Belgium sends VAT e-reporting bill to Parliament

The bill links transaction reporting and annual-list abolition

The bill’s official title identifies two connected proposed changes: mandatory electronic reporting and abolition of the annual list of taxable customers. The federal government had approved the preliminary draft on 18 July. Its announcement described near-real-time reporting of specified mandatory invoice data by both the supplier or service provider and the counterparty. The bill remains proposed legislation and does not make future reporting an operative obligation.^[1][2]

Reporting would provide bilateral invoice data

The intended model would give the VAT administration faster and more detailed information for risk analysis, fraud detection and audit. For businesses, it would turn structured invoice data into a separate tax-reporting flow rather than merely a document exchanged with a customer. The government said taxpayers covered by the electronic reporting duty would no longer file the corresponding annual customer list.^[2]

Current customer-list rules remain the baseline

Federal Public Service Finance guidance identifies VAT Code Articles 53quinquies and 53octies, together with Royal Decree No. 23 of 9 December 2009, as the legal basis for the annual list. The list reports qualifying supplies to customers with Belgian VAT numbers and is generally submitted through Intervat. Those current requirements should remain in compliance calendars while Parliament considers the proposal.^[3]

Domestic reporting is separate from ViDA

Belgium’s federal e-invoicing portal gives 2028 as the policy timing for domestic e-reporting and says the intended national regime concerns transactions between two Belgian VAT-taxable businesses. It distinguishes that plan from the EU ViDA reporting framework for intra-EU transactions, which Belgium must implement separately by 1 July 2030. The final statutory perimeter and timetable remain subject to the legislative text and implementing rules.^[4]

Groups should prepare without implementing early

Multinational groups should identify Belgian VAT registrations, domestic business-to-business invoice flows and the systems used to issue and receive structured invoices. They should also determine whether supplier and customer data can be reconciled before information is transmitted. The next material milestones are parliamentary consideration, publication of an enacted text and implementing rules specifying the taxpayer perimeter, data fields, transmission route and reporting timetable.^[1][2][4]