0208 or 9925? How to check the Peppol registration of all your clients at once
Since 1 January 2026, Belgian VAT-registered businesses send each other e-invoices through Peppol1. For an accounting firm that means one question per client: do the purchase invoices really arrive? The answer is in the public Peppol register, but not always where you look first.
Two numbers: 0208 and 9925
A Belgian company can be on Peppol under two identifiers2:
- 0208 with the enterprise number (CBE), for example
0208:0123456789. This is the main identifier. - 9925 with the VAT number, for example
9925:BE0123456789. An older identifier that is still in use.
A client can be under one number or both, and each number can sit with a different Peppol provider. The sender's software picks which number it sends to. If a supplier sends to 0208 while your client is only under 9925, the invoice does not arrive2.
Why the Peppol Directory is not enough
The Peppol Directory3 is a search register that participants join voluntarily. According to Peppol Box, 90 to 95% of participants are listed there, so 5 to 10% are missing2. A client you cannot find there may still be on Peppol.
What is reliable is what a Peppol provider itself looks up before every send: the SML, the central address book, and then the SMP of the provider where the number sits. The SMP also says which documents the number receives, such as invoices and credit notes.
What you want to know per client
| What the register shows | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not on Peppol | The client cannot receive e-invoices. Suppliers then send a PDF, or nothing. |
| Only under 9925 (VAT number) | A sender who sends to 0208 does not reach the client. The invoice gets lost. |
| 0208 and 9925 with two different providers | Some invoices arrive on a platform nobody looks at. |
| Invoices yes, credit notes no | Credit notes do not arrive. Then the VAT return no longer adds up. |
| Under 0208, one provider, invoices and credit notes | All set. |
How to check all clients at once
- Export your client list as CSV from your accounting or practice software, with each client's name and enterprise or VAT number.
- Look up each number under 0208 and under 9925 in the SML, and on a hit read the SMP: which provider, which documents.
- Compare the two results. One provider for both numbers and both invoices and credit notes: all set. Anything else: ask the client or the provider.
- Repeat it. A registration changes when a client switches software or provider. One check says nothing about next month.
For ten clients you do this by hand. For a hundred clients, every week, no longer. That is what Peppol-check is for: you upload the CSV once, and the firm gets a check under 0208 and 9925 every night and on Monday a list of only the clients that need attention. Does your practice software already show a daily Peppol status per client under both numbers? Then you may not need this.
Sources
- FPS BOSA, efactuur.belgium.be (in Dutch): mandatory e-invoicing between businesses since 1 January 2026, read on 27 October 2026.
- Peppol Box, "Peppol Belgium problems 2026": 0208 and 9925, and the coverage of the Peppol Directory, read on 27 October 2026.
- Peppol Directory, the public search register, read on 27 October 2026.