Reference
Markdown exportBR-DE-5 Seller contact point must be provided
In XRechnung, whenever the seller contact group (BG-6) is present, the seller contact point or person name (BT-41) must be populated. Public administration accounting offices in Germany use this field to identify which organizational unit (e.g. "Buchhaltung", "Vertrieb", "Kundenservice") or individual contact person is responsible for answering invoice content queries and resolving performance verification issues.
Problem Description
ERROR
German XRechnung rule (KoSIT, BR-DE) · XRechnung 3.0
Context and Significance
BT-41 operates in tandem with BT-42 (phone) and BT-43 (email). If any of these three fields is missing from BG-6, the XRechnung Schematron validation engine flags an error.
Solution
In your billing software, enter a contact department or person name in the seller profile. In UBL 2.1 syntax, populate <cbc:Name> inside <cac:AccountingSupplierParty><cac:Party><cac:Contact>. In UN/CEFACT CII syntax, populate <ram:PersonName> or <ram:DepartmentName> inside <ram:SellerTradeParty><ram:DefinedTradeContact>. Do not leave the element empty or populate it with whitespace only.
Quick actions
Valid Examples
- BT-41 = "Finanzbuchhaltung / Rechnungsabteilung"
- BT-41 = "Dr. Johannes Weber (Projektleitung)"
Invalid Examples
- Seller contact group (cac:Contact / ram:DefinedTradeContact) contains telephone and email but completely omits cbc:Name / ram:PersonName
- Contact name element contains empty string or whitespace only (<cbc:Name></cbc:Name>)
Code Examples
<cac:Contact>
<cbc:Name>Zentrale Rechnungsprüfung</cbc:Name>
<cbc:Telephone>+49 30 1234567</cbc:Telephone>
<cbc:ElectronicMail>rechnung@lieferant.de</cbc:ElectronicMail>
</cac:Contact><cac:Contact>
<cbc:Telephone>+49 30 1234567</cbc:Telephone>
<cbc:ElectronicMail>rechnung@lieferant.de</cbc:ElectronicMail>
</cac:Contact>