Receive, check and answer supplier Peppol invoices in OrdoGrid

This guide is for Belgian businesses that buy from other Belgian businesses, and for whoever handles their purchase invoices or books them. It shows how supplier invoices reach OrdoGrid over Peppol, what to check before paying, how to answer a supplier and what to keep.

It does not cover sending your own invoices or reading the responses your clients send about them (Peppol Invoice Responses). For working a busy Inbox (credit notes, negative invoices, duplicates, month-end), see Peppol Inbox triage. The Peppol pages are in French in every interface language: labels are quoted as on screen, with a translation in brackets.

Do you have to receive structured invoices?

What the law requires. Since 1 January 2026, a taxable person established in Belgium and identified there for VAT must be able to receive, itself or through a provider, a structured electronic invoice in the format its supplier issued (art. 53 §2bis VAT Code, introduced by the Law of 6 February 2024 and amended by the Law of 10 February 2026). The default format is Peppol BIS over the Peppol network, and every business in scope must have the technical means to issue and receive it (arts. 13ter and 13quater Royal Decree no. 1). For those purchases the structured invoice is the only legal invoice: a PDF copy is optional, and you cannot refuse an invoice because no PDF is attached (FPS Finance, the federal tax administration: B2B FAQ).

A business that lacks the means to issue and receive faces a fine of €1,500, then €3,000 for a second infringement and €5,000 for each further one; an infringement only counts as a repeat if it is established at least three months after the previous fined one (Royal Decree no. 44, as amended by the Royal Decree of 8 July 2025). The FPS Finance tolerance period for the first quarter of 2026 (no fine if you could show timely, reasonable steps) ended on 31 March 2026.

Franchise and exempt businesses: see franchise and VAT-exempt businesses on Peppol.

Set up reception before suppliers send you invoices

In OrdoGrid, reception is optional: sending works without it. The law only requires that you can receive somewhere, so choose one of these set-ups:

To receive in OrdoGrid (details in set up Peppol in OrdoGrid):

1. Sign the Autorisation Peppol for your VAT number, if not done yet.
2. Open Peppol. If the banner reads Mode : Envoi seul, click Activer la réception (activate reception). The Réception Peppol page then shows one of four network states, sometimes with a conflict box:
   • Pas encore trouvé sur le réseau Peppol (not yet found on Peppol): activating registers your company.
   • Déjà présent sur Peppol via notre access point (already on Peppol through the access point OrdoGrid uses): activating attaches incoming documents to this company.
   • Déjà inscrit sur le réseau Peppol (already registered): another provider receives for you. The page shows your Peppol ID and that provider's access point, and Activer la réception stays disabled: OrdoGrid cannot take over until that provider deregisters you, so plan the switch to avoid days when suppliers cannot deliver.
   • Référencé sur Peppol, access point non vérifié (listed on Peppol, access point not verified): activating tries to register you through OrdoGrid's access point. OrdoGrid refuses if another provider already holds your Peppol ID; that provider must release it first.
   • Conflict box Réception déjà liée sur la plateforme (reception already linked): another OrdoGrid company already receives for this VAT number. If you belong to it, Ouvrir … (open) takes you there. An owner or administrator of that company must click Libérer la réception (release reception) under Peppol → Statut; then come back and activate reception here.
3. In Peppol → Statut, check that Réception (Inbox) reads Enregistré (registered). Under Annuaire Peppol, Identifiant Peppol shows your ID: 0208: followed by your ten-digit enterprise number, for example 0208:0712345630. When shown, Access point de réception (receiving access point) should read Notre access point (our access point).
4. Tell your suppliers that you receive on Peppol and ask them to stop emailing PDFs. FPS Finance says they do not need a separate Peppol ID from you: your enterprise number is enough. Anyone can check it on lookup.peppol.org. Template: share your Peppol ID with suppliers.

Being listed on Peppol counts as agreement to receive structured invoices (FPS B2B FAQ Q9). OrdoGrid registers you only under 0208: plus your enterprise number, so give that ID to any foreign supplier that wants to use Peppol. Répondre addresses responses to the supplier's Belgian enterprise number, so answer foreign suppliers by email.

Your routine for each received document

1. Notice it. Owners and administrators receive an email titled [Peppol] 1 new document received, in their own language. The Inbox tab shows the number of unread documents and unread rows carry NOUVEAU (new). OrdoGrid fetches new documents automatically every hour; Actualiser (refresh) fetches them immediately.
2. Open it. Click the row. The panel opens on the supplier's PDF or other attachment, if any. Click Informations to see the structured data: Fournisseur (supplier), Client, Numéro, Date, Date d'échéance (due date), Devise (currency), the lines and the totals. That data is the invoice; the PDF is a copy. The paperclip button lists any other attachments.
3. Check it against the table below.
4. Decide: pay, ask a question or reject (next section).
5. Keep it visible until it is handled. Opening a document marks it read. Click the envelope icon (Marquer comme non lu, mark as unread) so it stays marked NOUVEAU until you have dealt with it: OrdoGrid has no approval or booking status for purchase invoices.

What to check before you pay

A full Belgian invoice must also carry the particulars required by art. 5 §1 Royal Decree no. 1, including: number and date; both parties' names, addresses and VAT numbers; the date of supply if it differs from the invoice date; a description; per rate, the taxable amount and the unit price excluding VAT; the VAT rates and the total VAT, or a statement such as "Autoliquidation" (reverse charge) instead of them when you owe the VAT. Due date, IBAN and order number are useful but are not mandatory VAT particulars.

Answer the supplier with an Invoice Response

Invoice Response

A Peppol message from buyer to supplier giving a business decision on one invoice or credit note, with a status code and, where needed, a reason code. It is separate from network delivery and from payment.

What the rules say. In standard Peppol BIS Billing, the profile OrdoGrid registers you for, a buyer is not obliged to send an Invoice Response and a supplier is not obliged to process one (Peppol BIS Invoice Response 3.2). FPS Finance does ask you to reject an invoice that was not intended for you, for example with code RE, and not to book it or deduct its VAT (specific FAQ Q28).

To send one:

1. Click Répondre (reply) on the Inbox row or in the open document. The view Répondre à la facture opens.
2. Choose the Code de réponse (response code). Acceptée (AP) is preselected and marked Recommandé (recommended): change it if you have not finished checking.
3. For RE, CA and UQ, choose a Code de raison (reason code), such as Prix incorrects (PRI), Quantité incorrecte (QTY), Références incorrectes (REF) or Non reconnu (UNR), and write the Raison ou note (reason or note): both are required. For the other codes (AP, PD, AB), OrdoGrid sends only the code: a note you type stays in your own history and does not reach the supplier, so email anything the supplier must read. The codes follow the Peppol status reason list.
4. Click Envoyer la réponse (send the response). The response then appears in the open document under Réponses envoyées (responses sent), with its code.

Write the note so the supplier can act without calling you: what is wrong, what you expect and your own reference. OrdoGrid never answers on its own.

Pay the invoice and match the payment

For an invoice with an amount due, Informations shows a Paiement (payment) block: Bénéficiaire (payee), IBAN, Montant (amount payable after any advance payments), Communication, and a QR Code SEPA to scan with your banking app. The communication is the payment reference the supplier put in the invoice, otherwise the invoice number: compare it with the supplier's PDF. If the block says "Les informations bancaires du fournisseur ne sont pas disponibles" (supplier's bank details not available), use the details on the supplier's PDF. When the invoice itself carries no bank account, OrdoGrid may show the IBAN of an OrdoGrid company with the same VAT number, so always compare the IBAN with the supplier's PDF before paying.

OrdoGrid does not pay suppliers and does not mark purchase invoices as paid: it has no purchase ledger, no approval workflow and no booking of received invoices. If your plan includes Accounting, import your bank statement, open the payment in Accounting → Transactions and accept the received Peppol document offered under Correspondances automatiques (automatic matches). Accounting in OrdoGrid tracks bank movements only; it does not replace your accountant's books.

Worked example: a wrong price and someone else's van

Atelier Lumen SRL, a web studio in Namur (enterprise number 0712.345.630, Peppol ID 0208:0712345630), has reception active in OrdoGrid. Its quote D-2026-118 from Imprimerie Dewaele SRL in Tournai priced 800 brochures at €0.70 each.

On 10 September, Garage Peeters BV in Hasselt sends invoice 2026/1187 for repairing a delivery van: €1,250.00 + €262.50 VAT = €1,512.50. Atelier Lumen owns no vehicle. It sends Rejetée (RE) with Non reconnu (UNR) and the note "We did not order this repair and own no vehicle; please check your customer record and credit this invoice." It does not book, deduct or pay it, and files the invoice, its response and the garage's later credit note together for its accountant.

Atelier Lumen paid €677.60, exactly what it agreed. Its accountant receives the September documents in the month's ZIP, with a short note on the two rejections.

Edge cases and common mistakes

Downloads and evidence to keep

What the law requires. Keep received invoices for seven years from 1 January of the year after their issue (art. 60 VAT Code, as amended by the Law of 18 December 2025); invoices linked to VAT revision on immovable property may need 15 or 25 years. Authenticity, integrity and legibility must last for the whole period. You may keep them electronically or on paper; FPS Finance approves no archiving system and strongly recommends keeping the original XML (FPS Finance).

What OrdoGrid does. Received documents stay in the Inbox with their XML, attachments and your responses, but OrdoGrid is not a legal archive and guarantees no retention period.

• PDF in a row's download menu: the supplier's attached PDF, or OrdoGrid's summary PDF when the supplier attached none.
• XML in the same menu, or in the open document: the structured invoice as received, saved as peppol- followed by the document number.
• ZIP: select rows, then click Download. The file peppol_inbox_ plus the date contains an xml/ folder with the invoices and a pdf/ folder with the suppliers' PDFs (summary PDFs are not included).

What we recommend. Each month, select that month's Inbox rows, download the ZIP and store it in your own archive with your payment proof and any emails about disputes. Your Invoice Responses are not in the ZIP: add a short note listing each response sent (document, code, date, reason). Give the same ZIP to your accountant: see accountant handover.

FAQ

Is the PDF or the XML the legal invoice?

The structured data received over Peppol, which OrdoGrid stores as XML and shows under Informations. The PDF is an optional copy. If they differ, ask the supplier to correct the invoice.

Do I have to answer every supplier invoice?

No. Invoice Responses are optional in standard Peppol BIS. FPS Finance does ask you to reject an invoice that is not meant for you, for example with RE.

Can I reject an invoice because the price is wrong?

Yes. Send RE with the reason code PRI and say what you expect; the supplier then issues a credit note and, if needed, a new invoice. If a short answer may settle it, send UQ first.

I use the small business VAT exemption. Must I receive Peppol invoices?

Yes. Franchise taxpayers must be able to receive structured invoices, and they also issue them to Belgian VAT-registered business customers.

Does OrdoGrid book my purchase invoices or track what I owe?

No. There is no purchase ledger, approval workflow or booking. Download the Inbox ZIP (XML and PDFs) for your accountant; with Accounting you can match bank payments to received documents.

Why is a supplier invoice missing from my Inbox?

Check that the banner reads Mode : Envoi + réception, that the supplier really sent it on Peppol to your enterprise number, and click Actualiser. After one working day, contact OrdoGrid support.

Can I add a PDF invoice received by email to the Inbox?

No. The Inbox only holds documents received on Peppol. Keep the PDF with your records for your accountant, and ask the supplier to use Peppol next time.