BR-CO-09
EN 16931-1 layer: en16931
Checked against Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 2026.5
What does BR-CO-09 mean? 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’.
Why did my invoice fail BR-CO-09?
The Seller VAT identifier (BT-31), Seller tax representative VAT identifier (BT-63) and Buyer VAT identifier (BT-48) must each begin with a two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country prefix so the issuing country is identifiable, with Greece allowed to use "EL" instead of "GR". This standardizes VAT numbers for cross-border validation.
Official rule text
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’.
Common causes
- VAT number stored without the country prefix (e.g. "12345678" instead of "DE12345678").
- Using the numeric-only national tax number rather than the EU VAT identifier.
- Greek VAT numbers prefixed with "GR" where the rule (and VIES) expects "EL" — note Peppol/EN allows EL.
- Lowercase or malformed prefix, or a non-ISO country code.
How do I fix it?
Prefix the VAT id with the ISO country code on the correct scheme: <cac:PartyTaxScheme><cbc:CompanyID>DE123456789</cbc:CompanyID><cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme></cac:PartyTaxScheme> (use EL... for Greece).
Related rules
BR-CO-03 · BR-CO-04 · BR-CO-05 · BR-CO-06 · BR-CO-07 · BR-CO-08 · BR-CO-10 · BR-CO-11
Paste it into the live demo, or call POST /v1/validate. See the quickstart.