Nine out of 10 Belgian companies are now connected to Peppol, the digital invoicing platform that has been mandatory since the start of the year. The Federal Public Service (FPS) Finance describes it as a success. However, there has been criticism from the self-employed organisation Unizo, which says many entrepreneurs are not yet seeing the promised time savings and efficiency gains.
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9 out of 10 businesses connect to Peppol invoice network
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According to the FPS Finance, implementation of Peppol is proceeding according to plan. Around 1,060,000 Belgian businesses are registered on the network, representing 89 per cent of all VAT-registered companies.
“That is close to the natural ceiling, given that around 10 per cent of businesses simply do not send or receive B2B invoices,” says spokesperson Florence Angelici.
The government acknowledges that there were difficulties at the outset, but regards the current result as a success.
While a grace period to allow businesses to adopt the system expired in April, companies will not yet face fines for failing to connect. The focus is on dialogue to resolve the remaining technical and practical issues.
Well over half a year after its introduction, many of our members are still far less positive than expected
Despite the government’s positive figures, Unizo remains critical. A survey by the organisation representing the self-employed shows that the transition has been difficult. Only 38 per cent of those surveyed said they found the process went smoothly.
“The system does work technically, but the promised time savings have not yet materialised for many businesses,” says Joran Ceulebroeck of Unizo. He says entrepreneurs have invested in new software but that effort is not yet paying off.
Some large organisations and public authorities have not yet fully adopted e-invoicing themselves and a number of Peppol platforms are still suffering from teething problems, leading to additional administrative red tape.
“That will no doubt improve,” Ceulebroeck says. “But well over half a year after its introduction, many of our members are still far less positive than expected.”
As an accountant, you can be virtually certain that you have all the documents
Accountants are also noticing that the switch is not equally straightforward for everyone. Older self-employed people and those with small side businesses often need help to make the transition, says Ludo Van den Bossche of the professional association of accountants.
“It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but in the past, a self-employed person would sometimes take a shoebox full of invoices to their accountant,” he says. “Now, those are automatically fed into the system. As an accountant, you can be virtually certain that you have all the documents.”
The next challenge for the system is to make full use of the digital possibilities, says the FPS Finance. This involves automating payment reminders and integrating documents such as quotations and order forms into the Peppol network.