# BR-O-14

> An Invoice that contains a VAT breakdown group (BG-23) with a VAT category code (BT-118) "Not subject to VAT" shall not contain Document level charges (BG-21) where Document level charge VAT category code (BT-102) is not "Not subject to VAT".

Checked against Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 2026.5

Canonical: https://einvoicecheck.eu/rules/br-o-14

## Official rule text

An Invoice that contains a VAT breakdown group (BG-23) with a VAT category code (BT-118) "Not subject to VAT" shall not contain Document level charges (BG-21) where Document level charge VAT category code (BT-102) is not "Not subject to VAT".

## Why did my invoice fail BR-O-14?

When any VAT breakdown group (BG-23) uses VAT category code (BT-118) O ("Not subject to VAT"), every document level charge (BG-21) must also use category code O in its VAT category code (BT-102). An out-of-scope invoice cannot carry charges taxed under a different VAT category, so all charges must be flagged as not subject to VAT too.

## Common causes

- A document level charge retained category S or Z instead of O on an out-of-scope invoice.
- Reusing a charge (e.g. freight or packaging) from a taxable invoice without resetting BT-102.
- The charge's TaxCategory/ID is missing or defaults away from O.

## How do I fix it?

```
Set the charge's VAT category to O: <cac:AllowanceCharge><cbc:ChargeIndicator>true</cbc:ChargeIndicator>...<cac:TaxCategory><cbc:ID>O</cbc:ID><cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme></cac:TaxCategory></cac:AllowanceCharge> (omit any VAT rate/Percent for category O).
```