Send your first Peppol invoice in OrdoGrid

This guide takes you through your first Peppol invoice in OrdoGrid, from checking that your company can send to reading the result and keeping the files. Use a real job at its agreed price: OrdoGrid has no Peppol test mode, so whatever you send reaches your client.

Full setup is covered in set up Peppol in OrdoGrid. Labels are quoted as on screen, translated in brackets where useful; many stay French in every interface language.

Field names in the invoice preview (N°, Échéance, Sous-total HTVA, Total TVAC, Montant à payer, Communication and the VAT regime names) follow Profil entreprise → Langue des documents (document language), not the interface language. This guide shows French documents, the default; English documents read No., Due date, Subtotal excl. VAT, Total incl. VAT, Amount payable and Reference. A business whose operating seat is in the Dutch-language area must use Dutch for the mandatory parts of its invoices (Flemish decree of 19 July 1973).

Does this invoice have to go through Peppol?

What the law requires. Since 1 January 2026, a business established in Belgium must issue a structured electronic invoice to a business customer that is also established in Belgium (seat or fixed establishment) and identified there for VAT (art. 53 §2bis VAT Code, as amended by the Law of 10 February 2026). The default is Peppol BIS over the Peppol network (art. 13ter Royal Decree no. 1); another EN 16931 format needs an agreement. The structured invoice is then the only legal invoice; a PDF copy is optional (B2B FAQ of FPS Finance, the Belgian federal tax administration).

1. Make sure your company can send

1. In Profil entreprise (company profile; only owners and administrators can edit this page), check Nom de l'entreprise, Adresse, IBAN and Numéro de TVA (Optionnel). The form marks the VAT number optional, but a VAT-registered business must show it on every invoice (art. 5 §1 2° Royal Decree no. 1), and OrdoGrid sends on Peppol only for a number starting with BE. Companies and associations enter their legal form, registered office address, enterprise number and the mention RPM/RPR (register of legal entities) followed by the competent enterprise court in the profile field Mentions légales (pied de page des factures), as article 2:20 of the Companies and Associations Code requires: OrdoGrid prints that text in the footer of every invoice PDF and sends it in the Peppol invoice as the seller's additional legal information (BT-33).
2. Open Peppol. Until your VAT number is authorised, you see Autorisation Peppol (Peppol authorisation): type the Nom complet du signataire (signatory's full name), tick the confirmation and click Signer et confirmer l'autorisation (sign and confirm). It is a typed confirmation, not a qualified electronic signature; sign only if you may act for the company.
3. On Réception Peppol (Peppol reception), choose Activer la réception (activate receiving) or Continuer en envoi seul (continue send-only). Sending works either way. If you see Déjà inscrit sur le réseau Peppol (already registered on Peppol), another provider receives for you: continue send-only.
4. In Peppol → Statut, check that Envoi (Outbox) reads Autorisé (authorised).

Receiving is optional in OrdoGrid, not in law: every business in scope must be able to issue and receive structured invoices (art. 13quater Royal Decree no. 1). A business without that capability risks a fine of €1,500, then €3,000 for a second offence and €5,000 for each further one (Royal Decree no. 44).

2. Get the client's billing identity right

Invoice the business that bought the work (the company itself, or the sole trader in person), not a contact person or trading name. Ask for its official name, VAT number (BE plus the ten-digit enterprise number; recent ones start with 1), registered office address, any purchase-order number and an email address for invoice questions. Also check that it is established in Belgium: a BE VAT number alone does not prove it.

In Base Clients (client list), click Ajouter un client (add client), set Type de client (client type) to Assujetti à la TVA (VAT-registered) and type the N° de TVA (VAT number). OrdoGrid fills in the name and address from the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE; badge Registre belge (BCE)) or from VIES; compare them with the client's details. If the client uses purchase orders, tick Exiger un bon de commande pour les factures (require a purchase order) so the invoice shows N° bon de commande.

There is no Peppol ID field on a client: OrdoGrid finds the client from its VAT number when you send. To check beforehand, FPS Finance points to lookup.peppol.org: enter 0208: followed by the ten-digit enterprise number without BE, dots or spaces, for example 0208:0123456749 (see Peppol participant lookup). A hit shows the client can receive, not whether it can send.

3. Create and check the invoice

1. Open Invoices (page Factures), click Nouvelle facture (new invoice) and Sélectionner un client (select a client).
2. Check N°, Date and Échéance (due date; default: invoice date plus 30 days). The law requires a sequential number in one or several series that identifies each invoice uniquely (art. 5 §1 1° Royal Decree no. 1). OrdoGrid proposes the next number, for example F-2026-0001, and fixes it when you first save, even as a draft. If you invoiced earlier this year elsewhere, continue that sequence or start a clearly separate series and tell your accountant: OrdoGrid does not enforce gap-free numbering.
3. Add lines with Ajouter un article (add item). Name the service and its period (“Website maintenance — September 2026”): the law requires the nature of the service and its date when it differs from the invoice date. If it does, also click Date de livraison / prestation (delivery / service date) below Échéance in the Récapitulatif panel and enter, for example, the last day of the invoiced month.
4. Prix Unitaire (unit price) excludes VAT by default. For a VAT-inclusive deal, tick Prix unitaires TVAC (TVA incluse) (VAT-inclusive unit prices) under Totaux; any cent difference shows as Arrondi (rounding). On Peppol, the XML carries the unit price excluding VAT that a full invoice requires (art. 5 §1 8° Royal Decree no. 1), but the PDF in this mode shows VAT-inclusive prices (column Prix TVAC). If the PDF will be the legal invoice, for example as a fallback, untick the box before issuing: the PDF then shows unit prices excluding VAT and the amounts do not change. More: VAT-inclusive prices, discounts and rounding.
5. Use the VAT rate your accountant confirmed (OrdoGrid's default is 21%) and leave Options de TVA (VAT options) on Standard. Under the small business franchise, choose Régime de la franchise de taxe instead: every line goes to 0% and no VAT is charged. Régime cocontractant (Belgian reverse charge for construction work) does not apply just because you and your client are both Belgian VAT-registered: it covers the immovable works and related operations listed in art. 20 Royal Decree no. 1, for a customer that files periodic VAT returns, and needs a full legal mention, which OrdoGrid prints with that regime. If in doubt, never choose a 0% regime: ask your accountant.
6. Communication (payment reference) is prefilled with a Belgian structured communication (+++…+++) built from the invoice number.
7. Click Save (Enregistrer), then Aperçu du PDF (PDF preview) to see the invoice as your client will.

The legal mentions to check in the preview

Check these mentions required by art. 5 §1 Royal Decree no. 1:

1. The invoice number and date, plus the service date if it differs.
2. Both parties' names, addresses and VAT numbers.
3. For each line and rate: description, quantity, unit price excluding VAT (see point 4), taxable amount, VAT rate and total VAT, plus any reverse-charge, exemption or franchise mention set under Options de TVA.

Due date, IBAN, structured communication and purchase-order number are not VAT mentions. More: legal mentions on a Belgian invoice.

4. Save, then choose Peppol

Stay on the saved invoice. If you went back to the list, reopen that invoice: a copy means a second number for one sale.

1. Click Envoyer (send) in the editor header to open Envoyer la facture.
2. Read the Peppol block (table below). When the client is found, Envoi électronique via Peppol (electronic sending via Peppol) is ticked.
3. Email is ticked when the client has an address. The PDF is already embedded in the Peppol invoice, so untick Email unless the client asked for a copy.
4. Click Sauvegarder & Envoyer (Save & Send) once. You see a result for Sauvegarde (save), Email and Peppol, then Redirection vers vos factures dans 3s... or Des erreurs sont survenues. (errors occurred).

5. Check delivery in the Outbox

Open Peppol, tab Outbox, and find the invoice by Numéro (number). Vérifier (check) on the row checks now; Actualiser (refresh) refreshes the page.

Most invoices arrive within minutes to a couple of hours (FPS Finance); after one working day, contact OrdoGrid support. Details: Peppol delivery status.

Delivered means network delivery. Traité confirms that the Peppol network delivered your invoice, not that your client read, approved or paid it. Keep three signals apart:

1. Network status: the Outbox badge.
2. Business response: an Invoice Response, shown as a banner such as 1 nouvelle réponse reçue (1 new response received) on the Récent and Inbox tabs. OrdoGrid shows responses only when reception is active in OrdoGrid (Mode : Envoi + réception); in send-only mode they go to the provider that receives for you, if any.
3. Payment: money received, entered with Record payment in the invoice's Settlement panel.

Invoice Response

A Peppol message in which the client's software reports its decision with a code such as AP (approved), RE (rejected) or UQ (under query). Sending one is optional in standard Peppol BIS.

All seven codes: Peppol Invoice Responses.

Once Peppol accepts it, the invoice moves from Brouillon (Draft) to Envoyée (Sent), and, from the start of its Échéance day, to En retard (Overdue). No reminder is sent automatically.

Worked example: September maintenance

Atelier Lumen SRL, a web studio in Namur, maintains the website of Boulangerie Hermans SRL in Liège for €250 a month excluding VAT. Both companies are VAT-registered and established in Belgium.

OrdoGrid built the communication from the digits of F-2026-0042; its check digits 40 are the remainder of 0020260042 divided by 97. Without a purchase order, OrdoGrid puts this communication in the Peppol buyer reference, which Peppol BIS requires when there is no order reference (rule PEPPOL-EN16931-R003).

With Email unticked, Atelier Lumen clicks Sauvegarder & Envoyer; the Outbox row shows En file, then Traité a few minutes later, and the invoice becomes Envoyée. The next day an Invoice Response AP arrives (reception is active in OrdoGrid). On 2 November €302.50 is paid, and Record payment turns the invoice Payée (Paid).

Had the deal been “€250 all-in”, Prix unitaires TVAC would give €206.61 net (250 ÷ 1.21) and €43.39 VAT. Settle this before invoicing; changing it afterwards requires a credit note.

Edge cases and common mistakes

Evidence to keep

What the law requires. Keep invoices for seven years from 1 January of the year after issue (art. 60 VAT Code, as amended by the Law of 18 December 2025); some invoices linked to immovable property must be kept 15 or 25 years (FPS Finance). Authenticity, integrity and legibility must last throughout.

What OrdoGrid does. It archives the exact XML and PDF it transmitted, but it is not a legal archive and guarantees no retention period.

What we recommend. Keep the original XML: FPS Finance strongly recommends this for e-invoices received, and we recommend the same for those you send. Download the XML and PDF from the Outbox row, note the Traité date and keep any Invoice Response. For a fallback, keep the lookup result and the email. Each month, select the Outbox rows, download the ZIP and file it in your own storage.

FAQ

Do I still need to email a PDF?

No. The structured invoice is the legal invoice and already carries the PDF. Belgian Peppol providers recommend avoiding dual sending, and FPS Finance notes that Peppol cannot detect duplicates.

How long does Peppol delivery take?

Usually minutes to a couple of hours, according to FPS Finance. Without Traité after one working day, contact support rather than sending again.

Does Traité mean my client accepted the invoice?

No. It confirms network delivery only. Acceptance, if any, comes as an Invoice Response; payment is recorded separately.

Can I send a test invoice first?

No. OrdoGrid has no Peppol test mode, so every send reaches the client. Send a real invoice for completed work.

My client says it is on Peppol, but OrdoGrid cannot find it. What now?

Check the VAT number in the client record, ask which enterprise number the client receives on and check it on lookup.peppol.org. If it really cannot receive, use the fallback.

Must I activate reception to send?

Not in OrdoGrid. The law, however, requires you to be able to receive structured invoices, through OrdoGrid or another provider. Without reception in OrdoGrid, your clients' Invoice Responses do not appear there.

Can I edit an invoice after sending it on Peppol?

No. Its amounts and VAT are locked. Issue a credit note over Peppol and, if needed, a new invoice.

For your next monthly bill, use the freelancer monthly invoice guide.