Regulatory updates - Belgium

The Belgian Council of Ministers has released new timelines for implementing countrywide e-invoicing obligation. The previous timelines, set to begin in July 2024, are no longer valid.

Timeline

The updated timelines are set to begin in January 2026 without a gradual roll-out. This means that when the mandate comes into force, all affected taxpayers will have to issue, exchange and receive invoices electronically.

Model

Initially, Belgium will only implement the Interoperability model, meaning that while all invoices must be exchanged electronically, there will be no real-time communication with the tax administration (DRR). Eventually, we foresee the model being upgraded to the Decentralized CTC and Exchange model (DCTCE) with the central platform collecting invoice data subsets according to ViDA specifications.

Technical framework

Belgium plans to make the Peppol framework, which is widely used for B2G e-invoicing, the default standard that all taxpayers must support. Upon mutual agreement, the parties can agree on other framework(s) or standard(s), provided compliance with the European Norm.

To facilitate the transition, Belgium offers all businesses e-invoice reception capabilities via a solution called “Hermes”. This is a basic solution that can receive Peppol BIS invoices over the Peppol Network and convert these into PDF distributed further to the business by e-mail. Besides being very basic, Hermes will be discontinued in few years. All businesses are therefore encouraged to start looking for a preferred service provider (to issue and exchange e-invoices) today.

On 2 June 2023, the Council of Ministers approved a draft Royal Decree that considers changes to the period of entry into force for mandatory e-invoicing in public procurement contracts.

The period of the entry into force of the obligation for economic operators to send their invoices electronically under public procurement contracts with an estimated value of less than 30,000 EUR and more than 3,000 EUR is extended from 18 to 22 months. As per this extension, the e-Invoice mandate will enter into force from 1 March 2024.

The Federal contracting authorities will also impose an e-invoicing mandate for transactions less than 3,000 EUR from 1 March 2024.

The approved draft of the Royal Decree will be submitted to the Council of State for consideration.

The reforms, with the many objectives to address regarding the Belgian economy, make clear that the Ministry of Finance wishes to implement a countrywide obligation for electronic invoicing and reporting invoice data in a phased approach. To our knowledge and looking toward the future, this would be the approach:

• July 2024: every taxpayer needs to be able to receive an e-invoice;
• July 2024: issuance of e-invoices for large taxpayers;
• January 2025: issuance of e-invoices for medium-sized taxpayers;
• July 2025: issuance of e-invoices for the rest of the taxpayers.

This initial assessment may be subject to change, but the sentiment remains that Belgium intends to widen the obligation of e-invoicing in the jurisdiction. Furthermore, it is still presumed that the new requirements will be based on the Peppol standard, which Belgian government officials highly endorse.

Stay tuned with Pagero to follow the further upcoming developments in the country.

The Royal Decree of 9 March 2022 establishes new requirements for e-invoicing in Belgium in the public sector. E-invoicing obligations were previously introduced in the Flemish and Brussels regions in 2017 and 2020, respectively; as well, the Walloon region announced a preference for e-invoicing. The new legislation expands the scope of existing e-invoicing requirements nationwide.

The approach to implementing the new requirements will be based on the following contract values:

• November 2022: Public contracts and concessions with a minimum estimated value of EUR 215 000
• May 2023: Public contracts and concessions with a minimum estimated value of EUR 30 000
• November 2023: Public contracts and concessions with an estimated value of EUR 30 000 or below

Contract values below EUR 3000 are exempt from the e-invoicing obligation.

Read the full announcement from the Belgian government here.

In this way, the government, among others, aims to reduce the VAT gap, which in 2018 was about 10,4% or 3.6 billion euros.

No exact timelines nor specifications have been announced by Mr Van Peteghem. One can, however, anticipate that the new requirements will base upon the Peppol standard, which has been earlier endorsed by the government officials on multiple occasions, including by the Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr De Croo.

This step taken by the Belgian government should not come as a surprise. As Pagero has previously reported, now all B2G e-invoicing in Belgium must be done via the Peppol Network, and all taxpayers in the country have been registered onto the Hermes platform.

Stay tuned with Pagero to know the further upcoming developments in the country.

This month, the Belgian government has included tax-related measures in the budget agreement. These include increasing resources for tax authorities, introducing B2B e-invoicing, environmental taxes to promote the use of greener energy sources, and supporting taxpayers with low and middle income.

No timeline or model for B2B e-invoicing implementation has been announced yet. However, Belgium has introduced Peppol-based B2G e-invoicing mandate in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region, and is currently encouraging suppliers to submit e-invoices via Peppol to the public entities in Wallonia. Moreover, all private businesses have been registered in the Hermes platform, which as well is connected to Peppol. Therefore, it is likely that a countrywide B2B e-invoicing will be the next step.

Belgium might follow the example of Italy, France and Poland, and seek a CTC (Continuous Transaction Controls) model for B2B transactions to combat VAT fraud and increase efficiency.

Together with this announcement, a guide for the contracting suppliers was released.

E-invoicing will be the recommended method for submitting invoices to public entities to ensure faster invoice processing and better payment terms.

What will change in January?

B2G suppliers can still send invoices via post, but as of January 2022, they must be sent exclusively to the new single address below:

SPW Finances – Centre de scanning – Avenue Gouverneur Bovesse 29 – 5100 Jambes

Note that invoices in PDF or Word format submitted by e-mail will no longer be permitted, as they are not considered structured invoices that can be processed automatically. Taxpayers can send e-invoices through the Peppol network to the public entities or submit invoices manually via Mercurius platform.

Furthermore, from January 2022, a Bank Identity Statement (Relevé d’Identité Bancaire, RIB) will be required on the invoice when the bank account details of the issuer in the Walloon Region is not in the new database.

When issuing B2G invoices, the following information will need to be provided (non-exhaustive list).

Mandatory information for the invoice (electronic or paper)

• Invoice reference;
• Invoice date;
• BCE / VAT number;
• Supplier’s bank account number.

Information specific to the SPW (Public Service of Wallonia)

• Commitment number (VISA);
• Legal commitment number;
• Market number (if applicable);
• Purchase order reference (if applicable) - to be attached to the invoice;
• Invoicing address: SPW Finances – Centre de scanning – Avenue Gouverneur Bovesse 29 – 5100 Jambes (the name and e-mail address of the accounting correspondent should also be included);
• Delivery address;
• Name of the contact point, telephone number, e-mail address;
• Service (Department, Direction, etc.);
• SPW BCE / TVA(VAT) number: 0316.381.138

More information on the e-invoicing requirements will be provided by the end of this year. In the meantime, suppliers can send inquiries to SPW or the Public service of Wallonia at the following e-mail address: [email protected]

From 1 November 2020, suppliers to contracting entities in the Brussels Region must send invoices electronically. The e-invoices must be delivered in either directly via the governmental Mercurius platform or the Peppol Network.

Circular Letter No. 2020042332 stipulates the following exceptions from the obligation:

• Public contracts awarded to a supplier established in a country where no Peppol Service Providers exist; and

   

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  public contracts for which payment is made in advance or on the day of delivery or service.

This ultimately means that even businesses not established in Belgium are required to invoice Brussels electronically.

Background

Belgium has a complex governmental structure. The country is divided into three regions: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. Beyond that, the German-speaking community in the east has a strong de facto autonomy. Finally, one has to differentiate between the regional and federal governments.

B2G e-invoicing is already mandatory for suppliers to contracting entities in Flanders and federal contracting entities.

To reach these contracting entities, suppliers have to use a platform called Mercurius. It was developed by the Belgian government as part of their effort to ensure compliance with the EU Procurement Directives. The platform is also connected to the Peppol Network, which allows non-Belgian businesses to interact with contracting entities connected to Mercurius.

Pagero in Belgium

Pagero is connected to the Mercurius platform and ready to support businesses, irrespective of where in the world they are located.