BR-41:Each Invoice line allowance (BG-27) shall have an Invoice line allowance...
Seller should provide contact details for invoice queries.
Engine Classification
Financial or legal field · Modification blocked by policy
Reason: Contact information requires business verification. Automatic changes could result in compliance issues or communication failures.
What is BR-41?
BR-41 is a fatal validation rule defined in the EN 16931 specification. It validates the Contact element under AccountingSupplierParty > Party in the UBL invoice XML.
When this rule fires, the invoice is non-compliant and will be rejected by Peppol access points and national validation services. The sending system receives a rejection response and the invoice does not reach the buyer.
Target path: XPath: /Invoice/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:Contact
Why This Error Matters
Invoice rejected. Cannot calculate line total without knowing allowance amount.
BR-41 is a hard failure. Invoices that trigger this rule are rejected at the access point and never reach the recipient. In Peppol networks, this means your sending system receives an MLR (Message Level Response) with a rejection status. The invoice must be corrected and re-sent, adding delay to your payment cycle.
Validator Behavior
- ·Causes invoice rejection
- ·Error returned: BR-41
- ·Specification: EN 16931
How to Fix It
Add contact name
Person or department for queries
Add email
ElectronicMail element
Add phone
Telephone element if available
Before / After
<cac:InvoiceLine> <!-- cac:AllowanceCharge is missing --> </cac:InvoiceLine>
<cac:InvoiceLine> <cac:AllowanceCharge>valid-value</cac:AllowanceCharge> </cac:InvoiceLine>
Technical Reference
XPath: /Invoice/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:ContactCode Example
<cac:Contact>
<cbc:Name>Accounts Department</cbc:Name>
<cbc:Telephone>+31 20 123 4567</cbc:Telephone>
<cbc:ElectronicMail>invoices@example.com</cbc:ElectronicMail>
</cac:Contact>Common Causes
- ·Line allowance added without amount value
- ·AllowanceCharge/Amount not mapped at line level
- ·Percentage line discount without base to calculate
- ·Line allowance template missing amount field
- ·Null amount instead of zero for line discount
Seeing this in production? The API handles BR-41 automatically. See the fix response →
Commonly Seen In
Frequently Asked Questions
Seller should provide contact details for invoice queries.
Add seller contact information. You can also use Invoice Navigator's automatic Fixer tool to correct this instantly.
BR-41 is a warning that may not always cause rejection, but it indicates a potential compliance issue that should be addressed to ensure full compatibility.
Many instances of BR-41 can be automatically corrected using Invoice Navigator's Fixer tool. Upload your invoice and the tool will identify and fix common issues, including seller contact information recommended.
BR-41 is commonly seen in exports from All invoicing software. These software packages sometimes generate invoices that need adjustment to meet full compliance standards.
See Also
Related Errors
Last updated: 27 February 2026
Handle BR-41 Automatically in Your Pipeline
The compliance engine auto-remediates this error with controlled safety policies and evidence pack generation.