Does your company work for the public authorities? The Royal Decree of 9 March 2022 sets out the modalities of the evolution towards electronic invoicing in the context of public procurement. You will therefore have to send your invoices to these customers in structured electronic format sooner or later. This article provides the information that allows you to comply with this requirement, and at the same time, like many companies already do*, benefit from the opportunity to improve your billing, while contributing to its large-scale adoption in Belgium and Europe.
Do you already have a billing tool?
Sending electronic invoices necessarily involves the use of an IT tool: invoicing software, commercial management software, or even ERP on own computer or shared service (cloud).
Is this tool adequate?
If you are equipped with a billing tool, it must be able to send a structured electronic invoice that complies with the standards that apply to public authorities.
If yes: you can send e-invoices to public entities today
As of 17 April 2019, all European contracting parties must be able to receive a structured electronic invoice in accordance with the European Standard.
Note: the Mercurius portal helps you keep control of your billing flows. Indeed, it allows you to ensure their reception (for all your institutional clients) and to follow the treatment by the customers.
You don't have the right tool yet
In this case, while waiting to be equipped, send your invoices via the Mercurius portal. In addition to tracking the routing and processing of e-invoices, the Mercurius portal also makes it possible to manually issue invoices or credit notes to the public authorities that are not yet equipped with the right software.
NB: As the number of organisations with adequate tools increases, this portal function will be less and less needed. At present, 56 % of the administration’s suppliers have already found the solution that suits them (compared to only 25 % 5 years ago), and the remaining 44 % issue only 11 % of the invoices!
We therefore strongly encourage you to acquire an e-invoicing tool, or upgrade the tool you are currently using.
Useful links:
- Mercurius Portal: not yet equipped for e-invoicing? This portal allows you to comply with the obligation, and the time to find the IT solution that suits you.
- See the list of tools for e-invoicing to public authorities (this page is available in French and Dutch):
- French: Consultez la liste d’outils permettant l’e-facturation aux pouvoirs publics.
- Dutch: Raadpleeg de lijst van instrumenten voor e-facturering aan overheidsinstanties.
* IMPORTANT: The first column contains the supplier’s business number. This number starts with a ‘0’. In order for this “0” to be clearly visible when using this file, make sure that your tool (spreadsheet) considers the first column as text and not as a number.
