Fix BR-DE-23-a: Account for credit transfer (BG-17) missing

BR-DE-23-a in your own invoice? Upload the file and find every error in seconds.

What does BR-DE-23-a mean?

With payment means 30 or 58 (credit transfer) the invoice must name the account the buyer pays to (BG-17). In CII it sits in 'ram:PayeePartyCreditorFinancialAccount' within the payment means. The rule comes from KoSIT (XRechnung) and is an error there. For ZUGFeRD our validator only reports it as info.

Common causes of BR-DE-23-a

The payment means carries code 58 but no account.
The IBAN appears only in the payment terms text (BT-20) or on the PDF.
The amount is collected by direct debit, but the invoice carries code 58 instead of 59.

How to fix BR-DE-23-a

Find the faulty spot in the XML. Open the XML of the invoice and go to field BG-17 along this XPath://ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementPaymentMeans/ram:PayeePartyCreditorFinancialAccount
Apply the fix. With payment means 30 or 58 (credit transfer) the invoice must name the account the buyer pays to (BG-17). Enter the IBAN in 'ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementPaymentMeans/ram:PayeePartyCreditorFinancialAccount/ram:IBANID', for example 'DE02120300000000202051'. If you collect the amount by direct debit, use payment means 59. For ZUGFeRD the validator only reports the rule as info; it applies to XRechnung.
Validate again. Save the file and validate it again to check that BR-DE-23-a is no longer reported.

Concrete fix

With payment means 30 or 58 (credit transfer) the invoice must name the account the buyer pays to (BG-17). Enter the IBAN in 'ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementPaymentMeans/ram:PayeePartyCreditorFinancialAccount/ram:IBANID', for example 'DE02120300000000202051'. If you collect the amount by direct debit, use payment means 59. For ZUGFeRD the validator only reports the rule as info; it applies to XRechnung.

XPath//ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementPaymentMeans/ram:PayeePartyCreditorFinancialAccount

Before / after: the XML example

This is the spot in question before and after the fix (Cross Industry Invoice, ZUGFeRD/Factur-X).

Wrong

<ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementPaymentMeans>
  <ram:TypeCode>58</ram:TypeCode>
</ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementPaymentMeans>

Correct

<ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementPaymentMeans>
  <ram:TypeCode>58</ram:TypeCode>
  <ram:PayeePartyCreditorFinancialAccount>
    <ram:IBANID>DE02120300000000202051</ram:IBANID>
  </ram:PayeePartyCreditorFinancialAccount>
</ram:SpecifiedTradeSettlementPaymentMeans>

Frequent questions about BR-DE-23-a

How do I fix BR-DE-23-a?

Enter the IBAN the buyer pays to in 'ram:PayeePartyCreditorFinancialAccount/ram:IBANID'. Without an account EN 16931 also reports CII-SR-470.

What does BR-DE-23-b check?

The second part of the same rule: with credit transfer the invoice must not contain card or direct debit data.

Related error codes

Check BR-DE-23-a 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.

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