Is Your Stable Ready for Mandatory e-Invoicing?
Europe’s new e-invoicing regulation is about to transform how stables handle their financial administration. Whether you’re managing a performance yard, a boarding stable, or a breeding operation, the 2026 e-invoicing mandate applies to your business.
With Equicty, compliance becomes effortless. You don’t need new systems, technical knowledge, or extra admin time. Everything works directly inside your existing stable management workflow.
Before we deep dive on how lets start understanding first - What Is e-Invoicing?
E-invoicing represents a fundamental shift from traditional paper or PDF invoicing to a digital-first approach. Instead of creating an invoice in Word or Excel, converting it to PDF, and emailing it to your client, e-invoicing uses structured, machine-readable formats that allow accounting systems to process invoice data automatically—without any human intervention.
Think of it this way: when you send a PDF invoice, the recipient still needs to manually type the details into their accounting software. With e-invoicing, the data flows directly from your system into theirs, like money moving between bank accounts. This eliminates manual entry, reduces mistakes, speeds up payments, and ensures full legal compliance with Belgian tax authorities.
For stable owners, this means:
No more chasing clients about whether they received your boarding invoice
Instant validation that all required tax information is included
Automatic archiving that meets legal record-keeping requirements
Faster processing on the client side, which typically means faster payment to you
What is : Peppol?
Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) is a secure network for sending and receiving standardized e-invoices across Europe. Think of it as a protected digital postal service specifically designed for business documents—but instead of delivering letters, it delivers validated, encrypted invoices.
Unlike regular email (which can be intercepted, filtered to spam, or simply overlooked), Peppol functions like a protected digital postbox for your stable’s financial documents. When you send an invoice through Peppol, it’s encrypted, validated against official standards, and delivered directly into your recipient’s financial system—whether that’s their accounting software, their stable management platform, or their bookkeeper’s system.
Here’s what makes Peppol different from email:
Guaranteed delivery: You receive confirmation when your invoice arrives, unlike email where you’re never quite sure if it landed in spam or was actually opened.
Automatic validation: Before your invoice is sent, the Peppol network checks that it contains all legally required information—VAT numbers, correct tax rates, proper formatting—so you never send an incomplete or non-compliant invoice.
Direct system integration: Your invoice doesn’t arrive as an attachment someone needs to download and process. It flows directly into the recipient’s accounting system, ready to be processed or paid.
- Europe-wide compatibility: Whether you’re invoicing a local feed supplier, a veterinary clinic three provinces away, or a corporate client in Germany, Peppol works seamlessly across borders.
For stables, Peppol ensures reliable, validated, and compliant delivery to:
Feed suppliers who invoice you monthly for bulk orders
Veterinary clinics billing for routine care, emergency visits, or surgical procedures
Farriers sending invoices for shoeing services across multiple horses
Boarding clients receiving monthly statements for stabling, training, and additional services
Riding schools you partner with for lesson programs or horse leasing
Corporate partners sponsoring events, leasing horses for employee programs, or booking team-building activities
Benefits of E-Invoicing
Benefits for Stables
Faster invoice processing
When your boarding client receives their monthly invoice via Peppol, it’s already in their accounting system—formatted correctly, with all data fields populated. Their bookkeeper doesn’t need to manually enter horse names, service dates, or amounts. This means your invoice gets approved and queued for payment in minutes instead of days.
Improved cash flow
Faster processing leads directly to faster payments. Instead of waiting longer days for clients to manually process your invoice, many stables report payment cycles dropping to 14-21 days with e-invoicing. For businesses running on tight seasonal cash flow—like stables preparing for competition season or managing winter feed costs—this acceleration can be transformative.
Reduced admin costs
Manual invoicing consumes more time and resources than most stable owners realize. Between creating invoices, printing or emailing them, following up on missing payments, handling disputes over amounts or dates, and maintaining proper archives for tax purposes, traditional invoicing can cost 15-30 minutes per invoice. With Peppol integrated into Equicty, these processes become automatic—freeing up hours each week for actual stable management.
Fewer errors
Human error is inevitable with manual data entry. A mistyped amount, an incorrect VAT rate, a missing client reference number—these small mistakes create payment delays, client frustration, and administrative headaches. E-invoicing eliminates transcription errors entirely because the data moves electronically from your system to theirs. The result? Fewer disputes, fewer corrections, and fewer awkward conversations with clients about billing discrepancies.
Secure, encrypted transmission
Unlike email (which travels across the internet in relatively unsecured ways), Peppol uses bank-level encryption to protect your financial data. Every invoice contains sensitive information—client details, payment terms, tax numbers—and Peppol ensures this data can’t be intercepted, altered, or accessed by unauthorized parties during transmission.
Guaranteed compliance
Perhaps most importantly for stable owners juggling multiple responsibilities, Peppol handles compliance automatically. The Belgian government’s e-invoicing mandate has specific technical requirements: certain data fields must be included, specific formats must be used, and records must be maintained in particular ways. With Peppol through Equicty, these requirements are built into the system. You simply can’t send a non-compliant invoice—the network validates everything before transmission.
Why Stable Owners Must Act Before 2026
Mandatory by January 1, 2026
This isn’t optional or experimental—Belgium has legislated that every B2B invoice must be sent via Peppol starting January 1, 2026. This includes all invoices from your stable to any registered business, whether you’re invoicing a corporate client for horse leasing, a riding school for training services, or receiving invoices from your feed supplier or veterinary clinic.
Risk of non-compliance includes:
Penalties: The Belgian tax authority can impose fines for businesses that continue using non-compliant invoicing methods after the deadline. While specific penalty amounts are still being finalized, non-compliance with tax digitalization requirements typically results in fines ranging from hundreds to thousands of euros—potentially per invoice.
Payment delays: Even if you’re willing to risk penalties, your clients may not be. Businesses that receive non-Peppol invoices after 2026 may refuse to process them, or their accounting systems may automatically reject them. This means your invoice sits in limbo while you scramble to reissue it correctly—adding weeks to your payment cycle.
Supplier friction: The mandate works both ways. Your feed supplier, veterinarian, and farrier will also be required to use Peppol. If your systems aren’t ready to receive e-invoices, you create friction in these critical business relationships. Suppliers may deprioritize clients who create extra administrative work.
Administrative stress: Imagine trying to implement a new invoicing system in December 2025, during year-end closing, holiday scheduling, and competition season planning. The businesses that wait until the last minute will face compressed timelines, limited support availability, and maximum stress during already-busy periods.
Early adoption = competitive advantage
Stables that activate Peppol now—well ahead of the mandate—will benefit from:
✔ Faster payments: While your competitors are still waiting 30-45 days for payment, you’ll be operating on shortened cycles. This cash flow advantage compounds over time, giving you more flexibility for expansion, investment, or simply better financial stability.
✔ Smoother supplier relationships: When you’re one of the few clients who can seamlessly process e-invoices from day one, suppliers notice. You become the “easy client”—the one whose invoices process without issues, whose payments arrive reliably, whose account requires minimal follow-up. These relationships matter when you need priority service or flexible payment terms.
✔ Zero manual entry: Every hour your staff spends typing invoice data is an hour they’re not spending on horse care, client service, or facility maintenance. Early adopters have already eliminated this administrative burden—while other stables will continue struggling with manual processes until forced to change.
✔ Flawless accuracy: Building a track record of error-free invoicing strengthens your professional reputation. Clients and suppliers recognize businesses that have their administrative systems dialed in—it signals competence, reliability, and attention to detail.
✔ EU-wide readiness by 2030: Belgium is just the beginning. The European Union is mandating e-invoicing across all member states by 2030. Stables that adopt Peppol now will be ready for this continental shift, while competitors will face another disruptive transition in just a few years.
How Equicty Makes Peppol easy for Stables
Zero charges for extra software
You don’t need to purchase additional programs, hire IT consultants, or learn complex technical systems. Peppol is built right into your Equicty invoicing system—the same platform you already use for scheduling rides, tracking veterinary records, managing boarding agreements, and processing payments. There’s no separate login, no data export/import process, no compatibility issues to troubleshoot.
Simple, familiar workflow
The transition to Peppol invoicing requires zero change to your daily routine. You’ll send boarding, training, and service invoices the same way you do today—entering the client, selecting services, adding line items, and clicking send. The only difference? Behind the scenes, Equicty automatically formats your invoice to Peppol standards and transmits it through the secure network. From your perspective, it’s invisible.
Secure & compliant
Every invoice transmitted through Equicty’s Peppol integration uses encrypted transmission validated against official Peppol standards. This means two things: First, your data is protected during transmission using the same security protocols banks use for financial transactions. Second, the Peppol network automatically validates that your invoice meets all Belgian legal requirements before sending—so you never have to worry about whether you’ve included the right tax information, formatted dates correctly, or met other technical specifications.
Automatic delivery confirmation
One of the most frustrating aspects of traditional invoicing is the uncertainty: Did my client receive this? Is it sitting in their spam folder? Did they forget about it, or are they deliberately avoiding payment? With Peppol through Equicty, you receive automatic confirmation the moment your invoice is successfully delivered to the recipient’s system. No more wondering, no more awkward follow-up calls just to confirm receipt.
How It Works in 4 Simple Steps
1. Create the invoice
Use Equicty’s familiar interface to build your invoice exactly as you do today. Select the client, add line items for boarding, training sessions, veterinary care, or additional services. The system automatically calculates totals, applies correct VAT rates, and includes all necessary client information.
2. Select Peppol as delivery method
When you’re ready to send, simply choose “Peppol” from the delivery options—just like choosing between email or printed invoice. If your client is already registered in the Peppol network, Equicty will recognize their Peppol ID automatically. If they’re not yet registered, you can still send via traditional methods until they’re ready.
3. Equicty formats & transmits
This is where the magic happens—completely automatically. Equicty converts your invoice into the structured Peppol format (UBL/XML), validates all required fields, encrypts the data, and transmits it through the secure Peppol network to your client’s designated access point. All of this occurs in seconds, without any action required from you.
4. Receive confirmation
Within moments, you’ll see confirmation that your invoice was successfully delivered and received. Equicty maintains a complete audit trail of all transmissions, so you have documentation for accounting and compliance purposes. The invoice is archived in both your system and your client’s system, with tamper-proof timestamps and delivery verification.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have questions about Peppol e-invoicing in Equstable? We’ve got answers tailored for stable owners and managers. For detailed guides and step-by-step instructions, visit our Support Centre.
QUESTION: What is Peppol and how does it work for my stable?
ANSWER: Peppol is an international network that enables the secure exchange of standardized electronic documents, including invoices. When you send an invoice via Peppol—whether for monthly boarding fees, training services, or clinic registrations—it’s transmitted directly from your Equstable account to your client’s or supplier’s accounting system through a certified access point. The network ensures your stable’s invoices meet all technical standards, are properly encrypted, and reach their destination reliably.
QUESTION: How do I enable Peppol in Equstable for my stable?
ANSWER: Enabling Peppol in Equstable is quick and straightforward—designed for busy stable managers. Simply navigate to your invoicing settings, activate the Peppol feature, and register your stable’s Peppol ID (or let Equstable generate one for you). Our step-by-step setup guide walks you through the entire process in just a few minutes, even during your busiest barn days.
QUESTION: How do I send or receive e-invoices for stable services?
ANSWER: Sending e-invoices is as simple as sending your regular boarding or training invoices. When creating an invoice in Equstable, select “Peppol” as your delivery method and enter your client’s Peppol ID. Equstable handles the rest automatically. To receive e-invoices from your feed suppliers, farriers, or veterinarians, share your stable’s Peppol ID with them—all incoming invoices will appear directly in your Equstable inbox for easy processing and payment tracking.
QUESTION: How do I Receive e-invoices via Peppol in Equicty Equstable
ANSWER: With Equicty Equstable, you can receive e-invoices from your suppliers directly via the Peppol network, fully secure and compliant with European and Belgian regulations. Read More to understand on how to receive e-invoices, what needs to be activated, how to recognize incoming invoices, and what actions you can take with them.
Get all the answers to your Questions Here
Log in to your Equicty account and activate Peppol today. Your horses, clients, and accountant will thank you.
