Reference

BR-55 Preceding invoice reference must carry a reference identifier

Each Preceding Invoice reference (BG-3) shall contain a Preceding Invoice reference (BT-25).

This is an EN 16931 core rule. A preceding invoice reference is mainly used in credit notes (381) and corrected invoices (384) to name the invoice being corrected; without its number (BT-25) the buyer cannot match the correction. The error appears when the reference group is created but only the date of the original invoice is exported, typically because the original invoice is not linked in the ERP.

Solution

Add cac:BillingReference/cac:InvoiceDocumentReference/cbc:ID (CII: ram:InvoiceReferencedDocument/ram:IssuerAssignedID) with the number of the preceding invoice that is corrected or referenced.

Quick actions

Validate XML Convert invoice

Valid Examples

BT-25 = "INV-2026-0007" referencing the corrected invoice

Invalid Examples

cac:BillingReference without cac:InvoiceDocumentReference/cbc:ID, or a CII ram:InvoiceReferencedDocument with only ram:FormattedIssueDateTime and no ram:IssuerAssignedID

Code Examples

Valid XML

<ram:InvoiceReferencedDocument>
  <ram:IssuerAssignedID>INV-2026-0007</ram:IssuerAssignedID>
  <ram:FormattedIssueDateTime>
    <qdt:DateTimeString format="102">20260115</qdt:DateTimeString>
  </ram:FormattedIssueDateTime>
</ram:InvoiceReferencedDocument>

Invalid XML

<ram:InvoiceReferencedDocument>
  <ram:FormattedIssueDateTime>
    <qdt:DateTimeString format="102">20260115</qdt:DateTimeString>
  </ram:FormattedIssueDateTime>
</ram:InvoiceReferencedDocument>