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BR-DE-3 Seller city must be provided

Under § 14 Abs. 4 Nr. 1 of the German VAT Act (UStG) and XRechnung Schematron validation rules, the seller postal address (BG-5) must contain the city name (BT-37). While the European standard EN 16931 allows city names to be optional in specific international address profiles, German tax and procurement law requires a complete registered business address to establish local tax jurisdiction and verify corporate register matching.

Problem Description

ERROR

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

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-DE-3 XRechnung rule (Germany)

Reported in stage 3: National rules (CIUS).

Level error: the report recommends rejecting the invoice.

Stage 3 · What it checks

  • The specification identifier in BT-24 selects the rule set, for example XRechnung 3.0 or Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.
  • XRechnung adds the German BR-DE rules: buyer reference (BT-10), seller contact, payment instructions.
  • Peppol adds PEPPOL-EN16931 and country rules. XRechnung applies some PEPPOL-EN16931 rules too.

Example codes

Typical fix

Fill the fields the rule set requires in your master data, such as the Leitweg-ID in BT-10 or the seller contact.

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-DE-3: XRechnung rule (Germany), reported in the stage “National rules (CIUS)”. 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

Tax authorities and automated verification algorithms validate the seller address against national VAT databases (VIES / BZSt). Omission of the city invalidates the tax receipt status of the invoice.

Solution

In your company settings or ERP master data, ensure the registered city is populated in the address record. In UBL 2.1 syntax, populate <cbc:CityName> within <cac:AccountingSupplierParty><cac:Party><cac:PostalAddress>. In UN/CEFACT CII syntax, populate <ram:CityName> within <ram:SellerTradeParty><ram:PostalTradeAddress>. Do not combine the postal code and city into the street line (BT-35).

Quick actions

Validate XMLConvert invoice

Valid Examples

  • Seller postal address with BT-37 = "Berlin", postal code "10115", and country code "DE"
  • Seller postal address with BT-37 = "Frankfurt am Main", postal code "60311", and country code "DE"

Invalid Examples

  • Seller address specifies street and postal code but leaves cbc:CityName / ram:CityName empty
  • City name merged into street address line (BT-35) while leaving BT-37 element completely missing

Code Examples

Valid XML
<cac:PostalAddress>
  <cbc:StreetName>Friedrichstraße 100</cbc:StreetName>
  <cbc:CityName>Berlin</cbc:CityName>
  <cbc:PostalZone>10117</cbc:PostalZone>
  <cac:Country>
    <cbc:IdentificationCode>DE</cbc:IdentificationCode>
  </cac:Country>
</cac:PostalAddress>
Invalid XML
<cac:PostalAddress>
  <cbc:StreetName>Friedrichstraße 100</cbc:StreetName>
  <cbc:PostalZone>10117</cbc:PostalZone>
  <cac:Country>
    <cbc:IdentificationCode>DE</cbc:IdentificationCode>
  </cac:Country>
</cac:PostalAddress>

Affected Fields

BT-37 Seller city
BG-5 Seller postal address
BT-40 Seller country code

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.