Check a Belgian customer on Peppol before you send
Verify the recipient in your invoicing tool or the Peppol Directory so your invoice can be delivered.
Updated
- Belgium
Why look up before you send
Before you send a structured Peppol invoice, confirm the buyer is findable and able to receive invoices. If they are not, the send fails and the invoice never reaches their systems.
Treat this like checking an IBAN: do it on the first invoice to that customer, after a company change, and whenever a send fails with "participant not found" or similar.
How to verify (in practice)
- Copy the enterprise number from a reliable source (contract, KBO extract, prior invoice).
- Use ten digits with leading zeros; remove dots and spaces.
- In your invoicing software, use verify recipient or check Peppol (best: the same path as a real send).
- Or search the Peppol Directory with scheme 0208 and that number.
- Confirm they can receive invoices (not only other document types, if your tool shows that detail).
- Only then send.
Success means the network can deliver an invoice to that company. It does not mean they accepted your prices, or that every line will book automatically.
- Participant lookup
A check in your tool or the Peppol Directory that shows whether a company is findable and can receive invoices on Peppol.
What success and failure look like
| Result | Likely meaning | First move |
|---|---|---|
| Found, can receive invoices | Ready to send | Send the structured invoice |
| Not found | Wrong number, or not registered yet | Re-check digits; ask if Peppol receive is live |
| Found, but cannot receive invoices | Incomplete setup | Ask them to enable invoice receive with their provider |
| Worked yesterday, fails today | Provider switch in progress | Wait briefly, then contact their accountant or software |
| Name looks right, number fails | Branch number or VAT string used by mistake | Align on the registered enterprise number |
Wrong number is the most common miss: missing a leading zero, using a VAT-only string, or invoicing a subsidiary while the parent is registered.
If the customer is not found
- Double-check the enterprise number with them (ten digits, scheme 0208) and look up again.
- Ask whether registration is complete and whether they can receive invoices. Point them to Peppol registration in Belgium if they are still onboarding.
- If they registered minutes ago, wait a bit and look up again.
- Note the date, identifier, and result for your file under the 2026 B2B rules.
- Only then consider a controlled fallback: Sending when the client is not on Peppol.
You cannot register your customers for them. They must become findable through their own software or provider.
Where this sits in the journey
- What is Peppol?
- Peppol Access Point
- Registration in Belgium
- Participant lookup (this article)
- First Peppol invoice
Make lookup a standard step when you onboard a B2B customer, next to VAT checks. Most first-send failures in Belgium are a wrong number or a customer who is not receive-ready yet.