Glossary

The words of the e-invoice

Jargon in plain language. The terms are in alphabetical order.

Access point: The service provider that puts your invoices on the Peppol network and receives invoices for you. It is usually built into your accounting or invoicing software.
CBE number (enterprise number): The ten-digit number under which a business is listed in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE). The last two digits are check digits. The VAT number is BE followed by this number.
Credit note: A document that cancels an earlier invoice in whole or in part. In UBL, a CreditNote, with a reference to the invoice.
E-reporting: Passing invoice data on to the tax authorities almost immediately. Planned in Belgium from 2028; not yet law.
EN 16931: The European standard that sets out which data an e-invoice contains and what they mean. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is an application of that standard.
IBAN: The international account number. A Belgian IBAN has sixteen characters and starts with BE; here too, check digits guard against typos.
Mercurius: The Belgian government's platform for invoices to public services (B2G). Not a solution for invoices between businesses.
Peppol: An international network with agreements for sending electronic documents, such as invoices, securely from one program to another. In Belgium, the standard route for e-invoices.
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0: The agreement on what an invoice on Peppol looks like: a UBL file with fixed fields and rules. This is the format Belgium asks for in principle.
Peppol Directory: A public search register with the names of Peppol participants. Listing is voluntary, so not everyone is in it.
Peppol ID and scheme 0208: A participant's address on Peppol: a scheme code and a number. For Belgium, that is 0208 followed by the enterprise number, e.g. 0208:0123456749. Scheme 9925 (the VAT number) also exists, but 0208 is the rule.
Reverse charge (medecontractant): The scheme in which the buyer, not the seller, pays the VAT, e.g. for work on immovable property for a VAT-registered business. The invoice then shows no VAT, but the mention 'Verlegging van heffing' (reverse charge).
Schematron: The language in which the official validation rules for e-invoices are written. An access point runs every invoice through them.
Small business VAT exemption scheme: The VAT scheme for businesses with an annual turnover up to EUR 25,000: they do not charge VAT and do not deduct any. They remain VAT-registered and are therefore subject to the e-invoicing obligation.
SML and SMP: The Peppol register. The SML says which service provider a participant uses; the SMP of that service provider says which documents the participant can receive.
Structured communication (OGM): The Belgian twelve-digit payment reference, written as +++123/4567/89002+++. The last two digits are check digits (modulo 97).
UBL: Universal Business Language: the XML language in which a Peppol invoice is written. A UBL file has the extension .xml.
VAT category code: A letter that says which VAT treatment applies to a line: S (standard rate), Z (0%), E (exempt), AE (reverse charge to the buyer), K (supply within the EU), G (export), O (outside the scope of VAT).