Reference

BR-DE-26 Corrected invoice must reference at least one preceding invoice

Under German XRechnung rule BR-DE-26, when an invoice is issued with InvoiceTypeCode 384 (Corrected invoice / Korrigierte Rechnung), it must include at least one preceding invoice reference group (BG-3 / PRECEDING INVOICE REFERENCE) specifying the previous invoice identifier in BT-25 (PrecedingInvoiceReference). In German accounting and tax law (§ 14c UStG / GoBD), a corrective billing document cannot stand alone without an explicit reference linking it to the original commercial invoice being adjusted or corrected.

Problem Description

ERROR

German XRechnung rule (KoSIT, BR-DE) · XRechnung 3.0

Context and Significance

An invoice with InvoiceTypeCode 384 without a preceding invoice reference violates German XRechnung rule BR-DE-26 and fails KoSIT validation.

Solution

In your ERP billing module, when generating a corrected invoice (type 384), populate the preceding invoice reference with the original invoice number (BT-25) and optionally the issue date (BT-26). In UBL 2.1 syntax, populate <cac:BillingReference><cac:InvoiceDocumentReference><cbc:ID>INV-2025-001</cbc:ID><cbc:IssueDate>2025-12-15</cbc:IssueDate></cac:InvoiceDocumentReference></cac:BillingReference>. In UN/CEFACT CII syntax, populate <ram:InvoiceReferencedDocument><ram:IssuerAssignedID>INV-2025-001</ram:IssuerAssignedID><ram:FormattedIssueDateTime>...</ram:FormattedIssueDateTime></ram:InvoiceReferencedDocument> under <ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeSettlement>. If the document is a standard commercial invoice, set InvoiceTypeCode to 380 (Commercial invoice) instead.

Quick actions

Validate XML Convert invoice

Valid Examples

Corrected invoice (type 384) referencing preceding invoice "INV-2025-001" (BT-25)
Corrected invoice referencing preceding invoice with issue date 2025-11-30 (BT-26)

Invalid Examples

Invoice with cbc:InvoiceTypeCode = 384 completely omits cac:BillingReference
Corrected invoice declares cac:BillingReference without cbc:ID in InvoiceDocumentReference

Code Examples

Valid XML

<cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>384</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>
<cac:BillingReference>
  <cac:InvoiceDocumentReference>
    <cbc:ID>INV-2025-001</cbc:ID>
    <cbc:IssueDate>2025-12-15</cbc:IssueDate>
  </cac:InvoiceDocumentReference>
</cac:BillingReference>

Invalid XML

<cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>384</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>

Affected Fields

BT-25 Preceding invoice reference

BG-3 Preceding invoice reference

BT-3 Invoice type code

BT-26 Preceding invoice issue date

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.