Your customer asks for a Peppol invoice and you have no tool: what now?

Why your customer is asking for it

It is not a whim. To deduct VAT, your customer in principle needs a correct invoice, and for a transaction between two Belgian VAT-registered businesses that is a structured e-invoice. According to the FPS Finance, they may in principle refuse an invoice from a supplier who is not ready. On top of that, you risk a fine if you do not have the technical means to send and receive Peppol invoices. The amounts are in our guide to the Peppol obligation.

What to do today

1. Check whether it applies to you. Do you have an active VAT number, and is your customer a Belgian VAT-registered business? Then it does, also under the VAT exemption scheme: see our guide to Peppol in secondary occupation and the VAT exemption.
2. Choose a tool. Check that it can send and receive, handles credit notes and attachments, and offers an export for your accountant. Also ask your accountant whether they have a preference.
3. Get registered on Peppol through that tool, and ask how long activation takes. Your Peppol address becomes 0208: followed by your enterprise number.
4. Recreate the invoice in the tool and send it via Peppol to your customer's enterprise number.
5. Already sent a PDF? Agree with your customer and your accountant how to set it right, so the same invoice is not booked twice.

How sending works step by step is explained in our guide to sending and receiving Peppol invoices.

Hermes is no longer an option

Many older articles still recommend Hermes, the free FPS BOSA platform. Since mid-December 2025, Hermes has been out of service for exchanging documents: you can no longer send or receive invoices with it. All official information is now on the FPS Finance website.

Watch out: the old Hermes web address now leads to a site that has nothing to do with the government. Do not click it from old articles, and certainly do not enter any data there.

Is there a free solution?

The government no longer offers a free tool of its own and stays neutral: it publishes a list of more than 250 software solutions but recommends none. According to the FPS Finance, the legal minimum can sometimes be “free” as part of something you already pay for, such as your accounting package or your bank account.

Above all, compare on what you really need:

• sending and receiving (some solutions only do one of the two);
• credit notes and attachments inside the Peppol invoice;
• a price that fits the number of invoices you make;
• a smooth handover to your accountant.

Good to know: sole traders, and companies that meet the size criteria of the Belgian Companies Code, may deduct 120% of subscriptions to e-invoicing software up to and including 2027. More on receiving at no cost in our guide to receiving Peppol invoices for free.

Can you still send a PDF in the meantime?

The general tolerance period ended on 31/03/2026. A PDF to a Belgian VAT-registered customer therefore in principle no longer meets your obligation, and your customer may refuse it. If they accept the PDF anyway, according to the FPS Finance they keep their right to deduct VAT, but you remain at risk of a fine. So use a PDF at most as an emergency solution for a few days, with your customer's agreement, not as your way of working.

And the other way round: your supplier still sends PDFs

If your supplier is not ready, you may in principle refuse their invoice. If you accept it, you keep your right to deduct VAT on the basis of the PDF or paper invoice, provided you agree on a secure alternative. Do ask them to get in order, though: they are the one who risks a fine.