Belgium Peppol E-Invoicing

Key Features

Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 UBL generation extending the standard Business Central PEPPOL codeunits, so existing document layouts and posting routines stay intact

`Customer` table extension for Peppol participant identifier and endpoint scheme, defaulting to the `0208` Belgian enterprise-number scheme with validation at entry

SMP/SML participant lookup codeunit with result caching — an unregistered or mistyped recipient is caught before posting, not at transmission

`VAT Posting Setup` extension mapping Belgian VAT combinations to UNCL5305 tax categories (`S`, `AE`, `K`, `E`, `Z`) with exemption reason code and text

Reverse-charge and intra-community supply handled as first-class cases, including the required narrative text on the UBL rather than a generic note

Event subscriber on `OnAfterPostSalesDoc` enqueues the posted invoice or credit memo without modifying any base application object

Job queue entry driving asynchronous transmission, with configurable batch size, retry policy and exponential backoff on access-point timeouts

Access-point connector abstracted behind an AL interface — REST or AS4 endpoints, credentials held in isolated storage, never in a visible setup field

`Peppol Transmission Log` table and list page recording transmission ID, submitted-at, acknowledgement and the exact UBL payload sent

Rejection queue mapping schematron and business-level failures to plain-language causes with a prescribed correction path

Correction workflow that creates a new document referencing the original rather than mutating a transmitted invoice, preserving the audit chain

Immutable archive of the transmitted UBL plus acknowledgement, retention-configurable and exportable for audit in a single action

API pages published under a dedicated API group over OData v4 / REST API v2.0 for Power Automate, Power Apps and Dataverse consumption

Dedicated permission sets separating AP-clerk resubmission rights from administrator access-point configuration rights

Telemetry emitted to Application Insights for transmission success rate, latency and rejection-reason distribution

Built for current Business Central release waves, delivered as a per-tenant extension for SaaS with an on-premises build available on request

Built to order, done for you

No DIY setup — a working app, built, installed and supported by ECOSIRE.

You order

Start with a one-time build price. We scope it with you at kickoff.

We build & install

ECOSIRE builds, configures and installs it on your Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Go live + support

You go live in about 2–4 weeks, with a post-launch support window.

About this Product

Belgian finance teams face a structural change, not a formatting change. Structured electronic invoicing between Belgian VAT-registered businesses means an invoice is no longer a PDF you email — it is a UBL document that must be addressed to a registered Peppol participant, validated against the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 rules, transmitted through a certified access point, and provable years later. Dynamics 365 Business Central ships genuine electronic-document plumbing — the E-Document framework, the Service Participant and electronic-document service setup, PEPPOL export codeunits and the standard PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 format — but it stops short of a Belgian production process. There is no participant lookup against the Peppol directory before you post, no Belgian VAT-category mapping that survives reverse charge and intra-community supply, no queue that tells an AP clerk which invoices were rejected by the receiver's access point and what to do about them, and no archive whose retention story a Belgian auditor will accept without a spreadsheet.

We build a Business Central AL extension that closes that gap end to end. On the posting side, table extensions on Customer carry the Peppol participant identifier (typically the 0208 Belgian enterprise-number scheme) and the endpoint scheme code, with a lookup codeunit that resolves and caches the participant against the SML/SMP so a bad identifier is caught at order entry rather than at transmission. A VAT Posting Setup extension maps each Belgian VAT combination to its UNCL5305 tax category and, where required, the exemption reason code and text — so posting a Sales Invoice Header produces a UBL that carries S, AE, K or E correctly rather than a hardcoded standard rate. Event subscribers on OnAfterPostSalesDoc enqueue the posted document; a job queue entry drives the transmission codeunit, which serialises the UBL via the extended PEPPOL mapping, submits it to your access point over its REST or AS4 interface, and records the transmission ID, timestamp and receiver acknowledgement on a new Peppol Transmission Log table. The same posting produces the human-readable PDF from your existing report layout, so the customer-facing document and the machine document never drift apart.

Rejections are treated as a first-class workflow, because in practice that is where the effort goes. A message-level rejection (schematron failure, unknown participant, unroutable document type) or a business-level rejection returned by the receiver lands on a Peppol Rejections list page with the raw reason, the mapped plain-language cause, and a prescribed action: fix and resubmit, or issue a credit memo and reissue. The extension refuses to silently overwrite a transmitted document — a corrected invoice is a new document with a documented relationship to the original, which is what keeps the audit trail defensible. Archiving stores the exact transmitted UBL byte-for-byte alongside the acknowledgement, so what you can produce in year seven is what actually left your tenant, not a regenerated approximation.

Everything is exposed for the systems around Business Central. API pages published under a dedicated API group expose the transmission log and rejection queue over OData v4 / REST API v2.0, so a Power Automate flow, a Dataverse-connected Power App or your finance data warehouse can read status without touching the AL layer. Permission sets separate the AP clerk who resubmits from the administrator who configures access-point credentials, and those credentials live in isolated storage rather than in a visible setup field. The extension targets current Business Central release waves and is built as a per-tenant extension for SaaS by default; an on-premises build is available where your deployment requires it.

This is build-to-order, and we are explicit about what that means. There is no instant download and this is not an existing AppSource listing. You request a quotation, we run a scoping call to establish your Business Central version and deployment type, your access-point provider, your Belgian VAT scenarios and the shape of your existing sales documents, and then we build the extension against that scope. Typical delivery is 2-4 weeks from confirmed scope. You receive the installable app plus the full AL source for your version, installation and configuration on your environment, UAT on a sandbox with a documented rollback plan, technical and end-user documentation, a training session for your finance team, and a post-go-live support window. Choice of access point stays yours — we integrate with the provider you have contracted, we do not resell one.

What you get

Installable Business Central extension (.app) built for your specific Business Central version and deployment type (SaaS per-tenant or on-premises)

Complete AL source code for your version, with the git repository handed over to your ownership

Installation and configuration on your environment, including access-point credential setup, VAT category mapping and job queue configuration

Technical documentation: object ID ranges, table and page extensions, event subscribers, API endpoints, permission sets and the access-point integration contract

End-user guide for the AR and AP team covering posting, monitoring the transmission log and working the rejection queue

Live training session for your finance team, recorded and handed over alongside the documentation

UAT on a sandbox environment against your real Belgian VAT scenarios, with a written rollback plan before production install

Post-go-live support window for defect fixes and configuration questions, with scope and duration stated in your quotation

Who this is for

Finance Manager at a Belgian mid-market company

Accountable for compliance with the Belgian structured B2B invoicing mandate and unwilling to run a parallel portal beside Business Central. Needs invoices to leave the ERP already compliant, and needs one page that shows which ones did not arrive.

Accounts Receivable Clerk

Posts and chases invoices daily. Needs a rejection to arrive as a clear instruction — fix this field and resubmit, or credit and reissue — rather than as a raw XML validation error. Should not have access to access-point credentials, and under this design does not.

Business Central Partner or internal IT lead

Owns the tenant and the upgrade path. Needs an extension that subscribes to events instead of modifying base objects, that survives release-wave upgrades, and whose AL source they can read, extend and support after handover.

Group Controller or audit liaison

Must produce, years later, evidence of what was transmitted and when. Needs the archived UBL and the receiver acknowledgement to be the exact artefacts sent, retrievable without a developer and without reconstructing them from posted entries.

How Belgium Peppol E-Invoicing Compares

Criterion	ECOSIRE	Custom Build	Competitor	Dynamics 365 Business Central Native
Belgian VAT category mapping	UNCL5305 categories mapped per VAT posting setup, including reverse charge, intra-community supply and exemption reason text	Achievable, but the mapping table and every exemption case is yours to research and build	Usually generic EU mapping; Belgian exemption narratives often need manual override	Standard PEPPOL export applies a basic category; Belgian-specific cases need an extension
Recipient participant validation	SMP/SML lookup with caching, validated at customer setup and again before posting	A lookup client must be written and cached, or clerks type identifiers unchecked	Commonly validated only at transmission, so the failure surfaces after posting	Service Participant is a stored field; no directory lookup is performed
Rejection handling	Dedicated queue mapping schematron and business rejections to a plain-language cause and a prescribed correction path	Whatever workflow you have time to build; frequently ends up as an email inbox	Status field plus raw error text; interpretation left to the clerk	Error surfaces on the electronic-document record with no correction workflow
Correction and credit workflow	Corrections create a new linked document; transmitted invoices are never mutated	Depends entirely on the discipline coded into it	Often permits resend of an edited document, weakening the audit chain	Standard credit memo process, unaware of Peppol transmission state
Archive and audit evidence	Byte-exact transmitted UBL plus receiver acknowledgement, retention-configurable, exportable in one action	Storage is straightforward; proving the archive matches what was sent is the hard part	Frequently archived in the vendor's cloud rather than in your tenant	Generated document is attached; acknowledgements are not retained systematically
Access point choice	Connector built against the provider you have contracted; no reselling, no lock-in	Free choice, but you build and maintain the connector yourself	Typically bundled with the vendor's own access point and its pricing	Connector configuration is required; the integration work is yours
Source code and ownership	Full AL source and git repository handed over; you can extend or support it independently	You own it entirely, and you own every future fix	Closed AppSource app; changes depend on the vendor's roadmap	Base application source is read-only; customisation requires an extension anyway
Cost and timeline shape	Fixed scoped build, typically 2-4 weeks from confirmed scope, plus an agreed support window	Open-ended internal effort competing with your other Business Central work	Fast to install, then a recurring per-company or per-document subscription indefinitely	No licence cost; the configuration and gap-closing effort is unpriced but real

Frequently Asked Questions about Belgium Peppol E-Invoicing

How long does delivery take?

This is a build-to-order extension, not an existing AppSource download. Typical delivery is 2-4 weeks from confirmed scope. The clock starts once the scoping call has established your Business Central version and deployment type, your access-point provider, your Belgian VAT scenarios, and any customisation already present on your sales documents. Complex multi-entity or heavily customised environments can extend that, and we tell you before you commit rather than after.

What support and updates do I get after go-live?

Your quotation states a post-go-live support window covering defect fixes and configuration questions. Because you receive the full AL source and the git repository, your own team or partner can maintain the extension indefinitely. Beyond the included window, ongoing maintenance — recompilation and regression testing against new Business Central release waves, and updates to Peppol BIS specification versions or Belgian mandate rules — is available as a separately scoped support agreement.

Do I need a Peppol access point, and do you supply one?

Yes, you need a certified Peppol access point — that is how documents actually move on the network — and no, we do not resell one. You keep the commercial relationship with your provider. The extension's connector layer is built against the provider you have contracted, using their REST or AS4 interface. If you have not chosen one yet, we will discuss options on the scoping call and build against your decision.

Does this replace the standard Business Central e-document functionality?

No — it builds on it. We extend the standard PEPPOL mapping and electronic-document plumbing rather than reimplementing it, so your existing document flows, posting routines and report layouts continue to work. What we add is the Belgian layer the base product leaves to you: participant lookup and validation, Belgian VAT category and exemption mapping, asynchronous transmission with retries, a worked rejection and correction process, and a defensible archive.

Will it survive Business Central upgrades?

It is written as a proper AL extension — table and page extensions, codeunits and event subscribers, with no modification to base application objects — which is the design that upgrades cleanly. We build against your current release wave and test on a sandbox before production install. Microsoft does occasionally change or deprecate events between waves, so we recommend a support arrangement that includes recompilation and regression testing at each major wave.

Can other systems read the transmission status?

Yes. The transmission log and rejection queue are exposed as API pages under a dedicated API group over OData v4 / REST API v2.0, making them consumable by Power Automate flows, Power Apps, Dataverse-connected applications or your reporting warehouse — for example a flow that notifies the AR team in Teams when an invoice is rejected. No AL knowledge is needed to consume them.

Do you handle inbound Peppol documents as well as outbound?

The scope described here is outbound sales invoices and credit memos, which is what the Belgian B2B mandate makes urgent. Inbound receipt of purchase invoices over Peppol, with matching against purchase orders, is a natural extension and is regularly quoted alongside. Raise it on the scoping call and we will scope and price it explicitly rather than assume it.