Reference

BR-DE-8 Buyer city must be provided

Under German invoice regulations (§ 14 Abs. 4 Nr. 1 UStG) and the XRechnung standard specification, the buyer postal address (BG-8) must contain the city name (BT-52). In German public procurement, public entities (such as federal ministries, state agencies, and city administrations) often operate multiple offices or departments across different municipalities. An explicit city name ensures correct administrative allocation and budget accounting in public ERP backends.

Problem Description

ERROR

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

Interactive pipeline

Where BR-DE-8 is checked

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Where does my error come from?

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BR-DE-8 XRechnung rule (Germany)

Reported in stage 3: National rules (CIUS).

Level error: the report recommends rejecting the invoice.

Stage 3 · What it checks

National rules (CIUS)

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.

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

Missing buyer city information causes immediate validation rejection in XRechnung validator rulepacks (BR-DE-8), preventing the invoice from passing public procurement preflight checks.

Solution

In your customer master data (e.g. SAP customer master, DATEV debitor profile, Dynamics 365 customer account), verify that the buyer city is maintained. In UBL 2.1 syntax, populate <cbc:CityName> inside <cac:AccountingCustomerParty><cac:Party><cac:PostalAddress>. In UN/CEFACT CII syntax, populate <ram:CityName> inside <ram:BuyerTradeParty><ram:PostalTradeAddress>. Do not leave the city element blank or merge it into the street line.

Quick actions

Validate XML Convert invoice

Valid Examples

Buyer postal address with BT-52 = "Hamburg", postal code "20095", and country code "DE"
Buyer postal address with BT-52 = "Köln", postal code "50667", and country code "DE"

Invalid Examples

Buyer address specifies street and postal code but leaves cbc:CityName / ram:CityName empty
Customer record in ERP has missing city field, generating empty XML element (<cbc:CityName></cbc:CityName>)

Code Examples

Valid XML

<cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cac:PartyName><cbc:Name>Bezirksamt Mitte</cbc:Name></cac:PartyName>
    <cac:PostalAddress>
      <cbc:StreetName>Karl-Marx-Allee 31</cbc:StreetName>
      <cbc:CityName>Berlin</cbc:CityName>
      <cbc:PostalZone>10178</cbc:PostalZone>
      <cac:Country><cbc:IdentificationCode>DE</cbc:IdentificationCode></cac:Country>
    </cac:PostalAddress>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingCustomerParty>

Invalid XML

<cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cac:PartyName><cbc:Name>Bezirksamt Mitte</cbc:Name></cac:PartyName>
    <cac:PostalAddress>
      <cbc:StreetName>Karl-Marx-Allee 31</cbc:StreetName>
      <cbc:PostalZone>10178</cbc:PostalZone>
      <cac:Country><cbc:IdentificationCode>DE</cbc:IdentificationCode></cac:Country>
    </cac:PostalAddress>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingCustomerParty>

Affected Fields

BT-52 Buyer city

BG-8 Buyer postal address

BT-55 Buyer 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.