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BR-CO-26 Seller must be identifiable by an identifier, legal registration ID, or VAT ID

To allow the buyer to identify the supplier automatically, at least one of Seller identifier (BT-29), Seller legal registration identifier (BT-30) or Seller VAT identifier (BT-31) must be present.

Problem Description

ERROR

EN 16931 calculation and consistency rule (BR-CO)

Interactive pipeline

Click a stage to see what it checks, or type a rule ID to light up the stage that reports it.

Try:

BR-CO-26 EN 16931 calculation rule

Reported in stage 2: EN 16931 rules.

Level error: the report recommends rejecting the invoice.

Stage 2 · What it checks

  • The core business terms are present (BR-01 to BR-65).
  • Totals add up and related fields agree (BR-CO); codes and decimals are valid (BR-CL, BR-DEC).
  • Each VAT category is consistent: S, Z, E, AE, K, G, O, L, M (BR-S, BR-Z, BR-AE, BR-IC …).

Example codes

Typical fix

Recalculate totals and VAT from the line data, and correct the VAT category in the source data.

A validator checks an e-invoice in stages. First the file must be well-formed XML that matches the UBL or CII schema (XSD). Then the EN 16931 business rules run: BR core rules, BR-CO calculations, BR-CL code lists, BR-DEC decimals and VAT-category rules such as BR-S. Next come the national or network rules that BT-24 selects: BR-DE for XRechnung, PEPPOL-EN16931 for Peppol BIS Billing. The report lists every failed rule: one error means reject, warnings alone still mean accept. BR-CO-26: EN 16931 calculation rule, reported in the stage “EN 16931 rules”. Rule sets: KoSIT validator 1.6.3 with the XRechnung configuration of 31 Aug 2026 (EN 16931 artefacts 1.3.16), Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.21.

Context and Significance

Buyer systems match the supplier automatically by these identifiers. If none is present, the invoice goes to manual processing and payment is delayed. A tax registration number in BT-32 (for example a German Steuernummer) does not count for this rule. The error typically affects small businesses without a VAT identifier that state only their tax number and no register number or other seller identifier.

Solution

Populate at least one of BT-29, BT-30 or BT-31 for the seller. UBL: cac:PartyIdentification/cbc:ID (BT-29), cac:PartyLegalEntity/cbc:CompanyID (BT-30), cac:PartyTaxScheme/cbc:CompanyID with cac:TaxScheme/cbc:ID = VAT (BT-31); CII: ram:ID or ram:GlobalID, ram:SpecifiedLegalOrganization/ram:ID, ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration/ram:ID with schemeID="VA".

Quick actions

Validate XMLConvert invoice

Valid Examples

  • BT-31 = "DE123456789"
  • BT-30 = "HRB 12345"
  • BT-29 = "4012345000092" with schemeID="0088" (GLN)

Invalid Examples

  • Seller party with name and address only, BT-29/BT-30/BT-31 all absent
  • BT-31 omitted because the seller has no VAT identifier, while BT-29 and BT-30 are also missing
  • Only a tax registration number in BT-32 (cac:PartyTaxScheme with a scheme other than VAT), no BT-29, BT-30 or BT-31

Affected Fields

BT-29 Seller identifier
BT-30 Seller legal registration identifier
BT-31 Seller VAT identifier

Validation Tools

Official KoSIT Validator

Run the official KoSIT validator with the XRechnung configuration to check EN 16931 and XRechnung rules.

Convert PDF to XRechnung

Find validation errors during conversion and review each correction.