Peppol for driving schools: what mandatory e-invoicing means for you

What has been mandatory since 1 January 2026?

Belgian VAT-registered businesses exchange structured electronic invoices with each other. Such an invoice travels directly from the supplier's software to the customer's, over the Peppol network and in the Peppol BIS format, unless both parties agree on something else that meets the European standard EN 16931. Sending a PDF by email is no longer enough.

The rule applies to every invoice drawn up, issued or sent from that date, even if the lesson or training took place earlier. The legal basis is article 53, § 2bis, of the Belgian VAT Code. The general tolerance period covered the first three months of 2026 and has ended.

What does that mean for your driving school?

It depends on who your customer is: the student, or a business paying for the training. These are the situations that come up at a driving school.

So even a school that invoices almost only private individuals deals with Peppol. Your Belgian suppliers, such as your garage or fuel card provider, must send you structured invoices because you are a VAT-registered customer.

Who is not covered?

The obligation applies to every business with an active VAT number. Businesses using the small business exemption scheme (turnover up to €25,000 a year) are covered too. The government lists these exceptions:

• Businesses that only carry out transactions exempt under article 44 of the VAT Code need not send or receive structured invoices.
• Bankrupt VAT-registered businesses need not send them.
• VAT-registered businesses on the flat-rate scheme (article 56) need not send them. This exception ends by 1 January 2028 at the latest.
• VAT-registered businesses not established in Belgium and without a permanent establishment here are not covered, even if they are identified for VAT here.

The obligation also does not apply to an individual transaction exempt under article 44. Check with your accountant whether part of your activity falls under it. The government's tool lets you check whether your business is covered.

How do you get on Peppol?

You do not register directly. It happens through a Peppol service provider, usually via your accounting or invoicing software. So ask your software supplier whether it is connected to Peppol and what you need to do to send and receive.

In Belgium your company number is the standard Peppol ID (scheme 0208). You do not need to ask customers for a separate Peppol ID. To see whether a business can receive, look it up in Peppol Lookup by name or in the form 0208:0123456789 (0208, a colon and the company number).

If a customer is not yet ready to receive via Peppol, you may choose another way of sending, and that invoice is legally valid. If the alternative is electronic, such as a PDF, agree it with the customer.

What are the fines?

Since the royal decree of 8 July 2025 there is a specific fine for not having the technical means to issue and receive structured e-invoices: €1,500 for a first offence, €3,000 for a second and €5,000 for later offences. An offence only counts as a second or later one if the administration records it at least three months after the previous one. The existing fines for incorrect or late invoices still apply.

This guide gives general information and is not legal or tax advice. The competent authority is FPS Finance. The current rules are on einvoice.belgium.be, and your accountant can apply them to your situation.

What does BIQSDRIVE do here?

BIQSDRIVE does not create invoices and does not send Peppol messages. An order in BIQSDRIVE is not an invoice: the invoice is made in your accounting package, and that package also sends it.

What BIQSDRIVE does is prepare the data. For each order you choose who pays, with a purchase order number and cost centre, and VAT numbers are checked through VIES. A confirmed order goes to your accounting package with the customer, VAT number, purchase order number and lines, or in an import file for your accountant. With Billit, for example, the order arrives as an invoice that has not been sent: you check it and send it from Billit, by email or via Peppol.

Whether and how your package sends via Peppol depends on that package and your subscription to it. Ask your supplier or accountant.