BR-CO-14 in your own invoice? Upload the file and find every error in seconds.
What does BR-CO-14 mean?
The invoice total VAT amount must equal the sum of the VAT category tax amounts.
Common causes of BR-CO-14
- A tax rate block (ram:ApplicableTradeTax) was left out of the sum BT-110.
- Rounding: BT-110 was derived roughly from a gross value instead of summing the individual BT-117.
- The invoice carries several VAT rates, but BT-110 holds the amount of only one rate.
How to fix BR-CO-14
- Find the faulty spot in the XML. Open the XML of the invoice and go to field BT-110 along this XPath:
//ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementHeaderMonetarySummation/ram:TaxTotalAmount - Apply the fix. The invoice total VAT amount (BT-110) must equal the sum of all VAT category tax amounts (BT-117): BT-110 = sum of BT-117. Correct ram:TaxTotalAmount so that it maps exactly to the sum of all ram:CalculatedAmount from the ram:ApplicableTradeTax blocks. Usually the total BT-110 is wrong or a tax rate block was not counted.
- Validate again. Save the file and validate it again to check that BR-CO-14 is no longer reported.
Concrete fix
The invoice total VAT amount (BT-110) must equal the sum of all VAT category tax amounts (BT-117): BT-110 = sum of BT-117. Correct ram:TaxTotalAmount so that it maps exactly to the sum of all ram:CalculatedAmount from the ram:ApplicableTradeTax blocks. Usually the total BT-110 is wrong or a tax rate block was not counted.
XPath
//ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementHeaderMonetarySummation/ram:TaxTotalAmountBefore / after: the XML example
This is the spot in question before and after the fix (Cross Industry Invoice, ZUGFeRD/Factur-X).
Wrong
<ram:ApplicableTradeTax>
<ram:CalculatedAmount>19.00</ram:CalculatedAmount>
<ram:CategoryCode>S</ram:CategoryCode>
<ram:RateApplicablePercent>19</ram:RateApplicablePercent>
</ram:ApplicableTradeTax>
<ram:TaxTotalAmount currencyID="EUR">12.00</ram:TaxTotalAmount>
Correct
<ram:ApplicableTradeTax>
<ram:CalculatedAmount>19.00</ram:CalculatedAmount>
<ram:CategoryCode>S</ram:CategoryCode>
<ram:RateApplicablePercent>19</ram:RateApplicablePercent>
</ram:ApplicableTradeTax>
<ram:TaxTotalAmount currencyID="EUR">19.00</ram:TaxTotalAmount>Frequent questions about BR-CO-14
How do I calculate BT-110 with several tax rates?
Build a separate ram:ApplicableTradeTax block per VAT category with its own ram:CalculatedAmount (BT-117) and add all these amounts. The sum is BT-110, not a value derived from the gross amount.
Must ram:TaxTotalAmount carry the currency?
Yes, the currencyID attribute is mandatory and must match the invoice currency (BT-5). If the VAT accounting currency differs, a second TaxTotalAmount in that currency is present.
Related error codes
Check BR-CO-14 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.