Belgium is now part of the Peppol invoicing system, meaning that every business with a VAT number needs to be signed up – but more than 20% are not
Some 21% of businesses with a VAT number in Belgium are still not signed up to the Peppol invoicing system. That’s 940,604 of the 1.19 million businesses in Belgium required to use the system.
Peppol is a digital invoicing system that is now required to be used in Belgium for sending and receiving invoices. There are a number of platforms where businesses can sign on up to the system.
The deadline for having a Peppol account was 1 January, though a three-month grace period is being allowed for businesses who have still not done so. “Over time, this will probaly prove to be a very efficient system,” says VUB economics professor Michel Maus. “But right now we are the start phase where not everyone is convinced.”
Proactive communication from the government could have helped
Professor Michel Maus
Maus also points to costs involved with signing on to Peppol and the digital devide. “You have to subscribe to a provider, which isn’t really difficult, but for some people this is a barrier.”
He also points out that some small businesses who have a VAT number but do not charge VAT because of low earnings thinks they don’t have to use Peppol to send or receive invoices. But this is not true. Every business with a VAT number must use the system. Only certain professions that are not required to have a VAT number, like museums, do not have to use Peppol.
Maus partially blames the government for not being more direct with businesses about the use of the Peppol system. “There is a lot of uncertainty among businesses right now,” he says. “The Federal Public Service Finance should have personally notified everyone involved that they needed to register,” says Maus. “Now they have to figure it out for themselves. Proactive communication from the government could have helped.”
Information about Peppol in Belgium can be found here in four languages