# BR-O-05 Category O line must not carry a VAT rate

An invoice line (BG-25) whose VAT category code (BT-151) is "Not subject to VAT" (O) shall not contain an Invoiced item VAT rate (BT-152).

## Problem Description

> **ERROR**: EN 16931 VAT category rule

## Context and Significance

Because category O supplies are outside the scope of VAT, no rate applies and the rate element must be absent, not even 0. In practice, the error occurs when the software always writes cbc:Percent for every category, even with the value 0.

## Solution

Delete cbc:Percent (BT-152) from the line cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory; a not-subject-to-VAT item carries no percentage, not even zero.

- [Validate XML](/en/xrechnung-validator?source=resource&rule=BR-O-05)
- [Convert invoice](/en/pdf-to-xrechnung?source=resource&rule=BR-O-05)

## Valid Examples

- O line with cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory/cbc:ID = O and no cbc:Percent

## Invalid Examples

- O line with cbc:ID = O but cbc:Percent = 0 present (BT-152)

## Code Examples

### Valid XML
```
<cac:Item>
  <cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory>
    <cbc:ID>O</cbc:ID>
    <cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme>
  </cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory>
</cac:Item>
```

### Invalid XML
```
<cac:Item>
  <cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory>
    <cbc:ID>O</cbc:ID>
    <cbc:Percent>0</cbc:Percent>
    <cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme>
  </cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory>
</cac:Item>
```

## Affected Fields

- [BT-151 Invoiced item VAT category code](/resources/xrechnung/bt-151-invoice-line-vat-category-code)
- [BT-152 Invoiced item VAT rate](/resources/xrechnung/bt-152-invoice-line-vat-category-rate)

## Related Rules

- [BR-O-01](/resources/kosit-validator-errors/br-o-01-not-subject-vat-breakdown-required)
- [BR-O-06](/resources/kosit-validator-errors/br-o-06-allowance-forbids-vat-rate)
- [BR-O-07](/resources/kosit-validator-errors/br-o-07-charge-forbids-vat-rate)

## Validation Tools

- [Official KoSIT Validator](https://github.com/itplr-kosit/validator): Run the official KoSIT validator with the XRechnung configuration to check EN 16931 and XRechnung rules.
- [Convert PDF to XRechnung](/pdf-to-xrechnung): Find validation errors during conversion and review each correction.

## Related Resources

- [Official Specification](https://docs.peppol.eu/poacc/billing/3.0/rules/ubl-tc434/)
- [Test Suite](https://github.com/itplr-kosit/xrechnung-testsuite)
- [All validation errors](/resources/kosit-validator-errors): Overview of the EN 16931, XRechnung and Peppol validation rules explained here.