Starting January 1, 2026, Belgium will transition to mandatory digital invoicing between businesses. This is a step toward reducing the VAT gap and simplifying administrative burdens. The European PEPPOL network will serve as the backbone of this transition, enabling businesses to collaborate seamlessly. In this blog post, we discuss what the European PEPPOL network is content and how you can use Business Central for this.
What is PEPPOL?
Peppol is the international standard for e-invoicing and e-ordering. With Peppol, businesses of all sizes can align their processes with those of other businesses and government agencies. Peppol provides an automated and efficient invoicing system where all users are seamlessly connected to one another. Above all, Peppol offers a secure, protected, and reliable network for exchanging electronic messages such as invoices. The Belgian government, with the approval of Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem, and many other countries have either begun or announced their transition to Peppol. When doing business with certain countries, e-invoicing via Peppol may even already be a requirement. In France, Italy, and Spain, for example, the transition is also underway. In addition, countries outside Europe, such as Australia, Singapore, Japan, and New Zealand, also require e-invoicing via Peppol. The Dutch video below explains it well.
Peppol in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (Business Central for short) is the successor to Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Business Central is an ERP solution for medium-sized businesses that allows you to automate all your business processes, including inventory, purchasing, sales, manufacturing, and accounting.
E-invoicing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
PEPPOL e-invoicing is easy to set up in Business Central. You can easily extend Business Central’s standard functionality for this purpose using the “Continia Document Output app.” We’ll help you install it and get it ready for use. The PEPPOL network acts as an intermediary between you and the recipient of the invoice. It ensures a secure, standardized, and smooth flow of invoices so that you won’t receive any suspicious or incorrect invoices. However, you need an application that enables communication with this network. The Continia Delivery Network is an example of such an Access Point (AP). It’s a “gateway” that handles electronic invoicing. It supports access to the Peppol eDelivery Network and provides the functionality to generate XML files, as well as to import XML files into Business Central.
