Self-billing is an important topic in the financial and administrative world. In this process, the customer takes on the role of the issuer: the buyer creates the invoice themselves and sends it to the supplier. The supplier no longer needs to issue an invoice but instead receives one from the buyer. This makes the process simpler, faster, and better aligned with digital business operations.

Self-billing in Belgium via Peppol

In Belgium, self-billing via Peppol is fully possible and legally permitted for VAT-registered businesses. With mandatory B2B e-invoicing through the Peppol network, self-billing has developed into a clear, secure, and fully standardized process that helps companies significantly simplify and accelerate their administration.

Benefits of self-billing

• Simplified processes:Self-billing automates invoice creation based on contracts or purchase orders, reducing the risk of manual errors.
• Legal compliance: Peppol ensures that invoices comply with European standards such as EN 16931, allowing organizations to remain automatically compliant.
• Efficiency: Invoices are created, sent, approved, and processed faster, significantly reducing payment cycle times.
• Cost savings: Reduced administrative burdens, paper usage, and manual checks lower operational costs. Additionally, self-billing provides a complete audit trail and transparency.

Who can benefit from self-billing?

Peppol self-billing specifications are suitable for a wide range of business models and sectors, from large enterprises to government agencies. It enables them to organize their processes efficiently and digitally. Examples include:

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• Government agencies: Central procurement services or educational consortia standardizing their purchasing processes by managing framework agreements through self-billing.
• Large enterprises: A milk and dairy processor that automatically invoices large volumes of transactions to dairy farmers.
• SMEs: An IT consultancy that receives self-bills from a larger company for multiple assignments.

Self-billing helps organizations organize their processes digitally, efficiently, and streamlined.

Secure and standardized transactions with Peppol

Peppol makes it easy for different systems to communicate with each other, ensuring that international transactions run smoothly. The network operates with controlled access points and strict security measures, ensuring that data remains secure and confidential at all times. Thanks to the standardized Peppol format, self-billing invoices can be correctly received and processed by every participant, regardless of the country or software used.

Self-billing in Billtobox

Billtobox fully supports self-billing via Peppol: you can easily create, send, and receive self-bills, with features that make the process reliable and user-friendly.

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Supported delivery channels

Within Billtobox, self-billing invoices can be sent via email, through the platform, or via OpenPeppol.

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Automatic Numbering

Automatic numbering and series for self-billing invoices and credit notes can be set up via inbound settings.

Example: a series SELF_INV starting at SELF_INV-001.

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Receiving via Peppol:

To receive self-billing documents via Peppol, the relevant document types must be activated in:

Settings > Peppol registration information > Supported Document Types.

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More information about self-billing in Billtobox

Conclusion

Self-billing via Peppol provides organizations of all sizes with a secure, standardized, and efficient way to manage invoices digitally. From large enterprises to SMEs and government agencies, everyone can benefit from faster processes, lower administrative burdens, and full legal compliance. With solutions like Billtobox, self-billing is easy to implement in practice, allowing invoices to be quickly created, sent, and received, fully supported via Peppol. E-invoicing thus becomes not only compliant and reliable but also user-friendly and future-proof.