Overview

As of 2022, the Flemish government has reached their e-invoicing goals. This means that government entities are required to utilize e-invoicing under the European Directive 2014/55/EU. Since 2017, the Flemish government has required e-invoices from all of its suppliers.  

B2G E-Invoicing

Business-to-government e-invoicing is mandatory. All public authorities must be able to receive e-invoices and select public authority suppliers are required to send their invoices in the specified electronic format (PEPPOL BIS).

End-to-End E-Procurement

Vlaanderen, the official gateway for the Flemish government, indicated that the Flemish government's approach is a commitment to fully digital processing of public procurement and related processes: end-to-end e-procurement. Since 2015, the Flemish government has ruled that all businesses must be able to receive e-invoices.

Updated on January 5th, 2024

The Introduction of E-Invoicing in Belgium has been Postponed due to Political Disputes

Belgium was planning to implement a PEPPOL-based e-invoicing system in July 2024. Unfortunately, these plans got postponed. Opposition parties in the Belgian parliament have rejected the proposal, questioning the government's revenue projections associated with the plan.

The proposed e-invoicing reforms were designed to increase tax revenues with the initiative to reduce the VAT gap.

Efforts to establish a political consensus and reexamine the reforms will have to wait until after the summer elections of 2024. Due to this postponement, it has been decided that e-invoicing reforms in Belgium will be implemented from January 2026.

Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem has reached an agreement in the Council of Ministers on the mandatory introduction of digital invoicing (e-invoicing) between businesses starting from January 1, 2026. While this requirement already applies to invoices provided to the government, Minister Van Peteghem ensures that as of January 1, 2026, structured electronic invoices will also become the standard for transactions between taxable companies.
 

On December 8, 2023 the Finance Minister Vincent van Peteghem together with the Council of Ministers has approved, at second reading, a preliminary draft law making the use of structured electronic invoices mandatory.

The preliminary draft, adapted to the opinion of the Council of State, amends the VAT Code in order to introduce an almost universal obligation to issue structured electronic invoices between taxable persons. The benefits of e-invoicing can only be maximized if the creation, sending, receipt and processing of an invoice can be fully automated and if structured electronic invoices are used, which are machine-readable and allow automatic and digital processing by the recipient.



The government has opted to utilize the European PEPPOL network for this new development. When a company joins this network, it automatically connects with all other participants in this network. This network is already in use in many other EU member states.

Blog - E-Invoicing in Belgium_Table

Conclusion 

Regarding the information for the requirements of e-invoicing for B2B, the plans are still expected to follow the current schedule. However, given the situation, decisions might change. You can find more details here.

SPS Commerce (formerly known as TIE Kinetix) has carefully refined the crucial time aspects of e-invoicing in Belgium, covering all the latest mandates and updates. The most recent update extends to October 2023.

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