Mandatory fields
| Field | When it applies |
|---|---|
| The particulars required by article 226 of the EU VAT Directive | Always Belgium is an EU member state, so the article 226 list applies. The specific Belgian implementing rules could not be verified and are deliberately not stated here. |
The rules at a glance
| Rule | In Belgium | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | btw / TVA (VAT), standard rate 21% | FOD Financien |
| Sequential number required | Not verified | n/a |
| Keep records for | 10 years | FOD Financien |
| Reverse charge wording | Not verified | n/a |
| Simplified invoice threshold | Not verified | n/a |
| E-invoicing | Mandatory since 1 January 2026 | einvoice.belgium.be (Belgian federal e-invoicing portal) |
"Not verified" means we could not read the value off a primary source, so we do not state one. It is not a claim that no rule exists. See our methodology.
How long to keep invoices
10 years. Ten years, counted from 1 January of the year after the invoice was issued; for books, from 1 January after the year they were closed.
E-invoicing
Mandatory since 1 January 2026, covering between belgian vat-registered businesses. Structured e-invoicing became mandatory on 1 January 2026. The FPS Finance applied no penalties for offences relating to the new obligation during the first three months of 2026, for businesses that could show timely and reasonable steps to comply. That tolerance window has closed, so Belgium is already past its deadline rather than approaching one.
This is the fastest-moving item on this page and the one most worth re-checking against the authority before you act on it. InvoiceSnap produces a PDF, which is a document rather than a structured e-invoice, so a mandate of this kind is a signal that you will need software that can transmit as well as format.
What this page does not tell you, and why
This is the thinnest page in this set, and that is a deliberate outcome rather than an oversight. The rate, the retention period and the e-invoicing mandate each carry a real source: the European Commission's own rates table, the FOD Financien page on accounting and invoicing, and the federal e-invoicing portal. The Belgian implementing detail behind article 226 does not, because the official pages that carry it either refuse non-browser requests or return 404, and the royal decree that did load during the original research turned out to be number 7, which covers imports, rather than number 1.
So four things are missing here that the other country pages have: the full list of mandatory invoice particulars under Belgian law, whether sequential numbering is required as a matter of Belgian rather than EU law, the exact reverse-charge wording, and the simplified-invoice threshold. We could have filled them in from a neighbouring country or from an accountancy firm's summary. A page that guesses looks exactly as confident as one that knows, which is precisely why we did not.
What is safe to rely on: Belgium is an EU member state, so the article 226 particulars apply, and the EU page in this set covers those in full. For the Belgian specifics, go to the FOD Financien or ask your accountant. And note the one thing that is verified and urgent: structured e-invoicing between Belgian VAT-registered businesses has been mandatory since 1 January 2026, and the three-month tolerance the FPS Finance allowed at the start of 2026 has already expired.
Making the invoice
Once you know what your invoice needs, the invoice generator builds it in your browser. It has a tax field, a discount field, VAT number fields for both parties and a notes field for wording such as a reverse-charge statement. Nothing you type is uploaded.
This page describes published requirements. It is not advice on your own situation, and whether a rule applies to you depends on facts we do not have. For that, go to EUR-Lex directly or talk to an accountant.