As of January 1, 2026, all VAT-registered businesses established in Belgium must issue and receive structured electronic invoices for domestic B2B transactions. Paper invoices and PDF attachments are no longer valid for these purposes. Belgium has chosen the Peppol-BIS billing standard as its sole accepted format, aligning the country with a growing European consensus around the Peppol network. With over 500,000 businesses already using e-invoicing by late 2025, Belgium’s transition has been one of the smoother rollouts in Europe, but the retirement of the government’s Hermes platform marks a significant shift in how the system operates.
Current status: B2B e-invoicing is mandatory from January 1, 2026 for all VAT-registered businesses established in Belgium. A three-month tolerance period runs through March 31, 2026, during which no penalties will be imposed for non-compliance. The Hermes government bridge was decommissioned on December 31, 2025, with consultation-only access available until March 31, 2026.
The Hermes Sunset
Hermes was a free, government-operated e-invoicing platform launched by Belgium’s Federal Public Service Finance (FPS Finance) as a temporary bridge solution. Its purpose was straightforward: to ensure that businesses not yet connected to the Peppol network could still send and receive structured electronic invoices during the transition period. Hermes acted as a fail-safe, a centrally managed gateway that could relay invoices on behalf of businesses that had not yet onboarded with a private Peppol Access Point provider.
By late 2025, the market had matured significantly. Hundreds of certified Peppol Access Point providers were operational in Belgium, ERP and accounting software vendors had integrated Peppol-BIS capabilities directly into their platforms, and the vast majority of businesses had established their own Peppol connections. With its purpose fulfilled, FPS Finance decommissioned Hermes on December 31, 2025. Businesses that relied on Hermes for sending or receiving invoices were required to transition to a private Peppol Access Point provider before the shutdown. Consultation-only access to historical data on the Hermes platform remains available through March 31, 2026.
The retirement of Hermes signals Belgium’s confidence in the private market’s ability to sustain the e-invoicing ecosystem without government intermediation. It also offers a useful reference for other countries considering temporary government platforms during their own e-invoicing transitions.
How Belgium’s E-Invoicing Works
Belgium’s e-invoicing mandate applies to all domestic B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses established in Belgium. Non-established entities that are merely VAT-registered in Belgium (without a Belgian establishment) are excluded from the scope. B2C transactions and cross-border invoices are also outside the current mandate.
The required format is Peppol-BIS Billing 3.0, a structured XML-based standard maintained by OpenPeppol. Invoices must be transmitted through the Peppol network via certified Access Point providers. Each business is identified on the network by its Belgian enterprise number (KBO/BCE number), which serves as the Peppol participant identifier. Businesses must register with at least one Access Point provider to send and receive compliant invoices.
Importantly, simply emailing a PDF or scanning a paper invoice does not satisfy the mandate. The invoice must be a machine-readable structured document transmitted through the Peppol infrastructure. This is a fundamental distinction that some businesses have been slow to grasp.
Full details are available on the Belgian Federal Government's e-invoicing portal.
Timeline of Key Dates
- •December 31, 2025: Hermes government e-invoicing bridge decommissioned. All businesses must use private Peppol Access Point providers.
- •January 1, 2026: B2B e-invoicing becomes mandatory for all VAT-registered businesses established in Belgium. Paper and PDF invoices no longer valid for domestic B2B.
- •March 31, 2026: End of three-month tolerance period. Penalties for non-compliance may apply from this date. Hermes consultation-only access also ends.
- •2028 (planned): Introduction of e-reporting obligations using the 5-corner Peppol model, as confirmed in the Federal Coalition Agreement 2025 to 2029.
SAF-T in Belgium: Still Voluntary
Belgium has adopted the OECD’s Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T) framework, but unlike countries such as Poland or Portugal, filing remains entirely voluntary. The Belgian SAF-T covers three modules (Header, MasterFiles, and GeneralLedger) and can be submitted annually through the MyMinFin portal operated by FPS Finance.
In practice, very few Belgian businesses submit SAF-T files today. The government’s current focus is squarely on e-invoicing and the upcoming e-reporting framework, which may ultimately supersede the need for traditional SAF-T filings by providing tax authorities with near real-time transaction data through the Peppol network itself.
What businesses should do now: If you have not yet connected to the Peppol network, act immediately. Register with a certified Peppol Access Point provider using your KBO/BCE enterprise number. Verify that your ERP or accounting software supports Peppol-BIS Billing 3.0 output. Test invoice exchange with your key trading partners before the tolerance period ends on March 31, 2026. Businesses that relied on Hermes must migrate to a private provider without delay.
Looking Ahead: E-Reporting from 2028
Belgium’s ambitions extend well beyond e-invoicing. The Federal Coalition Agreement for 2025 to 2029 confirmed plans to introduce mandatory e-reporting from 2028. The envisioned model follows the 5-corner Peppol architecture, in which a government corner (operated by FPS Finance) receives a copy of each invoice’s key data in near real-time as it passes through the Peppol network between Access Points.
This approach would give Belgian tax authorities continuous visibility into B2B transactions without requiring businesses to file separate tax reports. It aligns with the broader EU ViDA initiative, which envisions harmonised digital reporting across all member states by the end of the decade. Belgium’s early adoption of Peppol as its e-invoicing backbone positions the country well for this transition.
Belgium’s approach shares common ground with other European e-invoicing mandates now in effect or approaching. For comparison, see how Germany and France are tackling the same challenge with different architectures. For a broader view of structured tax data across the continent, see our SAF-T adoption across Europe overview.