XRechnung (German national rules)

BR-DE-16: Seller VAT ID or tax number missing

With VAT categories such as S, Z, E or AE, the seller's VAT ID or tax number must be present.

Fact sheet

Rule
BR-DE-16
Severity
Error – the invoice is invalid
Rule set
XRechnung 3.0 (KoSIT)
Affected fields
BT-31, BT-32, BG-11
Syntax
CII & UBL

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Official wording

[BR-DE-16] Wenn in einer Rechnung die Steuercodes S, Z, E, AE, K, G, L oder M verwendet werden, muss mindestens eines der Elemente "Seller VAT identifier" (BT-31), "Seller tax registration identifier" (BT-32) oder "SELLER TAX REPRESENTATIVE PARTY" (BG-11) übermittelt werden.

Source: official KoSIT Schematron for XRechnung 3.0.

What the rule requires

As soon as the invoice uses one of the VAT categories S (standard rate), Z (zero rate), E (exempt), AE (reverse charge), K (intra-community supply), G (export) or L/M (Canary Islands, Ceuta/Melilla), the seller must be identifiable for tax purposes – by at least one of these:

  • VAT identifier (BT-31), scheme VA
  • Tax registration identifier (BT-32), the German tax number, scheme FC
  • a tax representative (BG-11)

The rule matches German VAT law (§ 14(4) UStG): every invoice must state the tax number or the VAT ID.

Common causes

  • Small businesses under § 19 UStG use category E and leave out all tax data – the tax number is still required.
  • The number only appears on the PDF or in a note, not as structured data.
  • The scheme is wrong, e.g. schemeID="VAT" instead of VA.
  • The VAT ID was entered for the buyer instead of the seller.

What it looks like in XML

In CII, the registration sits at the end of the seller party:

✓ CII – correct with VAT ID
<ram:SellerTradeParty>
    <ram:Name>Muster GmbH</ram:Name>
    …
    <ram:PostalTradeAddress>…</ram:PostalTradeAddress>
    <ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
        <ram:ID schemeID="VA">DE123456789</ram:ID>
    </ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
</ram:SellerTradeParty>
✓ CII – correct with tax number
<ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>
    <ram:ID schemeID="FC">201/113/40209</ram:ID>
</ram:SpecifiedTaxRegistration>

In UBL it is cac:PartyTaxScheme with cbc:CompanyID and the tax scheme VAT, or another scheme for the tax number.

Fix in C#

In the Facturexa Creator you add the registration with the matching scheme; giving both numbers is allowed as well.

C#
// VAT identifier (BT-31)
invoice.AddSellerSpecifiedTaxRegistration("DE123456789", TaxRegistrationSchemeID.VA);

// or, without a VAT ID (e.g. German small businesses): tax number (BT-32)
invoice.AddSellerSpecifiedTaxRegistration("201/113/40209", TaxRegistrationSchemeID.FC);

Related rules

All explained validation rules