E-invoice / Rules / BR-CO-09

E-invoice rule EN 16931 schematron

BR-CO-09: A VAT identifier has to start with a country

A VAT identifier has to start with a country code from ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, for example IE1234567X. The value QX9 starts with QX, which is not a valid country code (Greece may use EL).

Original wording of the rule

[BR-CO-09]-The Seller VAT identifier (BT-31), the Seller tax representative VAT identifier (BT-63) and the Buyer VAT identifier (BT-48) shall have a prefix in accordance with ISO code ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 by which the country of issue may be identified. Nevertheless, Greece may use the prefix ‘EL’.

Source of the quotation: EN 16931 schematron (ConnectingEurope/eInvoicing-EN16931, licence EUPL 1.2)

How to fix it

1. Open the XML file and find the element cac:PartyTaxScheme/cbc:CompanyID.
2. Add or correct the element the way the wording of the rule above asks for.
3. Save the file and check it again with our checker. It runs in your browser, the file is never uploaded.

A correct UBL 2.1 snippet

<cac:PartyTaxScheme
    xmlns:cac="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2"
    xmlns:cbc="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2">
  <cbc:CompanyID>SK2120000001</cbc:CompanyID>
</cac:PartyTaxScheme>

The snippet is only the part of the document the rule is about. Put it in the right place inside your invoice; the namespaces are written here only so that the snippet reads on its own.

When it is reported

Profile: EN 16931, Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, XRechnung 3.x

How we rate it: error

Where we point in the file: /Invoice/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:PartyTaxScheme/cbc:CompanyID

Related rules

• BR-CO-03 The value added tax point date (BT-7, cbc:TaxPointDate) and its code
• BR-CO-04 Line 1 has no VAT category code (BT-151)
• BR-CO-10 Correct the total or the line amounts
• BR-CO-11 The allowance total does not add up: cbc:AllowanceTotalAmount (BT-107)
• BR-CO-12 The charge total does not add up: cbc:ChargeTotalAmount (BT-108)

Our check is not complete: we do not check the XSD schema and we do not implement every rule, and a file that passes says nothing about whether the buyer or the Peppol network will accept it. Licences for the quoted wordings are listed in our sources.