# UBL-SR-32

> VAT exemption reason text shall occur maximum once

Checked against Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 2026.5

Canonical: https://einvoicecheck.eu/rules/ubl-sr-32

## Official rule text

VAT exemption reason text shall occur maximum once

## Why did my invoice fail UBL-SR-32?

For each VAT breakdown group (BG-23), the VAT exemption reason text (BT-120) explains why VAT is zero, exempt, reverse-charged, etc. EN 16931 allows at most one exemption reason text per VAT breakdown, so cbc:TaxExemptionReason must not appear more than once inside a single cac:TaxSubtotal/cac:TaxCategory. A coded reason (BT-121) may accompany it.

## Common causes

- Two cbc:TaxExemptionReason elements in the same cac:TaxCategory of a VAT breakdown.
- Exemption text supplied in multiple languages within one tax category.
- A template outputs both a generic and a specific exemption sentence as separate elements.

## How do I fix it?

```
Keep a single reason in the tax category: <cac:TaxCategory><cbc:ID>E</cbc:ID>...<cbc:TaxExemptionReason>Exempt under Article 132</cbc:TaxExemptionReason>...</cac:TaxCategory> and remove duplicates.
```