# BR-O-03

> An Invoice that contains a Document level allowance (BG-20) where the Document level allowance VAT category code (BT-95) is "Not subject to VAT" shall not contain the Seller VAT identifier (BT-31), the Seller tax representative VAT identifier (BT-63) or the Buyer VAT identifier (BT-48).

Checked against Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 2026.5

Canonical: https://einvoicecheck.eu/rules/br-o-03

## Official rule text

An Invoice that contains a Document level allowance (BG-20) where the Document level allowance VAT category code (BT-95) is "Not subject to VAT" shall not contain the Seller VAT identifier (BT-31), the Seller tax representative VAT identifier (BT-63) or the Buyer VAT identifier (BT-48).

## Why did my invoice fail BR-O-03?

When a document-level allowance (BG-20) is coded with VAT category 'O' (Not subject to VAT), the invoice must not contain the Seller VAT identifier (BT-31), the Seller tax representative VAT identifier (BT-63) or the Buyer VAT identifier (BT-48). An out-of-scope allowance implies no party is transacting under VAT registration, so no VAT identifiers may appear.

## Common causes

- A document-level allowance was assigned category 'O' while seller/buyer VAT IDs remain in the party blocks.
- Default templates always output the seller VAT PartyTaxScheme regardless of category.
- Wrong category on the allowance — should have been 'E', 'Z' or 'S' rather than 'O'.
- Buyer VAT ID (BT-48) carried over from a standard-rated document.

## How do I fix it?

```
Either change the allowance's TaxCategory/ID away from 'O', or strip all VAT identifiers: remove the VAT-scheme <cac:PartyTaxScheme> (CompanyID) from Seller, tax representative and Buyer so no BT-31/BT-63/BT-48 is present.
```