Peppol BIS Billing 3.0: profile, identifiers and document types

Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is the specification that says how an invoice or a credit note must be built to travel on the Peppol network. It is not software and not a portal: it is a rulebook published by OpenPeppol, based on the European e-invoicing standard EN 16931 and written in the UBL 2.1 XML syntax. Since 1 January 2026, Belgian law makes Peppol BIS the default format for structured B2B invoices. Release 3.0.21 is the version in force as of October 2026.

This reference explains what makes a document "BIS Billing", which identifiers and type codes it carries, how releases work, and why a receiver must be registered for invoices and credit notes. It is for business owners, accountants and developers who need to answer "are we on BIS Billing 3.0?". Field-by-field content is covered in EN 16931 and UBL: the data a structured invoice must carry; how to correct an invoice in Correct a Peppol invoice with a structured credit note.

What Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is, and what it is not

A structured invoice on Peppol is built from several layers. Each answers a different question.

CIUS (Core Invoice Usage Specification)

A specification that restricts EN 16931 for one community without contradicting it. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is a CIUS: any valid BIS Billing invoice is also a valid EN 16931 invoice, but not the other way round.

Three points people often get wrong:

• Belgium has no national version. Only Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have national rules inside the BIS. The only Belgium-specific check is rule PEPPOL-COMMON-R043, which verifies the format of an enterprise number used with scheme 0208.
• UBL is mandatory, CII is optional. The BIS lets a receiver register for the UN/CEFACT CII syntax "alongside the mandatory UBL version" (Appendix B). Every receiver must accept UBL.
• Self-billing is a different specification. Self-billed invoices and credit notes use Peppol BIS Self-Billing 3.0, with their own identifiers (poacc:selfbilling:3.0) and their own registration. They are not a variant of BIS Billing, and a registration for one does not cover the other. See Self-billing in Belgium on Peppol.

What the law requires. Under art. 13ter of Royal Decree no. 1, in force since 1 January 2026, a taxable person who must issue a structured invoice draws it up in Peppol BIS (UBL version) and sends it over Peppol. Another format or channel needs an agreement between the parties, and FPS Finance (the Belgian federal tax administration) recommends putting it in writing. Even then, art. 13quater requires the technical means to issue and receive Peppol BIS invoices.

The identifiers that mark a document as BIS Billing

Some identifiers sit inside every document; others sit in the registration that tells senders where to deliver. Document type and process identifiers are case-sensitive and contain no spaces.

The ::2.1 suffix belongs only in the document type identifier of the registration. Software that copies it into cbc:CustomizationID now fails rule R004. For an invoice, the full document type identifier is urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2::Invoice##urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0::2.1.

Invoice and credit note: two document types, one obligation to receive both

On the network, an invoice (UBL Invoice) and a credit note (UBL CreditNote) are two document types. A sender's access point looks up the customer's SMP for the exact document type and process it wants to deliver. If the customer's registration lists the invoice but not the credit note, there is no delivery address for the credit note: invoices arrive and credit notes do not.

The rules do not make the credit note optional for a receiver:

• The BIS assumes "that both the invoice and the credit note are exchanged electronically" (section 4.1), and says receiving systems "have to support both" credit notes and negative invoices (section 5.6).
• FPS Finance says a credit or debit note that modifies a structured invoice is itself a structured invoice in the same format, so it "must therefore also be sent via Peppol" (specific FAQ, question 5).
• Art. 53 §2bis, fifth paragraph, VAT Code requires a VAT-registered recipient established in Belgium to be able to receive a structured invoice in the format in which it was issued; art. 13quater of Royal Decree no. 1 requires the ability to receive Peppol BIS invoices even where another format was agreed.

Our recommendation: treat a registration that lists invoices but not credit notes as a misconfiguration to fix with the provider concerned, not as a valid choice.

Type codes: which numbers a BIS Billing document may carry

The type code (BT-3) tells the receiver what kind of invoice or credit note it is. Rule PEPPOL-EN16931-P0100 lists the allowed invoice codes and P0101 the allowed credit-note codes; both are fatal. A receiver without a separate process for a code handles any valid invoice code as 380 and any valid credit-note code as 381 (BIS section 12).

BIS Billing also accepts a negative invoice (type 380 with negative totals) as an alternative to a credit note. Senders may use either; receivers must support both. OrdoGrid always issues credit notes.

Rules that stop a BIS Billing document

Validation applies the EN 16931 rules and the Peppol rules. A fatal rule stops the document; a warning does not. This selection shows the rules that relate to the profile itself and to Belgian data. Fixing a specific error message is covered in Peppol validation errors.

The reference to the original invoice is optional in the BIS, but Belgian law requires a credit note to refer to the invoice it corrects (art. 12, Royal Decree no. 1).

Releases: which version applies now

"BIS Billing 3.0" is the name of the specification; releases update its rules and code lists without changing the CustomizationID. OpenPeppol publishes a release in spring (May) and autumn (November), and use becomes mandatory about three months after publication.

What 3.0.21 changed that a Belgian user may notice:

• Profile 02 "Billing with response", optional: the buyer must send at least one Invoice Response for each invoice or credit note. It needs a separate registration.
• Rule R004 now rejects a CustomizationID that contains ::.
• New warnings for malformed Dutch identifiers (0106, 0190, 9944, 0217).
• Code lists and EN 16931 rules updated: rule BR-CO-25 removed, currency codes ANG and BGN removed and XCG added, the description of ICD 0208 changed.

How to answer "are you on Peppol BIS Billing 3.0?"

Check the four points below; together they settle the question for your own business or for a counterparty.

FPS Finance points businesses to lookup.peppol.org (Peppol FAQ, question 6). It shows what a participant can receive, not whether it can send. The Peppol Directory is a voluntary, delayed index and proves neither.

Peppol BIS Billing in OrdoGrid

OrdoGrid connects to Peppol through a certified access point and offers Peppol only to companies with a VAT number starting with BE. Its Peppol screens are in French in every interface language; labels are quoted exactly.

What OrdoGrid sends

• UBL 2.1 documents with the BIS Billing 3.0 CustomizationID and the profile 01 ProfileID. OrdoGrid does not send profile 02, CII or self-billed documents.
• Invoices as UBL Invoice with type code 380, credit notes as UBL CreditNote with type code 381 and a reference to the original invoice number.
• Before delivery, it validates each document against the UBL 2.1 schema, the EN 16931 validation artefacts 1.3.16 and the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.21 rules.

What OrdoGrid registers when you receive through it

• Activer la réception (activate reception) registers 0208: plus your enterprise number for BIS Billing 3.0 invoices and credit notes (profile 01), Invoice Responses, MLR and the self-billing invoice and credit note. You do not need to switch credit notes on separately.
• With Continuer en envoi seul (continue send-only), reception stays with your current provider, which decides what is published: check it on lookup.peppol.org.

Check your setup and a sent document

1. Open Peppol and the Statut (status) tab. Under Réception (Inbox), Enregistré (registered) with a "Depuis le" (since) date means OrdoGrid receives for you, and the badge next to Statut d'inscription Peppol reads Envoi + réception. The exception is an amber warning that your Peppol identifier is managed by another provider: incoming Peppol invoices then go to that provider, not to OrdoGrid.
2. The Annuaire Peppol (Peppol directory) panel tells you whether OrdoGrid found your registration on the network: "Votre entreprise est référencée dans l'annuaire Peppol" (your company is listed in the Peppol directory) or "Votre entreprise n'est pas encore dans l'annuaire Peppol" (your company is not yet in the Peppol directory). When your company is listed, it shows your Identifiant Peppol (Peppol ID), the Access point de réception (receiving access point: Notre access point, OrdoGrid's, or Autre prestataire, another provider) when it is known and, for a registered Belgian 0208 identifier, Nom enregistré (registered name), Pays (country) and Documents supportés (supported documents), such as Facture, Note de crédit and Réponse (IMR/MLR). These labels do not show the full document type identifiers: to check that both the invoice and the credit-note types are published with poacc:billing:3.0, look up 0208: plus your enterprise number on lookup.peppol.org. If the panel says you are not yet in the directory, OrdoGrid did not find your registration on the network either: check on lookup.peppol.org and with your provider.
3. If the badge reads Envoi seul (send only), OrdoGrid does not receive for this company. Look up your 0208: ID on lookup.peppol.org. If another provider receives for you, ask it to publish the credit-note type if it is missing; if you are not found at all, activate reception, for example with Activer la réception.
4. To inspect a sent document, open the Outbox tab, find the row and choose XML in its download menu. Near the start of the file (it is not line-broken) you will find the identifiers:

<cbc:CustomizationID>urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0</cbc:CustomizationID>
<cbc:ProfileID>urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:01:1.0</cbc:ProfileID>
<cbc:ID>NC-2026-0019</cbc:ID>
<cbc:IssueDate>2026-10-12</cbc:IssueDate>
<cbc:CreditNoteTypeCode>381</cbc:CreditNoteTypeCode>

5. Before sending a credit note to a customer for the first time, look the customer up on lookup.peppol.org and confirm the credit-note document type is listed.

Developers can fetch the exchanged XML through the public API at GET /api/v1/peppol/documents/{id}/xml. Setting up sending and reception step by step is covered in Set up Peppol in OrdoGrid.

Worked example: a credit note to a customer registered for both types

Atelier Nord SRL, a joinery workshop in Namur (enterprise number 0123.456.749), sent invoice F-2026-0231 on Peppol on 15 September 2026 to Studio Berg BV in Ghent (0456.789.034), under purchase order PO-2026-342: four oak shelving units at €1,250.00, so €5,000.00 net, €1,050.00 VAT at 21% and €6,050.00 in total, due on 15 October 2026. On 9 October the parties agree a 10% price reduction for a finish defect.

1. Check the customer. On 12 October Julie Lambert, the office manager, looks up 0208:0456789034 on lookup.peppol.org. The result lists both the Invoice-2::Invoice and the CreditNote-2::CreditNote document types with poacc:billing:3.0.
2. Create the credit note. In Factures (Invoices), she ticks F-2026-0231 and clicks Note de crédit. She changes the copied line to "Price reduction, finish defect", quantity 4 at €125.00, checks that Facture d'origine (original invoice) shows F-2026-0231, and adds the reason in Notes.
3. Send it. She clicks Envoyer, keeps Envoi électronique via Peppol ticked and clicks Sauvegarder & Envoyer (Save & Send).
4. Confirm delivery. In Peppol → Outbox, she clicks Vérifier on the row: Traité means the network delivered it, not that Studio Berg accepted it.

If F-2026-0231 is still unpaid, its Settlement panel now shows Outstanding €5,445.00 (€6,050.00 − €605.00).

Variant: the customer is registered for invoices only. OrdoGrid's send check still finds Studio Berg, but the credit note cannot be delivered, so its Outbox row does not reach Traité. Do not create a second credit note. Ask Studio Berg to have its provider publish the credit-note document type, and repeat the lookup until it appears. Then contact OrdoGrid support with the status shown (Erreur or Pas sur Peppol) before clicking Envoyer à Peppol again: OrdoGrid resends the archived credit note only if the access point refused it at submission, not after it accepted it. If the customer cannot technically receive the credit note on Peppol, the fallback rule (art. 53 §2bis, sixth paragraph, VAT Code) lets you issue it on paper or as a PDF instead; it is valid, and the customer remains in breach of its own duty to receive (FPS Finance B2B FAQ, question 8). Keep the dated lookup result, and do not later send the same credit note on Peppol as well.

Edge cases and common mistakes

Evidence to keep

• The exact XML sent and received. In OrdoGrid, the XML download on an Outbox row for a document you sent, or on an Inbox row for one you received; for several documents, select the rows and download a ZIP, which holds xml/ and pdf/ folders. Keeping the original XML is strongly recommended: the structured file is the invoice.
• Dated lookup results. A screenshot or print of lookup.peppol.org for your own 0208: ID showing both document types, after every change of provider, and for a customer whose credit note could not be delivered.
• The Statut tab. A screenshot of Réception (Inbox) with the date.
• Your software's release. The release your software validates against, for example in its documentation or a written statement from the vendor.
• Correspondence with a customer or its provider about a missing document type.

Invoices must be kept for 7 years from 1 January of the year after issue (art. 60 VAT Code, as amended by the Law of 18 December 2025), and for 15 or 25 years when they are linked to the revision of VAT deductions on immovable property. The law does not impose the original format, but FPS Finance strongly recommends keeping the original XML. OrdoGrid is not a legal archive: store these files with your accounting records.

FAQ

What is Peppol BIS Billing 3.0?

OpenPeppol's specification for invoices and credit notes on the Peppol network. It restricts the European standard EN 16931, uses the UBL 2.1 syntax and adds Peppol rules and code lists. Belgian law makes it the default format for structured B2B invoices since 1 January 2026.

Is Peppol BIS the same as EN 16931 or UBL?

No. EN 16931 defines the data, UBL the XML syntax, and Peppol BIS Billing the rules for using both on Peppol. A valid BIS Billing invoice is also a valid EN 16931 invoice in UBL.

Which version of Peppol BIS Billing is current?

As of October 2026, release 3.0.21, published on 20 May 2026 and mandatory since 17 August 2026. New releases normally appear in May and November and become mandatory about three months later.

Do I need to do anything when a new release comes out?

Usually not: your software or provider applies the new rules, and the CustomizationID stays the same. Ask your vendor which release it validates against; OrdoGrid currently validates against 3.0.21.

Does being registered for invoices cover credit notes?

No. They are separate document types and each must be registered. Peppol BIS expects receivers to handle both, so a registration without credit notes should be fixed. OrdoGrid registers both when you activate reception.

Why is my credit note not delivered when invoices to the same customer are?

Check the customer on lookup.peppol.org: if it lists the invoice type but not the credit-note type, ask it to contact its provider. OrdoGrid validates the content before sending, so a content error is reported before the document leaves. If both types are listed, contact OrdoGrid support with the row's status.

Is there a Belgian version of Peppol BIS Billing?

No. Belgium has no national rules in the BIS. The only Belgium-specific check is the format of the enterprise number under scheme 0208.

Can I send self-billed invoices with BIS Billing?

No. Self-billing uses the separate Peppol BIS Self-Billing 3.0 specification. OrdoGrid does not issue self-billed documents, but reception through OrdoGrid registers the self-billing document types.