Rules / BR-O-04 · Markdown

BR-O-04

EN 16931-1 layer: en16931

Checked against Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 2026.5

What does BR-O-04 mean? An Invoice that contains a Document level charge (BG-21) where the Document level charge VAT category code (BT-102) 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-04?

When a document-level charge (BG-21) 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). If a charge is outside the scope of VAT, no VAT-registered identifiers are permitted on the document.

Official rule text

An Invoice that contains a Document level charge (BG-21) where the Document level charge VAT category code (BT-102) 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).

Common causes

• A document-level charge uses category 'O' but seller VAT PartyTaxScheme is still present.
• Buyer VAT identifier (BT-48) is populated on an out-of-scope invoice.
• Tax representative VAT ID retained from a template.
• Incorrect category code applied to the charge (should be 'S', 'E' or 'Z').

How do I fix it?

Remove the VAT CompanyID PartyTaxScheme blocks from Seller, tax representative and Buyer, or correct the charge's <cac:TaxCategory><cbc:ID>O</cbc:ID></cac:TaxCategory> to the applicable category.

Related rules

BR-O-01 · BR-O-02 · BR-O-03 · BR-O-05 · BR-O-06 · BR-O-07 · BR-O-08 · BR-O-09