Peppol is mandatory: what does a Shopify shop have to do?
The Belgian obligation in plain words, a five-step checklist for a web shop, and when you do or do not need an app.
Since 1 January 2026, an invoice between two Belgian VAT-registered businesses has to be a structured e-invoice, delivered over the Peppol network. For a web shop that sells only to consumers, little changes. For a web shop with business buyers, the way every invoice goes out changes.
The obligation in plain words
Three paragraphs that tell the whole story, and the small print that matters.
An e-invoice is not a PDF. It is a structured file, in the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 format, that your customer's accounting reads without retyping. It travels over the Peppol network: your access point delivers it to your customer's, by the VAT number. For such sales, a PDF by email or an invoice on paper no longer counts as the invoice.
The obligation covers invoices between Belgian VAT-registered businesses, in both directions: you have to be able to send them and to receive them. Sales to consumers fall outside it, and invoices to businesses abroad follow other rules. The law has a few exceptions, for instance for those who carry out only VAT-exempt transactions; whether one applies to you is a question for your accountant.
For a Shopify web shop it comes down to this. Every order from a Belgian business that wants an invoice has to leave as a Peppol e-invoice, with the buyer's VAT number on it. Every refund on such an order calls for a credit note by the same route. And your own suppliers' invoices now arrive through Peppol, so you need an address on the network to receive them. Those who do not comply risk the administrative fines the law provides for.
- Since
- 1 January 2026
- For
- Invoices between Belgian VAT-registered businesses (B2B)
- Format
- Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, over the Peppol network
- Both ways
- Sending and receiving
- Not for
- Sales to consumers (B2C)
Checklist: five steps for a web shop
In this order. The first two steps apply to every Belgian web shop, the last three to those who sell to businesses.
-
See who your business buyers are
Go through your orders of the past months. Company names, business addresses, a VAT number in the notes, a request for an invoice in your inbox: those are the orders the obligation is about. If you sell only to consumers, only step 2 is left for you.
-
Make sure you can receive e-invoices yourself
Your suppliers now send you their invoices through Peppol, so you need an address on the network, tied to your VAT number. Many accounting packages offer it, and your accountant knows whether it has been done. Zendat does not do this part for you.
-
Arrange how you get your business buyers' VAT number
Without a VAT number there is no address to deliver the e-invoice to. Without Shopify Plus no app can add a field to the checkout, and the VAT field Shopify has itself is made for buyers in another EU country. What does work, and what each way costs, is in Asking for a VAT number in Shopify without Plus.
-
Choose how the invoice goes out
Three possibilities. You retype every business order into your accounting software, which sends it through Peppol: fine for a few orders a month, double work above that. You connect Shopify to your accounting software, which makes and sends the invoice: then check that the package really sends a Peppol e-invoice and not a PDF. Or you let an app in Shopify build the e-invoice from the order and deliver it through an access point.
-
Put your records in order
An e-invoice is still an invoice: consecutive numbering without gaps, a credit note for every refund, the right mentions, and your own copy of every document for the legal retention period, even when it went out through an app or the network. Agree with your accountant how the copies reach them.
App or no app?
An app is a means, not an obligation. This is when you can do without one, and when not.
No app needed if
- you sell only to consumers: then you only have to be able to receive (step 2)
- you have a few business orders a month and already invoice them in your accounting software, which sends through Peppol
- your accounting software is already connected to Shopify and sends the invoice as a Peppol e-invoice, with the buyer's VAT number on it
An app helps if
- business orders come in every week and retyping becomes too much work or too error-prone
- you want to collect every business buyer's VAT number in Shopify, checked with VIES, without Plus
- you want the invoice and the credit note to follow the order by themselves, numbering and PDF included
Zendat is such an app, built for Belgian merchants on Shopify: it asks for the VAT number after checkout, builds the e-invoice from the order, delivers it through a certified access point, makes credit notes, numbers consecutively and mails a copy to your accounting. What it does not do: receive invoices, replace your accounting, or send orders with a foreign VAT number on its own. Everything about it is on Peppol e-invoicing for Shopify in Belgium.
Questions
I sell only to consumers. Do I have to do anything?
Sending through Peppol, no: an invoice to a consumer falls outside the obligation. Receiving, yes: your Belgian suppliers now invoice you through Peppol, so you need an address on the network, usually through your accounting software.
May I still send a PDF along?
Yes, as a readable copy next to the e-invoice, or packed inside it. The e-invoice itself is the document that counts. Zendat sends a PDF inside every e-invoice, so your customer can simply open it too.
My customer is not on Peppol yet. What then?
Since 2026 every Belgian VAT-registered business is supposed to be reachable on Peppol, but not everyone is there yet. An e-invoice cannot be delivered then. Zendat checks that before sending, warns you and never sends on its own; you see the order with that reason.
Does this also apply to my buyers in the Netherlands or France?
No. The Belgian obligation is about invoices between Belgian businesses. A sale to a business in another EU country follows other VAT rules. Zendat looks such a buyer up on Peppol and sends the invoice there, or mails it as a PDF when the buyer is not on Peppol; on its own only when you switch that on.
Peppol e-invoices for your Shopify B2B orders, sent for you.
Questions about the obligation or about your shop: write to support@zendat.eu. Every message is answered by a person.