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Peppol in Belgium

Peppol e-invoicing in Belgium: what your package does and what is left

Belgian VAT-registered companies must now send and receive invoices to other Belgian companies over Peppol, and most accounting packages handle the connection. The work that remains sits in incoming invoices: coding, matching to purchase orders and deliveries, and approving exceptions.

For the owner: do invoices now land in the books on their own, or does someone still spend hours coding and checking them? For finance or IT: what does the package do itself, and what must be built around it? This page answers both, in that order.

By Tom Joseph · Last updated: 29 October 2026

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In short

Peppol removes the retyping, not the processing. A Peppol invoice arrives as structured data, and most accounting packages connect to the network themselves. What remains is judgement: which account does this cost belong to, does the invoice match the purchase order and the delivery, and who approves a difference? That is where Crux Digits builds the automation and integrations around your package, alongside your accountant and your ICT partner. We are not an access point, not an accounting firm and not an ICT partner.

The mandate

What is Peppol and what has been mandatory since 2026?

Peppol is a European network over which accounting software exchanges invoices as structured data rather than as a PDF. Since 1 January 2026 every Belgian VAT-registered company must exchange invoices with other Belgian companies this way: sending them and being able to receive them. A PDF copy may travel along, but only the structured invoice counts legally.

It also covers small businesses under the VAT franchise scheme, and a company that only sells to consumers must still be able to receive its suppliers' e-invoices. Foreign suppliers without a permanent establishment in Belgium are out of scope and may keep sending PDFs. The general tolerance period covered the first three months of 2026 and has ended; only self-billing kept a targeted tolerance until 30 June 2026. Under the royal decree of 8 July 2025, fines run from €1,500 for a first infringement to €5,000 from the third.

How it works

How Peppol works: access points, UBL and your company number

An access point is your connection. You send and receive through a certified Peppol service provider. Often that is your accounting package itself.
Your address is your company number. Suppliers find you on the network by your KBO enterprise number. That number is registered for receiving in one place only, and wherever it is registered is where your invoices arrive. If you change package, move the registration first.
The format is fixed. Invoices follow Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, an implementation of the European standard EN 16931, in UBL XML. VAT number, invoice lines, VAT breakdown and due date sit in named fields; a PDF may travel as an attachment.
Delivered is not accepted. Acceptance, a query or payment is reported by the buyer in a separate message, the Invoice Response. Keep those two statuses apart in your credit control.

Your package

What Odoo, Exact Online, Teamleader and other packages do

Odoo. Odoo acts as an access point itself; registration is free and also available in Odoo Community. Incoming bills are fetched several times a day and arrive as drafts in your purchase journal.
Exact Online. Exact runs its own access point and can send, receive and process e-invoices; in Belgium the enterprise number is the identifier.
Teamleader Focus. You register, send and receive directly in Teamleader Focus, at no extra charge on plans that include invoicing. If your enterprise number is already registered with another package, Teamleader can only send.
Yuki, renamed Nmbrs Accounting on 1 September 2026. The package is the access point for the administrations you register on it and processes received e-invoices automatically from the fixed UBL fields.
Octopus. Per file you can have incoming Peppol documents accepted automatically and booked straight away into a journal of your choice.
WinBooks. We found no public vendor documentation on Peppol receiving; ask your reseller.

Decision table

What your package does out of the box and what needs building

Task	Your package out of the box	What needs building
Peppol registration, sending and receiving	Yes, for the packages above; no separate access point needed.	Nothing, unless several packages must work together.
Reading the invoice in	Yes: fields arrive structured, as a draft or in a journal.	Nothing for domestic invoices.
Coding to account, cost centre and VAT code	Partly: fixed rules per supplier, varying by package.	Booking suggestions per line from your own history, with the reason.
Matching to purchase order and delivery note	Rarely across systems: the order often sits in an ERP or WMS.	Three-way matching of invoice, order and receipt, with tolerances per supplier.
Price or quantity differences	At most a flag that something differs.	One exception queue with the difference named and who decides.
Approval	Simple approval steps, depending on the package.	Flows by amount, cost centre and project, with an audit trail.
Invoices outside Peppol	Foreign suppliers still send PDFs.	Extraction into the same queue, so everything arrives in one shape.

Incoming invoices

Where the work remains: coding, matching and exceptions

This is the part that costs the owner money. Peppol removed the retyping, but someone still decides per invoice which account it belongs to, whether the quantity is right and whether the price is the agreed one.

That is what we build around your package. An AI model suggests a general ledger account, cost centre and VAT code per invoice line, learned from your own booking history, and shows why. A matching rule sets the invoice against the purchase order and the receipt in your ERP or WMS. Invoices within tolerance go through; the rest land in one queue with the difference already named. Your bookkeeper approves, so control stays with them. We describe the integrations on API integration development and the wider work on process automation.

Building on Odoo? The old XML-RPC and JSON-RPC APIs are deprecated and scheduled for removal in Odoo Online 21.1 and Odoo 22. A new integration starts on the JSON-2 API.

Examples

Examples from Belgian sectors

Example, installation company. Wholesaler invoices arrive over Peppol but belong to a site. Matching checks each line against the site order and delivery note, then books it to the project.
Example, technical wholesaler. Agreed prices per item: a price that drifts from the agreement is caught before payment, not at year end.
Example, transport company. Fuel, toll and subcontractor invoices are linked to trips and CMR notes in the TMS, so a double-invoiced trip stands out.
Example, food producer. Raw material invoices are matched to the receipt per lot in the ERP, within an agreed weight tolerance.
Example, self-employed professional with a small team. The package usually suffices; the gain is in good supplier rules and a clear arrangement with the accountant, not custom software.

Working together

Who does what: your accountant, your ICT partner and Crux Digits

Area	Your accountant or bookkeeper	Your ICT partner or IT team	Crux Digits
Peppol connection	Advises which package or access point fits your file.	Handles accounts, rights and security of the package.	No role: we are not an access point.
Chart of accounts and VAT	Sets accounts, VAT codes and booking rules, and checks them.	No role.	Uses those rules as the basis for booking suggestions.
Integrations with ERP, WMS or site management	No role.	Provides least-privilege API access and a test environment, and approves releases.	Builds and tests the integrations, with error handling and logging.
Matching and exceptions	Decides on differences and approves bookings.	Runs the application in your own environment, with monitoring.	Builds matching, queue and approval flow, and hands over code, prompts and test set.
After delivery	Remains owner of the books.	Manages the environment and incidents.	Further development as a separate fixed-price engagement.

Cost and timeline

What the automation costs and how long it takes

Step	What you get	Duration	Price (excl. VAT)
AI audit	Your invoice flow counted and the hours located. Then a fixed-price scope, or honest advice that your package is enough.	1 to 2 weeks	€2,500, credited against the MVP within 60 days
Production-ready MVP	Booking suggestions and matching for one invoice flow, connected to your package and ERP, tested on your own invoices.	4 to 6 weeks	€20,000
Production	All flows, approval routes, monitoring, documentation and handover of code, prompts and test set to your organisation.	8 to 12 weeks	from €50,000
In addition	Your package or access point subscription and hosting in your environment. See our pricing.	ongoing	per your vendors

What is coming

E-reporting from 2028: why clean data matters now

The next step has been announced. On 18 July 2026 the Council of Ministers approved a preliminary draft law on e-reporting: invoice data will go to the VAT administration in near real time, from both supplier and customer. The FPS Finance names 2028 as the timing, but the text still has to pass the Data Protection Authority, the Council of State and Parliament.

An error then is no longer something you fix at month end; it is already reported. Clean supplier master data now, and you do that work once. On cost: small SMEs and self-employed people can apply an increased 120 percent cost deduction for the tax periods 2024 to 2027 on invoicing software subscriptions and related advice; whether you qualify is for your accountant to judge. For the wider picture, see custom software for Belgian companies and AI consultant in Belgium.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is Peppol mandatory in Belgium?

Yes. Since 1 January 2026 every Belgian VAT-registered company must send domestic B2B invoices as structured e-invoices over Peppol and be able to receive those from its suppliers. A PDF by email no longer counts as the legal invoice. The general tolerance period is over and fines run from €1,500 to €5,000 per infringement. Foreign suppliers without a permanent establishment in Belgium are out of scope.

How does Peppol work?

Your invoicing or accounting package converts the invoice to UBL and sends it through your access point over the Peppol network to your customer's access point, which delivers it straight into their package. Your enterprise number is your address on the network. Because the data sits in fixed fields, nobody has to retype it. Coding and approving it remains your own process.

What does Peppol e-invoicing cost?

The connection itself is often included in your package: Odoo offers registration free of charge and Teamleader Focus charges nothing extra on plans with invoicing. Custom automation of incoming invoices at Crux Digits starts with an AI audit at €2,500, followed by a Production-ready MVP at €20,000, excl. VAT. Small SMEs can apply an increased 120 percent cost deduction to software subscriptions.

Does a small self-employed business have to use Peppol?

Yes, businesses under the VAT franchise scheme for small enterprises must also send and receive e-invoices. If you only sell to consumers, you do not send those invoices over Peppol, but you must still be able to receive your suppliers' e-invoices. Exemptions from sending exist, among others for the flat-rate scheme, which phases out by 1 January 2028 at the latest.

What about incoming Peppol invoices?

You must be able to receive them, and that is where most of the work remains. Your package reads them in, but someone still decides which account a cost belongs to, whether the invoice matches the order and delivery, and who approves a difference. We build booking suggestions, matching and an exception queue around your package, so your bookkeeper only reviews the differences.

Can I use Odoo for Peppol?

Yes. Odoo acts as a Peppol access point itself, registration is free and available in Odoo Community too, and you can send and receive with it. Incoming invoices arrive as drafts in your purchase journal. What Odoo does not decide for you is matching to orders and receipts held in other systems; we build those integrations on the new JSON-2 API.

Where do your hours go after Peppol?

Bring a quarter of purchase invoices in numbers. In one call you hear whether your package is enough or what is worth building.

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