Electronic invoicing: state of the art

From Jan. 1, 2026, structured electronic invoices will become the norm for transactions between Belgian companies. What you need to know about e-invoicing.

What is electronic invoicing or e-invoicing?

An electronic invoice or e-invoice is not a PDF you send to your customers via e-mail. Even though these have proven their worth, they do not offer all the benefits of e-invoices.

An e-invoice is an invoice in the xml file type and structured UBL format. That sounds technical, but the important thing is that these types of files are automatically recognized and processed by most accounting packages with minimal manual input. And that offers numerous advantages.

What are the benefits of e-invoices?

• Creating and sending invoices is lightning fast
• E-invoicing is 75% cheaper than paper invoicing
• Electronic invoices get paid faster
• Human error is excluded

Incoming and outgoing invoices are entered immediately upon receipt or shipment, so your accounting figures are always current. Your accounting thus becomes a useful tool for measuring the financial health of your business.

What does the law say about e-invoicing today?

EU Legislation The European Commission is moving ahead with a legislative proposal (ViDA) mandating e-invoicing for B2B transactions. The timing is as follows:

• By 2024 European member states will mandate e-invoicing tomorrow, without the consent of the European Parliament. Poland and Italy are already doing so today.
• By 2028, e-invoicing should be the norm within the EU. In addition, digital reporting of transactional data will also be required.

The Belgian government is pushing ahead with the mandatory introduction of e-invoicing. Parliament gave the go-ahead for legislation in early 2024. From Jan. 1, 2026, structured electronic invoices will become the norm in transactions between taxpaying companies. The European PEPPOL network will be used for the rollout.

The expected impact is significant, as 60% of invoices in Belgium today are sent via email. Some 25% of invoices already have a structured format.