Belgium: Guidelines For Mandatory B2B e-Invoicing Issued

In February of this year, the Belgian Parliament approved and published the Law amending the Value Added Tax Code and the Income Tax, implementing mandatory domestic business-to-business (B2B) e-invoicing in Belgium as of 1 January 2026. 

The Belgium Federal Public Service Finance (FPBF) published guidelines clarifying key elements as part of the implementation process of B2B e-invoicing.

Key Details of the Guidelines

The FPBF guidelines are divided into several areas in the following structure:

• What is an electronic invoice?

• Mandatory use of structured electronic invoices from 2026

• International Billing (cross-border transactions)

• Technical rules for an electronic invoice

• Summary of invoicing within Belgium from 1 January 2026

• More information

These guidelines provide key details such as the invoice format, scope of e-invoicing, and e-invoice exchange methods. 

According to the guidelines, structured e-invoices must comply with EN16391 and European Standard, meaning that they must be able to be drawn up in the Peppol BIS format. In addition, the guidelines state that PDF invoices will remain valid for B2B transactions until December 31, 2025. For all other transactions, such as B2C or international, including cross-border, invoices in PDF format will remain valid after January 1, 2026.

Regarding the scope of e-invoicing, the obligation applies to transactions between Belgium VAT-registered businesses, except those that are specifically exempt. These exemptions include bankrupt VAT taxpayers and those not established in Belgium without a permanent establishment.

Guidelines provide information on cross-border transactions. Still, they also note that rules might change depending on the outcome of adopting and implementing the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package.

Part of the guidelines also covers the technical rules for e-invoices, explaining what terms the authenticity of the origin, the integrity of the content, and the legibility of an invoice mean, and that they must always be guaranteed.

The FPBF also provided a list of existing e-invoicing legislation to help businesses transition to mandatory B2B e-invoicing.

Conclusion

The implementation of mandatory B2B e-invoicing is in line with the ongoing changes on the EU level concerning the ViDA proposal, which aims to introduce an EU-wide e-invoicing mandate and e-reporting obligations for cross-border transactions.

Source: Belgian Federal Public Service Finance,  Law amending the Value Added Tax Code and the Income Tax Code