Set up AC4

Tax Management for Drink-IT  •  Article  •  5/27/2026  • 

AC4 - B2B excise tax declaration

AC4 in Belgium is the electronic excise declaration used to declare the release for consumption of excise goods such as alcohol, beer, spirits, tobacco, and energy products. It is submitted through Belgium’s customs platform, PLDA (PaperLess Customs & Excise)

Set up the taxes

On the Taxes page, you can set up the information to include in the declaration XML file per type of item.

  1. Select the Search icon alt text, enter Taxes, and then choose the related link. The Taxes page opens.
  2. Set up each code based on the following definitions:
    • For wine items, turn on the BE AC4 Alcohol Percentage toggle and turn off the BE AC4 Degree of Plato toggle.
    • For beer items, turn off the BE AC4 Alcohol Percentage toggle and turn on the BE AC4 Degree of Plato toggle.
    • For all other items, turn off both the BE AC4 Alcohol Percentage and BE AC4 Degree of Plato toggles.
    • In the BE AC4 Quantity field, select the volume field value used for the declaration.
    • In the BE AC4 Unit of Measure field, set up the unit of measure based on the selected BE AC4 quantity. In most cases, this is HLT.

Set up the tax classification

On the Tax Classification page, you can specify whether a code is relevant to the AC4 declaration.

  1. Select the Search icon alt text, enter Taxes, and then choose the related link. The Taxes page opens.
  2. On the action bar, select Classifications > Item.
  3. In the AC4 field, specify whether the code needs to be included in the AC4 B2B declaration.

Set up the general tax classification

On the General Tax Classification page, you can specify whether an annex for reusable packaging is required for an item code.

  1. Select the Search icon alt text, enter General Tax Classification, and then choose the related link. The General Tax Classification page opens.
  2. In the AC4 Annexes Reusable Package field, specify whether the code of type item requires reusable packaging annexes.

The AC4 field is not used in the AC4 B2B declaration.

Set up the TAX country specific setup

On the TAX Country Specific Setup page, you can set up the general configuration needed to create a declaration XML file.

  1. Select the Search icon alt text, enter Tax Country Specific Setup, and then choose the related link. The Tax Country Specific Setup page opens.
  2. On the B2B Webservices FastTab, set up the following fields:
    • In the Reusable Packaging Label field, set the value to ReusablePackaging.
    • In the Alcohol Percentage field, select the strength used in the item master data to define the alcohol percentage value.
    • In the Degree of Plato field, select the strength used in the item master data to define the degree of Plato value.

Set up the AC4 B2B API setup

On the AC4 B2B API Setup page, you can set up the technical configuration to send requests and receive responses from the AC4 B2B API.

  1. Select the Search icon alt text, enter Tax Country Specific Setup, and then choose the related link. The Tax Country Specific Setup page opens.
  2. On the action bar, select Related > AC4 B2B API Setup.
  3. On the API Credentials FastTab, set up the System Name, Password, and BCE Number field values.

The System Name field value must be requested by the company itself in consultation with the customs authority based on a specific registration form. This form needs to be registered on time, because all kinds of company information is required and internal handling takes time.

  1. On the API Configuration FastTab, set up the URLs used for the Authentication, Document Upload, Declaration, and Notification fields.
  2. To configure these URLs, select Actions > Setup Company, and then select either Setup Company as Test or Setup Company as Production. The system suggests default URLs, which you can modify if needed.
  3. On the Reusable Packaging FastTab, set up the document type required to upload a reusable packaging document. The system suggests the default value DA-AC4-REUSPACK, which you can modify if needed.
  4. Turn on the Automatically Send Document in Declaration toggle to specify whether the reusable packaging document is automatically uploaded when a declaration is created and sent.

Test the authentication

On the AC4 B2B API Setup page, you can test the request of getting an authentication token.

  1. Select the Search icon alt text, enter Tax Country Specific Setup, and then choose the related link. The Tax Country Specific Setup page opens.
  2. On teh action bar, select Related > AC4 B2B API Setup.
  3. Select Actions > Authentication > Authenticate. The system sends a request to obtain authentication, and then updates the Access Token, Last Authentication, Token Expiry, and Status field values.

Test the document upload for reusable packaging

On the AC4 B2B API Setup page, you can test the upload of a document for reusable packaging.

  1. Select the Search icon alt text, enter Tax Country Specific Setup, and then choose the related link. The Tax Country Specific Setup page opens.
  2. On the action bar, select Related > AC4 B2B API Setup.
  3. Verify the setup in the Document Type field.
  4. Select Actions > Reusable Packaging > Import Document.
  5. Select a document, and then select Open.
  6. Select Actions > Reusable Packaging > Upload Document. The system sends a request to upload the document and updates the Document Correlation ID and Last Document Upload field values.

Send the declaration XML and get the notification response

After completing the setup and testing, you can send an XML declaration file using the API connection and receive the corresponding notification.

  1. Select the Search icon alt text, enter BE AC4 B2B Declaration, and then choose the related link. The BE AC4 B2B Declaration page opens.
  2. In the Reporting Level field, select Tax Classification Code only.

If more than 999 items are to be declared, use the Tax Classification Code option.

  1. Select the status.
  2. Select the starting date and ending date.
  3. Select the declaration type.
  4. Turn on the Send toggle.
  5. Select Print & Preview. The XML declaration file is created and sent to the customs authority. A report displays with the content summary of the XML file.
  6. Select the Search icon, enter Customs Document Mgt. Mail History List, and then choose the related link. The Customs Document Mgt. Mail History List page opens.
  7. Select the latest created AC4 entry. The Status field value updates to In Progress or Error:
    • If Error, analyze the error message and resolve the issue.
    • If In Progress, proceed to the next step. The B2B Correlation Id field populates with information from the response message.
  8. Select the Get AC4 B2B Status action. The system retrieves the notification based on the B2B correlation ID and updates the No. of AC4 B2B Notification field with the notification content.
  9. In the No. of AC4 B2B Notification field, view the details. Review the Status, Error Message, Status Message, Attachment Available, DRN, Validation Date, and Amount fields.
  10. The status can be Success or Error. If the status is Error, resolve the issue and repeat the process.

If all AC4 B2B notifications have the Success status, the status on the Customs Document Mgt. Mail History List page also updates to Success.

  1. In the Attachment Available field, you can view the details of the notification response.