Non-established entities excluded from the Belgian B2B e-invoicing mandate

On 19 March 2024, the Belgian authorities confirmed that non-established entities that are VAT registered will be fully outside the scope of the Belgian e-invoicing mandate. This information has been shared on the official e-invoicing web page (Dutch | French) of the Belgian government.

Overview of the Belgian e-invoicing Mandate

On 20 February 2024, the law implementing mandatory domestic B2B e-invoicing in Belgium as of 1 January 2026 was published in the Belgian Official Journal. For a more detailed overview of this new B2B e-invoicing obligation, we refer to the newsflash issued in January 2024.

Exclusion of foreign businesses

Under this legislation, non-established entities that only have a VAT registration number in Belgium were required to be able to receive e-invoices for their domestic purchases in Belgium for which they had to provide their Belgian VAT number towards the supplier. 

However, this requirement is not in line with the European Union's VAT in Digital Age (ViDA) proposal, which was formally adopted by the European Council on 11 March 2025. Due to this inconsistency, an amendment to the Belgian e-invoicing mandate was already anticipated.

This change in scope of the e-invoicing mandate has now also been confirmed by the Belgian authorities. Hence, non-established entities who are registered for VAT purposes in Belgium will not have to comply with the e-invoicing mandate for their domestic B2B transactions conducted in Belgium. Note that Belgian law still needs to be updated to reflect this change.

Impact on e-reporting?

The Belgian federal government agreement concluded on 31 January 2025 foresees that, effective 1 January 2028, all businesses will also have to implement electronic reporting (e-reporting), that will cover the transactions in scope of the Belgian e-invoicing mandate but could also include other invoicing flows.

It is possible that the non-established entities that have a Belgian VAT registration number, and that are thus excluded from the current e-invoicing mandate, will be included within the scope of the e-reporting mandate. To be able to efficiently report the required data to the tax authorities, businesses will in practice require an e-invoice.

What does it mean for businesses?

Belgian established businesses should start preparing for the Belgian e-invoicing mandate as soon as possible and leverage this opportunity to reassess their digital strategy for the future.  

The exclusion of non-established entities means these entities will not be required to comply with the Belgian e-invoicing mandate in the short term. However, this may only be temporary, as these entities may need to adhere to the upcoming e-reporting obligation announced for 2028.

For Belgian established companies, which will be obliged to issue e-invoices to other Belgian established entities, the situation becomes more complex. The determination of the country of establishment will now have to be considered when issuing an e-invoice, adding an additional layer of complexity to the process.