E-invoicing: Belgium is already preparing the 2028 step after Peppol

On 18 July 2026, the federal cabinet approved a pre-draft law formalising the next step of e-invoicing: a near real-time reporting system, e-reporting, due from 1 January 2028. Just eighteen months after Peppol became mandatory for all B2B transactions, the administration is already preparing the next step, while some Belgian SMEs are still struggling with the first one. Here's what this changes, and what to check right now.

1. Peppol, already in force, still bedding in

Since 1 January 2026, every B2B invoice between VAT-registered businesses must pass through the Peppol network, in the structured Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 format. A tolerance period ran until 31 March 2026, and a specific self-billing tolerance until 30 June 2026: both are now closed, and penalties have applied since April 2026, on a progressive scale of €1,500, then €3,000, then €5,000 per non-compliant invoice. FPS Finance reports that more than 500,000 businesses had joined the system by the end of 2025, which it cited to justify refusing a general postponement of the obligation.

2. What's next: e-reporting from 2028

On 18 July 2026, the Council of Ministers approved a pre-draft law turning into legal text what had until then only been a commitment in the federal coalition agreement: a near real-time reporting system for invoicing data, due from 1 January 2028, built on the existing Peppol infrastructure rather than a new one. The final royal decree has not yet been adopted, the text has been submitted for advice to the Data Protection Authority and the Council of State: the exact format, the transmission window and the exceptions still need to be defined. One point is already contested, the proposed model requires reporting by both the supplier and the customer, which raises the risk of the same transaction being reported up to three times. A business tax forum has publicly called for a single-sided model, reported by the supplier alone.

3. What Belgian SMEs need to check now

The gap between the official timeline and reality on the ground remains wide: a survey by Horus Software and iVox among Belgian SMEs found that one in five only connected to Peppol after the January 2026 deadline, with mixed experiences, a time-saver for some, a waste of time for others. Before thinking about the 2028 step, the urgent task is to secure current compliance: check that your invoicing software actually transmits in the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 format, make sure incoming supplier invoices are properly received and archived (the retention period is now 10 years, up from 7, for VAT due since 1 January 2023), and take advantage, if you haven't already, of the enhanced 120% tax deduction on e-invoicing software, available until 2027 for the self-employed and small structures.

The AI angle, humans first

AI can already match incoming Peppol invoices against purchase orders automatically, flag duplicates or anomalies before they become a compliance problem, and alert on a missing or malformed invoice. But choosing the right software, interpreting a royal decree that's still incomplete, or checking whether your system can absorb 2028 e-reporting without a full rebuild, remains a human judgment call. AI executes. Expertise decides, and watches.