BR-5 in your own invoice? Upload the file and find every error in seconds.
What does BR-5 mean?
An Invoice shall have an Invoice currency code (BT-5). It is one of the mandatory entries of the European standard EN 16931; without it the invoice is structurally incomplete and gets rejected.
Common causes of BR-5
- The mandatory element is missing entirely from the structured XML.
- The value appears only in the visible PDF layout, not in the XML.
- The element was sent empty.
How to fix BR-5
- Find the faulty spot in the XML. Open the XML of the invoice and go to field BT-5 along this XPath:
//ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeSettlement/ram:InvoiceCurrencyCode - Apply the fix. Add the currency code (BT-5) in 'ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeSettlement/ram:InvoiceCurrencyCode', e.g. 'EUR'.
- Validate again. Save the file and validate it again to check that BR-5 is no longer reported.
Concrete fix
Add the currency code (BT-5) in 'ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeSettlement/ram:InvoiceCurrencyCode', e.g. 'EUR'.
XPath
//ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeSettlement/ram:InvoiceCurrencyCodeFrequent questions about BR-5
How do I fix BR-5?
Add the currency code (BT-5) in 'ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeSettlement/ram:InvoiceCurrencyCode', e.g. 'EUR'.
Related error codes
Check BR-5 automatically
Instead of digging through the XML by hand you can validate your ZUGFeRD or XRechnung file online – upload the PDF or the XML and you get every error with rule ID, affected field, fix and XPath, as a readable report or as JSON through the API.