:IssueDate>
  <cbc:DueDate>2026-06-15</cbc:DueDate>
  <cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>380</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>
  <cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>EUR</cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>
  <cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
    <cac:Party>
      <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0208">0123456789</cbc:EndpointID>
      <cac:PartyName><cbc:Name>Atelier Bruxelles SRL</cbc:Name></cac:PartyName>
      <cac:PostalAddress>
        <cbc:StreetName>Avenue Louise 184</cbc:StreetName>
        <cbc:CityName>Bruxelles</cbc:CityName>
        <cbc:PostalZone>1050</cbc:PostalZone>
        <cac:Country><cbc:IdentificationCode>BE</cbc:IdentificationCode></cac:Country>
      </cac:PostalAddress>
      <cac:PartyTaxScheme>
        <cbc:CompanyID>BE0123456789</cbc:CompanyID>
        <cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme>
      </cac:PartyTaxScheme>
    </cac:Party>
  </cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
  <cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
    <cac:Party>
      <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0208">0987654321</cbc:EndpointID>
      <cac:PartyName><cbc:Name>Cooperatie Antwerpen NV</cbc:Name></cac:PartyName>
    </cac:Party>
  </cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
</Invoice>

Submission flow

Strict PEPPOL four-corner model. The seller publishes its invoice to its Access Point; that AP queries the recipient's SMP registry and routes the document through the eDelivery network (AS4). No traversal of a centralised tax hub — FPS Finance receives its own invoices via Mercurius, which also acts as a public- sector PEPPOL Access Point.

textbelgium-flow.txt
┌────────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌────────────┐
│ BE Seller  │───>│ PEPPOL AP│───>│ PEPPOL AP│───>│ BE Buyer   │
│ (corner 1) │    │(corner 2)│ AS4│(corner 3)│    │ (corner 4) │
└────────────┘    └──────────┘    └──────────┘    └────────────┘
                       │                │
                       └─── Hermes ─────┘
                  (FPS Finance: public AP for small senders)

For very small businesses with neither a private Access Point nor budget for a service provider, FPS Finance offers Hermes, a public free PEPPOL AP. Hermes accepts manual web entry and issues a compliant PEPPOL invoice.

Validation

Common pitfalls

  1. PEPPOL-exclusive unless bilateral agreement. Any architecture that defaults to email or private EDI is non-compliant from 1 January 2026, unless both partners sign an agreement to use another EN 16931 format (Factur-X PDF for example). That agreement must be contractual and documented.
  2. Mandatory SMP registration for the recipient. A Belgian enterprise not registered with a PEPPOL Access Point cannot be an invoice recipient. FPS Finance pre-registers taxpayers in Hermes when no private AP is detected, but activation is not systematic across every status.
  3. OGM-VCS structured communication. The Belgian structured communication system (12 digits with a two-digit modulo-97 check digit) must appear in cbc:PaymentID. A free-text unstructured form breaks automated bank reconciliation on the debtor side.
  4. BCE/KBO vs VAT number. The Belgian company number (10 digits) differs from the VAT number (BE prefix + 10 digits). PEPPOL schemeID 0208 expects the BCE/KBO number without the BE prefix. Confusing the two breaks SMP resolution.
  5. Article 44 taxpayer exemption. Exempt taxpayers (article 44 VAT Code — liberal professions, healthcare, education, etc.) are out of scope of the mandate. A SaaS vendor serving those sectors must plan a degraded mode without PEPPOL obligation.