Belgium gears up for mandatory structured e-invoicing
Belgium is stepping further into the digital age, announcing mandatory structured e-invoicing for nearly all VAT-registered business-to-business (B2B) transactions starting 1 January 2026. This aligns the country with broader European Union efforts to tackle VAT fraud, streamline financial workflows, and boost digital resilience.
The move is not about swapping paper for PDFs – it’s about embracing a secure, standardised, and interoperable model built on the Peppol network and the EN16931 standard. All Belgian VAT-registered businesses must be ready to send and receive structured e-invoices, with exemptions only for specific small or non-resident entities. Business-to-government (B2G) e-invoicing is already mandatory for public contracts over €3,000, and B2C transactions remain out of scope for now.
The structured format allows for automation, improved audit trails, and better data integrity, which are all critical components for efficient tax compliance and sustainable financial operations. With tax incentives for SMEs and self-employed professionals, Belgium is also encouraging wide adoption across all business sizes.
This transition is another milestone along the country’s digital reporting path. The mandate underlines the importance of structured data standards in supporting transparency, automation, and consistency in financial paper-trails. Oh and yes — of course, the entrepreneurial amongst our readers will already be thinking about the opportunities this data presents to companies for aggregation, XBRL reporting, benchmarking and analysis.
Explore the full set of FAQs and get your systems in shape before the deadline here.
