Skip to content

BR-AF-05: VAT rate of invoice line with category L (IGIC) is missing or too low

Official message

[BR-AF-05] In an Invoice line (BG-25) where the Invoiced item VAT category code (BT-151) is "IGIC" the invoiced item VAT rate (BT-152) shall be greater than 0 (zero).

EN 16931 (CII) · Error · Message language: English · Version: xrechnung-3.0.2-validator-configuration-2026-08-31

[BR-AF-05] In an Invoice line (BG-25) where the Invoiced item VAT category code (BT-151) is "IGIC" the invoiced item VAT rate (BT-152) shall be 0 (zero) or greater than zero.

EN 16931 (UBL) · Error · Message language: English · Version: xrechnung-3.0.2-validator-configuration-2026-08-31

[BR-AF-05] In an Invoice line (BG-25) where the Invoiced item VAT category code (BT-151) is "IGIC" the invoiced item VAT rate (BT-152) shall be greater than 0 (zero).

Factur-X / ZUGFeRD EN 16931 · Error · Message language: English · Version: Factur-X 1.08 / ZUGFeRD 2.4
Severity
Error The invoice is invalid and may be rejected by the recipient.
Applies to
EN 16931 (CII), EN 16931 (UBL), Factur-X / ZUGFeRD EN 16931
Affected fields
BG-25, BT-151, BT-152

What does this mean?

For an invoice line (BG-25) with VAT category (BT-151) L (IGIC, Canary Islands general indirect tax) the invoiced item VAT rate (BT-152) must be stated. The rate is missing or too low.
The rule text says "greater than 0 (zero)" in CII and "0 (zero) or greater than zero" in UBL; accordingly the official check requires a rate greater than 0 in CII and a rate of 0 or more in UBL.

Typical causes

The rate was not stated.
CII: rate 0 was stated.

How to fix the error

State the rate (greater than zero for CII) for every invoice line of category L.
If the rate does not match the category, correct the category and adjust the VAT breakdown (BG-23).
CII: ram:IncludedSupplyChainTradeLineItem/ram:SpecifiedLineTradeSettlement/ram:ApplicableTradeTax/ram:RateApplicablePercent, UBL: cac:InvoiceLine/cac:Item/cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory/cbc:Percent (credit note: cac:CreditNoteLine).

In E-Rechnungsfreund

In the invoice form, section "Rechnungspositionen (BG-25)" (invoice lines, "Experte" view), for every line with "Steuerkategorie (BT-151)" (VAT category) L fill in the field "Steuersatz % (BT-152)" (VAT rate).

Example

Wrong

<ram:SpecifiedLineTradeSettlement>
  <ram:ApplicableTradeTax>
    <ram:TypeCode>VAT</ram:TypeCode>
    <ram:CategoryCode>L</ram:CategoryCode>
  </ram:ApplicableTradeTax>
  ...
</ram:SpecifiedLineTradeSettlement>

Correct

<ram:SpecifiedLineTradeSettlement>
  <ram:ApplicableTradeTax>
    <ram:TypeCode>VAT</ram:TypeCode>
    <ram:CategoryCode>L</ram:CategoryCode>
    <ram:RateApplicablePercent>7.00</ram:RateApplicablePercent>
  </ram:ApplicableTradeTax>
  ...
</ram:SpecifiedLineTradeSettlement>
For developers: test expression per syntax

EN 16931 (CII) (CII)

Context: //rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:IncludedSupplyChainTradeLineItem/ram:SpecifiedLineTradeSettlement/ram:ApplicableTradeTax[ram:CategoryCode = 'L'][upper-case(ram:TypeCode) = 'VAT']

ram:RateApplicablePercent > 0

EN 16931 (UBL) (UBL)

Context: cac:InvoiceLine/cac:Item/cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory[normalize-space(cbc:ID) = 'L'][cac:TaxScheme/normalize-space(upper-case(cbc:ID))='VAT']| cac:CreditNoteLine/cac:Item/cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory[normalize-space(cbc:ID) = 'L'][cac:TaxScheme/normalize-space(upper-case(cbc:ID))='VAT']

(cbc:Percent) >= 0

Factur-X / ZUGFeRD EN 16931 (CII)

Technical ID in the source: FX-SCH-A-000244

Context: //rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:IncludedSupplyChainTradeLineItem/ram:SpecifiedLineTradeSettlement/ram:ApplicableTradeTax[ram:CategoryCode = 'L']

ram:RateApplicablePercent > 0

Related validation rules

  • BR-AF-01: VAT breakdown for category L is missing
  • BR-AF-02: Seller VAT or tax registration identifier missing for invoice line with category L
  • BR-AF-03: Seller VAT or tax registration identifier missing for document level allowance with category L
  • BR-AF-04: Seller VAT or tax registration identifier missing for document level charge with category L
  • BR-AF-06: VAT rate of document level allowance with category L (IGIC) is missing or too low
  • BR-AF-07: VAT rate of document level charge with category L (IGIC) is missing or too low

Last updated:
Explanation of the validation rule, not legal or tax advice.