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Build a Standard Business Document (SBD) to wrap your invoice before submitting it to Sovos.
SBD structure
You must wrap every invoice in SBD before sending it to Sovos. The SBD has two parts:
- Standard Business Document Header (SBDH)
- Routing metadata that identifies the sender, receiver, and product ID. See About the Standard Business Document page.
- Sovos Document
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Has either a Sovos Canonical Invoice (SCI) or a Sovos Local Document.
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Use the SCI option if you want Sovos to handle format conversion.
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Use the Sovos Local Document option if you already generate BIS 3.0-compliant documents.
For the full Sovos Document structure, see Sovos Document page.
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Sovos transforms your SCI to PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 format and handles sending through the PEPPOL network.
<sbd:StandardBusinessDocument>
<sbd:StandardBusinessDocumentHeader>
<!-- Sender, receiver, routing information -->
</sbd:StandardBusinessDocumentHeader>
<svs:SovosDocument>
<sci:SovosCanonicalInvoice>
<inv:Invoice>
<!-- UBL 2.1 invoice content -->
<ext:UBLExtensions>
<sov:SovosExtension>
<!-- Country-specific fields -->
</sov:SovosExtension>
</ext:UBLExtensions>
</inv:Invoice>
</sci:SovosCanonicalInvoice>
</svs:SovosDocument>
</sbd:StandardBusinessDocument>SBDH settings requirements
The SBDH identifies your company as the sender and the buyer as the receiver.
- Sender (your company)
-
CODE
<sbd:Sender> <sbd:Identifier Authority="BE">BE0123456789</sbd:Identifier> <sbd:ContactInformation> <sbd:Contact>[Contact Name]</sbd:Contact> <sbd:EmailAddress>[Email]</sbd:EmailAddress> <sbd:TelephoneNumber>[Phone]</sbd:TelephoneNumber> </sbd:ContactInformation> </sbd:Sender> - Receiver (buyer)
-
CODE
<sbd:Receiver> <sbd:Identifier Authority="0208">0987654321</sbd:Identifier> </sbd:Receiver>Note:In the SBDH, the Authority attribute indicates the scheme
0208for Belgian enterprise number. The identifier value should match the format for that scheme. For0208, use 10 digits without "BE" prefix. For PEPPOL UBL documents, the scheme goes in the schemeID attribute:<cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0208">0987654321</cbc:EndpointID> - Document identification
-
CODE
<sbd:DocumentIdentification> <sbd:Standard>Sovos</sbd:Standard> <sbd:TypeVersion>2.0</sbd:TypeVersion> <sbd:InstanceIdentifier>[YOUR_INVOICE_NUMBER]</sbd:InstanceIdentifier> <sbd:Type>Invoice</sbd:Type> <sbd:CreationDateAndTime>2025-12-18T14:32:45+01:00</sbd:CreationDateAndTime> </sbd:DocumentIdentification> - Business scope (product ID)
-
CODE
<sbd:BusinessScope> <sbd:Scope> <sbd:Type>PRODUCTID</sbd:Type> <sbd:InstanceIdentifier>BE_invoice_outbound_1.0</sbd:InstanceIdentifier> </sbd:Scope> </sbd:BusinessScope>
Required SBDH elements
| Element | Value |
|---|---|
| Sender.Identifier | Your Belgian VAT number. Set Authority="BE" on the element |
| Receiver.Identifier | Buyer's 10-digit enterprise number. Set Authority="0208" on the element |
| DocumentIdentification.Standard | Sovos |
| DocumentIdentification.TypeVersion | 2.0 |
| DocumentIdentification.InstanceIdentifier | Your invoice number |
| DocumentIdentification.Type | Invoice |
| DocumentIdentification.CreationDateAndTime | Submission timestamp in ISO 8601 format, for example: 2025-12-18T14:32:45+01:00 |
| BusinessScope.Scope.InstanceIdentifier | BE_invoice_outbound_1.0 |
Belgian-specific SBDH requirements
- Tax ID format: BE + 10 digits (for example, BE0123456789)
- Time zone: Use Central European Time (CET/CEST) for all time stamps (UTC+01:00 winter, UTC+02:00 summer)
- Invoice numbering: No specific Belgian requirements beyond standard sequential numbering