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Peppol registration means a certified Peppol service provider, also called an access point, publishes your company's identifier on the network so that any other participant can send you e-invoices. You cannot register directly. In practice your accounting or invoicing software does it through the provider it works with.
This guide covers how: which steps, what it costs, how to check it worked, and what a foreign company with Belgian customers should do. Whether you must is answered in is Peppol mandatory in Belgium; the whole mandate, with its timeline to 2028, is in e-invoicing in Belgium. Which software can do it is in which software for Peppol.
Peppol is an international network, not a Belgian one. Belgium made structured e-invoices compulsory between Belgian VAT-registered businesses on 1 January 2026, and Peppol is how they travel. If you sell to Belgian companies from abroad, read e-invoicing in Belgium for who must comply. This guide is about how to register and how to check that it worked.
Four steps onto the network
- Check what your software can do. It must both send and receive Peppol invoices; some tools only send. The Belgian Ministry of Finance keeps a list of more than 250 applications connected to Peppol, a useful reference even if you are based elsewhere.
- Switch Peppol on. Usually it is a setting. Your software registers you through its provider under an identifier. Belgian companies are registered at least under their enterprise number with the prefix 0208; every provider must do that. Other identifiers, such as a VAT number, can be added when you agree on them with your trading partners.
- Check that you can be found. Look yourself up in the public Peppol Directory or the OpenPeppol lookup, as explained below.
- Test both ways. Send an invoice to a customer who is on Peppol and ask a supplier to send you one. You are done when both arrive in your software.
If your software lets you pick the access point, or your invoices come out of your own ERP, planning tool or webshop, the certified providers are listed by OpenPeppol.
What you do, by situation
| Your situation | What you do | Watch out |
|---|---|---|
| Belgian freelancer with an accounting package | Switch Peppol on in your package | Check that it can also receive; see Peppol for small businesses |
| Small business under the VAT exemption scheme | At least be able to receive | Even without VAT returns you must receive e-invoices |
| Non-profit with VAT-able activities | Register through your package | Whether it applies: Peppol for non-profits |
| Company invoicing from an accounting package | Switch Peppol on, test both ways | Keep the extra cost as a separate line on the invoice |
| Company with invoices from planning, job sheets or a shop | A connection to a certified provider | Otherwise someone retypes every invoice |
| Foreign company without a fixed establishment in Belgium | Not mandatory, but possible | Registering counts as agreeing to receive e-invoices |
Your company number becomes a Peppol ID
0208:0308357159
- 0208
- Code for the Belgian enterprise number
- 0308357159
- Enterprise number, no dots
- Software that sends and receivesBelgium's Ministry of Finance lists more than 250 connected applications.
- Registration through a providerYour software puts you on the network under your identifier.
- Look yourself upThe Peppol Directory or the OpenPeppol lookup shows what you can receive.InvoiceCreditNote
- Test both waysOne invoice to a customer, one from a supplier.You sendYou receiveUsually within minutes to a few hours
Two ways onto Peppol
Both give you the same registration. The difference is where your invoices are made.
- Fits when
- Through your accounting or invoicing softwareYou already create invoices in that package
- Through a connection in your own softwareInvoices come out of your ERP, planning tool, webshop or own platform
- Who registers you
- Through your accounting or invoicing softwareThe package, through its service provider
- Through a connection in your own softwareA certified provider you choose; the connection sends your invoices to it
- Cost
- Through your accounting or invoicing softwareOften part of the subscription
- Through a connection in your own softwareA one-off build plus the provider's fee
- Retyping
- Through your accounting or invoicing softwareInvoices from other systems are still typed in again
- Through a connection in your own softwareNobody retypes anything
If your invoices already live in an accounting package, switch Peppol on there. If they start in another system and someone retypes them today, a connection removes that step.
What Peppol registration costs
You do not pay for the registration as such: it comes with your software or your provider. Meeting the obligation can cost nothing when Peppol is included in your accounting package or your business bank account. What does cost money is the software itself if you have none yet, a higher plan if your current one cannot receive, and a connection if your invoices come out of another system.
How to check your registration
Go to the Peppol Directory at directory.peppol.eu and search for your identifier. For a Belgian company that is 0208: followed by the enterprise number without dots. A registered company shows its Peppol ID and the documents it can receive, such as Invoice and CreditNote. Try it first with the Ministry of Finance itself: 0208:0308357159.
Not listed? That does not mean you are unreachable. Providers publish participants in the Directory on a voluntary basis. The OpenPeppol lookup at lookup.peppol.org checks whether a number can receive invoices. Neither tool shows whether you can send: only a real test invoice proves that. Most e-invoices arrive within minutes to a few hours; after more than a working day, ask your software supplier where it is stuck.
| Where you look | What it shows | What it does not show |
|---|---|---|
| Peppol Directory | Your Peppol ID and the documents you can receive, if your provider publishes | Those who do not publish are missing |
| OpenPeppol Lookup | Whether a number can receive invoices | Whether you can also send |
| A real test invoice | That sending and receiving work, package to package | Nothing: it is the only full test |
You can also check whether a customer or supplier is reachable with our Peppol check.
Common registration mistakes
- Send-only softwareSome packages send e-invoices but cannot receive them, so suppliers' invoices land nowhere.
- Two packages, one numberSwitching Peppol on in a second package can clash with the registration in the first. Pick one place to receive, and ask your old provider how they end your registration when you switch.
- An old numberAfter a restructuring or a new entity, register the new company number.
- No testA Directory entry is no proof your invoices arrive. Test both ways.
- The accountant not toldIf invoices now arrive in another package, your accountant needs to know before the next VAT return. What changed after the tolerance period is in Belgium e-invoicing penalties; what comes in 2028 in Belgium e-reporting 2028.
For companies outside Belgium
A company established abroad, without a fixed establishment in Belgium, does not fall under the Belgian mandate, even with a Belgian VAT number, although the law on that point is still being amended. Registering is allowed: Belgian customers and suppliers can then reach you over Peppol. Peppol works across borders on a voluntary basis today, and cross-border digital reporting in the EU is planned from 1 July 2030 under the VAT in the Digital Age package. If you invoice Belgian businesses from an ERP abroad, ask your provider whether it supports Peppol BIS Billing and a Belgian company number, scheme 0208, for your customers.
Who does what
How you book invoices and what it means for your VAT return is a question for your accountant. We are a Belgian agency in Ghent and build the technical side for businesses anywhere in Europe: custom software and the connection between Peppol and the software where your invoices already start.
Registering, identifiers and the Directory
Is Peppol registration free?
There is no separate fee for the registration; it comes with your software or provider. If Peppol is part of the accounting or banking package you already pay for, it costs you nothing extra.
Can I register on Peppol myself?
No. Registration always runs through a certified Peppol service provider, usually built into your accounting or invoicing software.
Which identifier should we use?
In Belgium, at least the enterprise number with the prefix 0208, such as 0208:0308357159. A VAT number or another identifier can be added when you agree on it with your trading partners.
We are a foreign company with a Belgian VAT number. Must we register?
Not if you have no fixed establishment in Belgium: you fall outside the obligation. You may still register, and Belgian customers and suppliers can then reach you through Peppol.
We cannot find ourselves in the Peppol Directory. Are we registered?
Possibly. Not every provider publishes in the Directory. Check the OpenPeppol lookup as well, and test with a real invoice from a supplier.