BR-S-05
EN 16931-1 layer: en16931
Checked against Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 2026.5
What does BR-S-05 mean? In an Invoice line (BG-25) where the Invoiced item VAT category code (BT-151) is "Standard rated" the Invoiced item VAT rate (BT-152) shall be greater than zero.
Why did my invoice fail BR-S-05?
On any standard-rated invoice line (BG-25, VAT category code BT-151 = S), the invoiced item VAT rate (BT-152) must be greater than zero. A standard rate of 0 is contradictory: a zero rate would make the line zero-rated (Z) or exempt (E), not standard rated.
Official rule text
In an Invoice line (BG-25) where the Invoiced item VAT category code (BT-151) is "Standard rated" the Invoiced item VAT rate (BT-152) shall be greater than zero.
Common causes
- The line's ClassifiedTaxCategory/Percent (BT-152) is 0 or missing while ID is S.
- Category and rate are out of sync: the item is genuinely zero-rated but was coded S instead of Z.
- A data mapping bug wrote the VAT percent as 0 for standard-rated goods.
How do I fix it?
Set a positive rate on the line's tax category: <cac:Item>...<cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory><cbc:ID>S</cbc:ID><cbc:Percent>21</cbc:Percent><cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme></cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory></cac:Item>
Related rules
BR-S-01 · BR-S-02 · BR-S-03 · BR-S-04 · BR-S-06 · BR-S-07 · BR-S-08 · BR-S-09
Check your invoice against this rule
Paste it into the live demo, or call POST /v1/validate. See the quickstart.