Belgium has introduced mandatory structured electronic invoicing for domestic B2B transactions. From 1 January 2026, invoices between businesses subject to the Belgian VAT regime must generally be exchanged as structured electronic invoices.

The reform builds on Belgium's existing use of electronic invoicing in public procurement and is designed to make invoice processing more automated and standardised. A PDF invoice sent by email is no longer sufficient for transactions covered by the B2B mandate.

The B2B mandate generally applies to transactions between businesses established in Belgium that are subject to the Belgian VAT regime.

The obligation focuses on domestic B2B transactions. Transactions outside the scope of the Belgian B2B mandate, including many B2C and international transactions, follow different rules. Businesses should therefore determine whether both the supplier and customer, as well as the transaction itself, fall within the scope of the mandate.

Businesses covered by the mandate must exchange structured electronic invoices rather than relying on PDF or paper invoices. The standard approach is to exchange invoices through the Peppol network using the Peppol BIS format.

Alternative structured formats or transmission methods may be used where both parties agree and the solution complies with the European EN 16931 standard. Businesses therefore need systems capable of creating, sending, receiving, and processing compliant structured invoice data.

Belgium uses Peppol as the primary infrastructure for structured electronic invoicing. Peppol enables businesses to exchange invoices securely between their respective service providers without requiring direct point-to-point integrations between every trading partner.

The default invoice format is Peppol BIS, based on the European EN 16931 semantic standard. Alternative compliant formats and exchange methods are possible by mutual agreement, provided that they meet the required European standard.

iEDI helps businesses exchange structured electronic invoices in line with Belgium's mandatory B2B e-invoicing requirements.

We connect your existing ERP and business systems to the required e-invoicing infrastructure, allowing you to comply without replacing the systems you already use. iEDI handles the transformation and exchange of invoice data and supports Peppol alongside established communication methods such as AS2 and SFTP.

This allows businesses to integrate Belgian e-invoicing into their existing document flows while maintaining a structured and automated exchange of invoice data.