BR-CO-26: Seller identification is missing (BT-29, BT-30 or BT-31)

What does this mean?

In order for the buyer to automatically identify the supplier, the invoice shall contain at least one of the following for the seller: seller identifier (BT-29), seller legal registration identifier (BT-30) or seller VAT identifier (BT-31). None of them is present.

Typical causes

Only the tax number (BT-32) is given for the seller; it does not count for this rule.
The VAT identifier is not marked as such (CII: schemeID="VA").
The fields for identifier, registration number and VAT identifier of the seller were left empty.

How to fix the error

State at least one of: VAT identifier (BT-31), trade register or other legal registration number (BT-30), or a seller identifier such as a GLN (BT-29).
CII: ram:SellerTradeParty with ram:ID or ram:GlobalID (BT-29), ram:SpecifiedLegalOrganization/ram:ID (BT-30) or ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration/ram:ID[@schemeID="VA"] (BT-31), UBL: cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party with cac:PartyIdentification/cbc:ID, cac:PartyLegalEntity/cbc:CompanyID or cac:PartyTaxScheme/cbc:CompanyID.
Generate and validate the invoice again.

In E-Rechnungsfreund

In the invoice form, section "Verkäufer (BG-4)" (seller), fill in the field "USt-IdNr. (BT-31/48/63)" (VAT identifier) or, in expert view ("Experte"), enter the "Handelsregisternummer (BT-30/47/61)" (trade register number) or an identifier under "Zusätzliche Identifikatoren (BT-29/46/60)" (additional identifiers). Then validate the invoice again.

Example

Wrong

<ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:Name>Example Ltd</ram:Name>
  ...
  <ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
    <ram:ID schemeID="FC">201/123/45678</ram:ID>
  </ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
</ram:SellerTradeParty>

Correct

<ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:Name>Example Ltd</ram:Name>
  ...
  <ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
    <ram:ID schemeID="VA">DE123456789</ram:ID>
  </ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
  <ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
    <ram:ID schemeID="FC">201/123/45678</ram:ID>
  </ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
</ram:SellerTradeParty>

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

Is the seller's tax number sufficient?

No. The tax number (BT-32) does not count for BR-CO-26. Sellers without a VAT identifier can state a legal registration identifier (BT-30) or another seller identifier (BT-29) instead.