How to find and enter the correct Peppol ID for a customer

Before you can send a customer an e-invoice over Peppol, the Peppol ID of the customer in Invoice Office has to be right: the number they are registered under, with the matching scheme. This guide shows how to find your customer’s Peppol ID, enter it on the customer and check it, so the invoice is delivered the first time — and what to do if you get a message that the Peppol identification is wrong (Peppol identificatie klopt niet). Why every customer needs their own ID is explained in set the Peppol identification number per customer.

Before you start

• Peppol is switched on for your company. Under Settings → Company → Integration connectors, the Peppol connector is Active with Activate outgoing invoices on — see set up Peppol e-invoicing. Until then, the Peppol identifier field does not appear on your customers.
• The customer is a company. Only company customers have a Peppol identifier field; a customer saved as a person cannot receive invoices over Peppol.

What a Peppol ID is made of

A Peppol ID, also called the endpoint ID or participant ID, has two parts:

• a scheme — a four-digit code for the kind of number, such as 0208 for a Belgian enterprise number (KBO/BCE) or 0106 for a Dutch KvK number;
• the identifier — the number itself.

Together they are written as scheme:number, for example 0208:0123456789. The same company can be reachable under one scheme and not under another, so both parts have to match what your customer registered.

In Invoice Office you choose the scheme by its name. The number is taken from the customer’s CoC Number or VAT number:

For a Belgian enterprise number, the last two digits are check digits, so a number with a typo is rejected when you send, even when it has the right length.

Step 1 — Find your customer’s Peppol number (endpoint ID)

1. Ask your customer. Their accounting software or Peppol provider shows the exact ID they are registered under — scheme and number. This is the most reliable source.
2. Search the Peppol Directory. At directory.peppol.eu you can search by company name or number. Each result shows the participant ID as scheme:number, which tells you which identifier type to choose. Not every registered company is listed there, and new registrations can take a while to appear.
3. Check the number in the national register. For a Belgian company, look the enterprise number up in the KBO Public Search. For a Dutch company, use the KvK register.

Step 2 — Enter the Peppol ID on the customer

1. Go to Accounts → Customers and open the customer. Their Customer Information page opens on the Details tab.
2. In Account details, enter the customer’s CoC Number and VAT number without spaces, dots or dashes: 0123456789, not 0123.456.789.
3. Under Peppol identifier, choose the identifier type that matches the scheme your customer is registered under. The number next to it is filled in from the CoC Number or VAT number; it cannot be typed into directly.

Step 3 — Check the ID and save

1. Click the magnifying glass next to the number. Invoice Office checks the ID on the Peppol network. If it is found, the company name appears under the field, after Peppol id belongs to:
2. Make sure that name is your customer.
3. Click Save.

Step 4 — Send the invoice over Peppol

Create the invoice as usual and choose Send to Peppol in the Finalize menu — see set up Peppol e-invoicing for sending and following up on delivery. Invoice Office uses the Peppol ID saved on the customer at the moment you send.

Common mistakes

• The wrong scheme. The customer is registered with their enterprise number (0208), but you chose Belgium VAT number (9925) — or the other way round. The number is right, the scheme is not, and the ID is not found. Check the scheme in the Peppol Directory and choose the matching type.
• The VAT number where the enterprise number belongs. Belgium BCE/KvK number takes 10 digits from the CoC Number. If that field holds BE0123456789, the BE makes it invalid. Put the plain 10-digit number in CoC Number and the number with BE in VAT number.
• A missing leading zero. A Belgian enterprise number has 10 digits. 123456789 is not the same as 0123456789.
• Spaces, dots and dashes. Numbers are often written as 0123.456.789 or BE 0123 456 789. The check with the magnifying glass rejects a Belgian VAT number written that way. Enter the number without any of them.
• A lowercase country code. A VAT number must start with a capital BE, NL, FR or LU. The magnifying glass accepts a lowercase code, but sending the invoice fails.
• The wrong Dutch number. A KvK number has 8 digits. A government body is addressed with its 20-digit OIN, under Netherlands Organization Identification Number of a Dutch government.

If you get a Peppol identification error

Invoice Office has no message that literally reads Peppol identificatie klopt niet. Depending on where the problem is found, you see one of these — shown here in English and, if you work in Dutch, in Dutch:

An invoice that could not be delivered is still finalised, and shows the status Peppol not processed — see what “Peppol not processed” means.

You do not need a new invoice. Correct the customer as in steps 2 and 3, then open the invoice and choose Send to Peppol from its Action menu — the corrected ID on the customer is used. You can also see and refresh the ID on a finalised invoice — see update Peppol customer information on a finalised invoice.

For any other information, contact us.

Related

• Set up Peppol e-invoicing
• Set the Peppol identification number per customer
• Update Peppol customer information on a finalised invoice
• Create an invoice