BR-CO-09: VAT identifier without valid country prefix (BT-31, BT-48, BT-63)
Official message
[BR-CO-09] The Seller VAT identifier (BT-31), the Seller tax representative VAT identifier (BT-63) and the Buyer VAT identifier (BT-48) shall have a prefix in accordance with ISO code ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 by which the country of issue may be identified. Nevertheless, Greece may use the prefix ‘EL’.
[BR-CO-09] The Seller VAT identifier (BT-31), the Seller tax representative VAT identifier (BT-63) and the Buyer VAT identifier (BT-48) shall have a prefix in accordance with ISO code ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 by which the country of issue may be identified. Nevertheless, Greece may use the prefix ‘EL’.
[BR-CO-09] The Seller VAT identifier (BT-31), the Seller tax representative VAT identifier (BT-63) and the Buyer VAT identifier (BT-48) shall have a prefix in accordance with ISO code ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 by which the country of issue may be identified. Nevertheless, Greece may use the prefix ‘EL’.
- 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
- BT-31, BT-63, BT-48
What does this mean?
The VAT identifiers of the seller (BT-31), the seller tax representative (BT-63) and the buyer (BT-48) shall have a prefix in accordance with ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 by which the country of issue may be identified, e.g. DE or AT; Greece may use EL. At least one VAT identifier does not start with such a prefix.
Typical causes
The VAT identifier was entered without country prefix, e.g. 123456789 instead of DE123456789.
The prefix is in lower case (de123456789) or preceded by a space; exactly the first two characters are checked.
The tax number was entered instead of the VAT identifier, e.g. 201/123/45678.
CII: another tax registration is marked with schemeID="VA" but does not contain a VAT identifier.
How to fix the error
State the full VAT identifier with the country prefix in upper case and without leading spaces, e.g. DE123456789.
Do not mark the tax number as a VAT identifier; in CII it is transmitted with schemeID="FC" (BT-32).
CII: ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration/ram:ID[@schemeID="VA"] of seller, buyer and tax representative, UBL: cac:PartyTaxScheme/cbc:CompanyID with cac:TaxScheme/cbc:ID VAT.
Generate and validate the invoice again.
In E-Rechnungsfreund
In the invoice form, check the field "USt-IdNr. (BT-31/48/63)" (VAT identifier) in sections "Verkäufer (BG-4)" (seller) and "Käufer (BG-7)" (buyer) and, in expert view ("Experte"), in section "Steuervertreter (BG-11)" (tax representative).
For the seller, a tax number belongs in the field "Lokale Steuernummer (BT-32)" (expert view). Also check entries under "Weitere Steuerregistrierungen" (further tax registrations) with scheme VA, then validate the invoice again.
Example
Wrong
<ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
<ram:ID schemeID="VA">123456789</ram:ID>
</ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>Correct
<ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
<ram:ID schemeID="VA">DE123456789</ram:ID>
</ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>For developers: test expression per syntax
EN 16931 (CII) (CII)
Context: //ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration/ram:ID[@schemeID='VA']
contains(' 1A AD AE AF AG AI AL AM AN AO AQ AR AS AT AU AW AX AZ BA BB BD BE BF BG BH BI BL BJ BM BN BO BQ BR BS BT BV BW BY BZ CA CC CD CF CG CH CI CK CL CM CN CO CR CU CV CW CX CY CZ DE DJ DK DM DO DZ EC EE EG EH EL ER ES ET FI FJ FK FM FO FR GA GB GD GE GF GG GH GI GL GM GN GP GQ GR GS GT GU GW GY HK HM HN HR HT HU ID IE IL IM IN IO IQ IR IS IT JE JM JO JP KE KG KH KI KM KN KP KR KW KY KZ LA LB LC LI LK LR LS LT LU LV LY MA MC MD ME MF MG MH MK ML MM MN MO MP MQ MR MS MT MU MV MW MX MY MZ NA NC NE NF NG NI NL NO NP NR NU NZ OM PA PE PF PG PH PK PL PM PN PR PS PT PW PY QA RE RO RS RU RW SA SB SC SD SE SG SH SI SJ SK SL SM SN SO SR ST SV SX SY SZ TC TD TF TG TH TJ TK TL TM TN TO TR TT TV TW TZ UA UG UM US UY UZ VA VC VE VG VI VN VU WF WS XI YE YT ZA ZM ZW ', concat(' ', substring(.,1,2), ' '))EN 16931 (UBL) (UBL)
Context: //cac:PartyTaxScheme[cac:TaxScheme/normalize-space(upper-case(cbc:ID))='VAT']
( contains( ' 1A AD AE AF AG AI AL AM AO AQ AR AS AT AU AW AX AZ BA BB BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BL BM BN BO BQ BR BS BT BV BW BY BZ CA CC CD CF CG CH CI CK CL CM CN CO CR CU CV CW CX CY CZ DE DJ DK DM DO DZ EC EE EG EH EL ER ES ET FI FJ FK FM FO FR GA GB GD GE GF GG GH GI GL GM GN GP GQ GR GS GT GU GW GY HK HM HN HR HT HU ID IE IL IM IN IO IQ IR IS IT JE JM JO JP KE KG KH KI KM KN KP KR KW KY KZ LA LB LC LI LK LR LS LT LU LV LY MA MC MD ME MF MG MH MK ML MM MN MO MP MQ MR MS MT MU MV MW MX MY MZ NA NC NE NF NG NI NL NO NP NR NU NZ OM PA PE PF PG PH PK PL PM PN PR PS PT PW PY QA RE RO RS RU RW SA SB SC SD SE SG SH SI SJ SK SL SM SN SO SR SS ST SV SX SY SZ TC TD TF TG TH TJ TK TL TM TN TO TR TT TV TW TZ UA UG UM US UY UZ VA VC VE VG VI VN VU WF WS XI YE YT ZA ZM ZW ',substring(cbc:CompanyID,1,2) ) )Factur-X / ZUGFeRD EN 16931 (CII)
Technical ID in the source: FX-SCH-A-000002
Context: //ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration/ram:ID[@schemeID='VA']
contains(' 1A AD AE AF AG AI AL AM AN AO AQ AR AS AT AU AW AX AZ BA BB BD BE BF BG BH BI BL BJ BM BN BO BQ BR BS BT BV BW BY BZ CA CC CD CF CG CH CI CK CL CM CN CO CR CU CV CW CX CY CZ DE DJ DK DM DO DZ EC EE EG EH EL ER ES ET FI FJ FK FM FO FR GA GB GD GE GF GG GH GI GL GM GN GP GQ GR GS GT GU GW GY HK HM HN HR HT HU ID IE IL IM IN IO IQ IR IS IT JE JM JO JP KE KG KH KI KM KN KP KR KW KY KZ LA LB LC LI LK LR LS LT LU LV LY MA MC MD ME MF MG MH MK ML MM MN MO MP MQ MR MS MT MU MV MW MX MY MZ NA NC NE NF NG NI NL NO NP NR NU NZ OM PA PE PF PG PH PK PL PM PN PR PS PT PW PY QA RE RO RS RU RW SA SB SC SD SE SG SH SI SJ SK SL SM SN SO SR ST SV SX SY SZ TC TD TF TG TH TJ TK TL TM TN TO TR TT TV TW TZ UA UG UM US UY UZ VA VC VE VG VI VN VU WF WS XI YE YT ZA ZM ZW ', concat(' ', substring(.,1,2), ' '))Related validation rules
- BR-CO-03: Value added tax point date (BT-7) and tax point date code (BT-8) are mutually exclusive
- BR-CO-04: Invoiced item VAT category code (BT-151) is missing
- BR-CO-05: Document level allowance reason code (BT-98) and allowance reason (BT-97) must indicate the same type
- BR-CO-06: Document level charge reason code (BT-105) and charge reason (BT-104) must indicate the same type
- BR-CO-07: Invoice line allowance reason code (BT-140) and allowance reason (BT-139) must indicate the same type
- BR-CO-08: Invoice line charge reason code (BT-145) and charge reason (BT-144) must indicate the same type
Frequently asked questions
Does a Greek business partner have to use EL or GR?
The rule explicitly allows the prefix EL for Greece, which is used in Greek VAT identifiers. The rule's list of prefixes contains both EL and GR.
Last updated:
Explanation of the validation rule, not legal or tax advice.