Note that this article is only relevant for accounts that have at least one Belgian entity.

Following an amendment of the Belgian law in 2022, contractors are no longer required to add the VAT attestation to invoices containing works invoiced at a rate of 6%. Instead, a (standardized) message should be added to the invoice now:

"VAT rate: In the absence of written dispute within a period of one month from receipt of the invoice, the customer shall be deemed to acknowledge that (1) the works are performed on a dwelling whose first occupation took place in a calendar year that is at least 10 years prior to the date of the first invoice relating to those works, (2) the dwelling, after the performance of those works, is used exclusively or primarily as a private dwelling and (3) the works are provided and invoiced to a final consumer. If at least one of those conditions is not met, the standard VAT rate of 21% will apply and the buyer will be liable with respect to those conditions for the payment of the tax, interest and fines due."

In the past, you were able to upload a VAT attestation in your Teamleader Focus account. As that document no longer has any validity, we have removed that functionality from our tool and replaced it with a shortcode ($LEGAL_NOTES_6_PERCENT$) that can be put wherever you like on your invoice layout template.

How does the shortcode work?

The shortcode $LEGAL_NOTES_6_PERCENT$ will only be replaced by the standardised message if the invoice contains at least one line with a 6% VAT rate. If that is not the case, the message (nor the shortcode) won't be shown. 

As a result, you don’t need a separate layout variation to implement this; you can simply add the shortcode to your existing invoice template(s).

The shortcode will be translated according to the language of the end-customer linked to your invoice. It’s available in the languages that are currently foreseen by the Belgian law: French, Dutch, German and English.

How do I add this shortcode to my existing layout?

You can edit your existing layout template by following the instructions in this video. If you need any assistance, feel free to contact our Support Team.