Archiving invoices in Belgium: 7-year rule, Peppol XML and evidence

Belgian VAT law requires you to keep every invoice you issue or receive, and copies of them, for seven years from 1 January of the year after the invoice date. Some invoices linked to business real estate may have to be kept 15 or 25 years. For Peppol invoices, keep the structured XML that was exchanged together with a readable PDF, and keep your own copy: software that holds the files does not make them your archive.

This playbook covers retention dates, the XML-or-PDF question, the evidence to file, exporting from OrdoGrid and a routine you can test. For the legal status of a PDF invoice, see PDF versus structured invoice; for the monthly file handover, see accountant handover.

How long to keep invoices, and from when

For a company whose financial year is the calendar year, the VAT and income-tax dates coincide for an invoice issued in that year. With another year-end they can differ: we recommend keeping until the later date. These periods are minimums. Keeping longer is allowed, but it is a choice, not an obligation.

Find the end date of any invoice

Take the year on the invoice, add seven, and keep the document until 31 December of that year. Supplier invoices follow the supplier's issue date.

All invoices of one calendar year share the same end date, so you can review and destroy one year at a time. Before destroying, we recommend checking that the year holds no 15- or 25-year invoice, no credit note or other document dated in a later year, no document under a tax audit and no disputed invoice.

Where you may keep them

The official archiving guidance sets these rules:

• Location. A taxable person established in Belgium keeps its invoices in Belgium, unless it keeps them electronically with full online access from Belgium. You must be able to produce them to FPS Finance (the federal tax administration) without delay.
• Cloud and third parties. Both are allowed if the legal requirements are met; if a provider cannot meet them, you must find another solution.
• No approval. FPS Finance gives no prior approval and does not approve archiving systems.
• Backup. A backup is required: an IT failure has the same consequences as paper archives lost in a fire.
• Audit access. FPS Finance may access, download and use the files, ask for them in legible form, and copy or process the data.
• Consequences. If authenticity and integrity cannot be shown, FPS Finance may refuse the VAT deduction and fine both supplier and customer.

XML, PDF or both: what the guidance says

Two official texts apply. The archiving guidance lets you keep invoices on paper or electronically whatever their original format, but strongly recommends keeping the original XML. Converting to another format is allowed only if authenticity of origin, integrity of content and legibility stay guaranteed, and it makes your burden of proof significantly heavier. The B2B FAQ (Q17) adds that the recipient must keep the structured electronic invoice for the full retention period and keep it legible, usually through a PDF or a viewer whose content stays intact.

Our recommendation: keep the XML as the invoice and a PDF as its readable copy. A PDF-only archive of Peppol invoices is a position you would have to defend in an audit, not a shortcut.

Authenticity, integrity, legibility

The three guarantees that must hold from issue or receipt until the end of the retention period: you can show who issued the invoice (authenticity of origin), the content has not changed (integrity of content), and a person can read it (legibility). A file hash recorded at export time is a simple way to support integrity.

Which file is the invoice?

What to file with each invoice

Export your archive from OrdoGrid

What OrdoGrid does. Before a Peppol send, OrdoGrid stores the exact XML and PDF transmitted, with their SHA-256 hashes and validation versions. Later payments and credit notes do not rewrite them. Received documents stay in the Inbox, and only eligible drafts (no payment, no Peppol transmission, no linked document) can be deleted.

What OrdoGrid does not do. It is not a legal archiving service: it offers no retention period or archiving guarantee for your documents and has no one-click full export.

Outgoing Peppol invoices and credit notes

1. Open Peppol, then the Outbox tab, and click Actualiser (Refresh).
2. For one document, click the download icon (tooltip Télécharger) on its row and choose XML, then do the same for PDF.
3. For a batch, tick the rows and click Download in the selection bar. You get a ZIP such as peppol_outbox_2026-10-13.zip with an xml/ and a pdf/ folder.
4. Open the ZIP and check that every document has its XML. If one is missing, download it individually (step 2) and file it with the batch.
5. For the invoice PDF as issued, open the invoice from Factures (Invoices) and click Original document in the Settlement panel. Current statement is a dated view of payments and credits: keep it as payment evidence if useful, never as the invoice.

Incoming Peppol invoices

1. Open Peppol → Inbox and click Actualiser.
2. Tick the documents and click Download. The ZIP holds the supplier's XML in xml/ and any PDF they attached in pdf/.
3. For one invoice, use the download icon on its row: XML gives the structured invoice as received, PDF a readable copy. If the supplier attached no PDF, OrdoGrid produces a summary PDF: label it as a readable copy, not as the invoice.

More on handling received documents: Peppol inbox.

Invoices sent by email only

This covers fallback invoices, consumers and most foreign customers.

1. In Factures, tick the invoices and click Download for a ZIP of their PDFs, or use PDF on one row. Do the same in Notes de Crédit (Credit Notes) for credit notes sent by email.
2. Emails sent from OrdoGrid carry the PDF and no XML: the PDF is the invoice.
3. Do not edit an invoice after sending it. Until a payment is recorded or it is sent on Peppol, OrdoGrid lets you reopen it with Éditer quand même (Edit anyway), which regenerates the PDF, so your stored copy would no longer match what the customer received. Correct with a credit note instead (credit notes on Peppol).

Through the public API

For automated archiving, create a key under API keys with the peppol:read permission, plus invoices:read for invoice PDFs and credit_notes:read for credit-note PDFs.

1. GET /api/v1/peppol/documents?direction=outbound (or inbound) lists documents with their OrdoGrid Peppol document id, which differs from the invoice id.
2. GET /api/v1/peppol/documents/{id}/xml returns the stored XML and GET /api/v1/peppol/documents/{id}/pdf the transmitted PDF. Stored transmissions are checked against their recorded hash.
3. GET /api/v1/invoices/{id}/pdf?view=original returns the invoice PDF as issued; view=current returns the dated settlement statement.
4. PEPPOL_ARCHIVE_HASH_MISMATCH is an integrity incident: keep the error and contact support. XML_NOT_AVAILABLE or PDF_NOT_AVAILABLE means that file is not stored: record it and look for another copy (your export, the counterparty). Regenerating a document never recovers the original.

Worked example: one invoice chain from issue to destruction date

Atelier Nord SRL (Namur) invoices Brouwerij Verhaegen NV (Ghent). Both are established in Belgium and VAT-registered.

Settlement then shows Outstanding €0.00, while Original document still shows €1,234.20. That is correct: the invoice as issued never changes, and payments and credits appear in Current statement.

Archive folder 2026/outgoing/F-2026-0042/:

• F-2026-0042.xml and F-2026-0042.pdf (from Outbox and Original document)
• NC-2027-0001.xml and NC-2027-0001.pdf
• F-2026-0042_statement_2027-01-25.pdf (Current statement, named as a statement)
• an index line with delivery dates, both bank references and the SHA-256 hash of each file

Retention: F-2026-0042 runs from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2033; NC-2027-0001 from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2034. We recommend keeping the whole chain until 31 December 2034, the later date.

In April 2026, Atelier Nord also receives invoice 2026/1187 from Drukkerij Peeters BV, dated 3 April 2026: €450.00 net + 21% VAT €94.50 = €544.50. Its XML comes from the Inbox ZIP, and it is kept until 31 December 2033.

A routine that holds up in an audit

This is our recommended practice, not a legal procedure.

1. Export monthly. After month-end, download the Outbox and Inbox ZIPs and the PDFs of email-only invoices (via Original document) and email-only credit notes. Do it in the same session as your month-end checks.
2. Store under your control. Keep files in Belgium or with full online access from Belgium, one folder per year and direction, writable by one or two people only, plus a backup elsewhere.
3. Index every file. One line per document: number, date, direction, counterparty VAT number, file names, SHA-256 hash and keep-until date. On Windows: Get-FileHash .\F-2026-0042.xml -Algorithm SHA256. On macOS or Linux: shasum -a 256 F-2026-0042.xml.
4. Test a restore every quarter. A colleague picks one outgoing invoice, one supplier invoice, one credit note and one fallback PDF at least a year old. Starting from the invoice number only, they retrieve the files, recompute the hashes, open the XML in a viewer or the PDF, and check amounts against the accounts. Record the date, documents, result and any gap.
5. Review once a year. Each January, list the year that has passed its end date (in January 2027, invoices dated 2019). Set aside 15- or 25-year invoices, audits, disputes and any invoice chain that holds a later-dated document (for example, NC-2027-0001 filed with F-2026-0042 stays until 31 December 2034), destroy the rest only with your accountant's agreement, and log what was destroyed.

Edge cases and common mistakes

FAQ

How long must I keep invoices in Belgium?

At least seven years from 1 January of the year after the invoice date, for invoices you issue and receive (art. 60 §3 VAT Code). Some real-estate invoices can require 15 or 25 years. The 2022 ten-year rule was reversed in December 2025.

Can I keep only the PDF of a Peppol invoice?

It is risky. The B2B FAQ says the recipient must keep the structured invoice for the whole period, and the archiving guidance strongly recommends the original XML because converting makes your burden of proof much heavier. Keep the XML and use the PDF as its readable copy.

Is OrdoGrid my legal archive?

No. OrdoGrid stores your documents and the exact files of each Peppol send, but it states no retention period and gives no archiving guarantee. Export your files regularly to a location you control.

Can I store invoices in the cloud or outside Belgium?

Yes, if the legal requirements are met. A business established in Belgium must keep invoices in Belgium unless they are kept electronically with full online access from Belgium, and it must be able to produce them without delay. Keep a backup.

When can I delete an invoice dated 2026?

From 1 January 2034, unless it is linked to a 15- or 25-year revision period, a tax audit or a dispute. Agree the destruction with your accountant and log it.

How do I get the XML of a supplier invoice received in OrdoGrid?

Open Peppol, then Inbox. For one document, click the download icon on its row and choose XML; for several, tick them and click Download: the ZIP contains the XML in its xml folder. Integrators can also use the public API with the peppol:read permission.

Should credit notes be kept with the original invoice?

Yes, we recommend filing them together and keeping the chain until the later end date. Each period is counted from the document's own date, so the retention of a credit note issued a year later also ends a year later.