This whitepaper from Iopole, a Peppol access point provider active in Belgium for four years and already serving over 1,000 Belgian businesses, is a strategic and technical guide for software editors navigating Belgium’s electronic invoicing reform.
It explains why Belgium’s Peppol-first model changes the game for editors: the network is the sole official channel for B2B e-invoicing, which means editors must ensure technical and legal compliance, implement identity verification (KYC/PAF) for every participant, and manage automated routing through SMP/SML. It also covers Belgium’s local specificities imposed by BOSA, notably the mandatory use of the BCE company number (not the intra-EU VAT number) in Peppol addresses, and the 10-year legal archiving requirement.
The guide addresses the shutdown of Hermes, the temporary government e-invoicing platform, which stopped operating on 16 December 2025, and what businesses using it need to do next. It also covers the reform’s calendar (mandatory e-invoicing from 1 January 2026, end of the tolerance period on 31 March 2026, mandatory e-reporting from 1 January 2028), applicable sanctions, and how invoices to Belgian public administrations must go through the Mercurius platform.
Finally, it presents the choice between white-label and grey-label Peppol access point models, and how software editors can rely on a partner such as Iopole to cover identity verification, legal archiving, and technical integration end to end.
