Document format and locale facts for Belgium

Why these defaults?

The country code comes from ISO 3166. Unicode CLDR supplies presentation-oriented locale, currency, paper, date, language, calendar, numbering, and direction metadata. Defaults reduce setup time; they do not decide what a valid document must contain.

Recorded official or regional-official language tags: nl, fr, de.

Selected national claims reviewed

Document vocabulary and checks

Core Belgian VAT-invoice applicability, ordinary particulars, ten-year retention and the 2026 domestic B2B structured-invoice boundary are reviewed. Special regimes, sector receipts, transaction-specific tax treatment, mandate exceptions, Peppol onboarding, structured-document creation, transmission and reporting remain separate checks or unimplemented functions.

Evidence snapshot: 4 official sources · last reviewed 2026-07-19. This is scoped guidance, not a jurisdiction-wide compliance certification.

Tax labels: BTW / TVA (VAT). Business identifier labels: BTW-nummer / Numéro de TVA.

• Guidance: Belgium's FPS Finance says a VAT invoice is generally required for professional supplies to a VAT-taxable person or a non-taxable legal person, with listed transaction and sector exceptions. Private-use consumer supplies generally use the revenue ledger instead unless a specific invoicing or receipt rule applies.Evidence BE_FPS_ACCOUNTING_INVOICING · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only
• Guidance: For a Belgian VAT invoice in scope, capture the sequential invoice number and date, supply or payment date where different, supplier and customer identity/address and applicable VAT identifiers, quantity and nature of goods or extent and nature of services, unit price, discounts, taxable amount by rate or exemption, VAT rate and VAT amount, and any applicable exemption, reverse-charge, cash-accounting or margin-scheme wording. Transaction-specific simplifications and exceptions still require confirmation.Evidence BE_EU_VAT_DIRECTIVE_ART_226, BE_FPS_ACCOUNTING_INVOICING · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only
• Guidance: Belgian VAT invoices, copies, accounting books and supporting documents are generally retained for ten years, counted from 1 January following the relevant closure or document-issue year. Special regimes or proceedings can alter the practical period.Evidence BE_FPS_ACCOUNTING_INVOICING · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only
• Guidance: From 1 January 2026, structured electronic invoices are generally required for domestic transactions between Belgian VAT-taxable businesses, subject to the official exceptions. PDF by email is not sufficient for that scope; Peppol BIS is the default route unless an agreed EN 16931-compliant alternative applies. This preview does not create or transmit that regulated artifact.Evidence BE_EFACTURE_MANDATE, BE_EFACTURE_FORMAT · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only

Identifier format guidance: See the relevant authority.