errorEN 16931

BR-AF-01:When an invoice contains items, allowances, or charges with VAT category...

When an invoice contains items, allowances, or charges with VAT category "IGIC" (Canary Islands indirect tax), the VAT breakdown must include at least one entry with the IGIC VAT category code.

Severity
Fatal
Rule set
EN 16931
Country
All EU
Fix type
BLOCKED

Engine Classification

Financial or legal field · Modification blocked by policy

What is BR-AF-01?

BR-AF-01 is a fatal validation rule defined in the EN 16931 specification. It checks whether when an invoice contains items, allowances, or charges with vat category....

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.

This error requires manual correction — financial fields are protected by policy.Test This Error ↓

Why This Error Matters

Invoice will be rejected by validation. IGIC invoices require proper VAT breakdown for Canary Islands tax compliance.

BR-AF-01 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-AF-01
  • ·Specification: EN 16931

Before / After

Failing XML
<Invoice>
  <cac:InvoiceLine>999.99</cac:InvoiceLine>
  <!-- Does not match expected calculation -->
</Invoice>
Corrected XML
<Invoice>
  <cac:InvoiceLine>100.00</cac:InvoiceLine>
  <!-- Matches expected calculation -->
</Invoice>

Technical Reference

SpecEN 16931
StrategySuggest adding IGIC VAT breakdown entry when IGIC items detected. User must confirm this is for Canary Islands trade as it affects which tax regime applies.

Common Causes

  • ·Line items marked as IGIC but VAT breakdown missing IGIC category
  • ·VAT breakdown not generated for IGIC transactions
  • ·ERP does not recognize IGIC as separate tax category
  • ·Manual invoice creation missed IGIC VAT breakdown requirement
  • ·Wrong VAT category code used in breakdown

Seeing this in production? The API handles BR-AF-01 automatically. See the fix response →

See Also

EN 16931 Validator

Check your invoice now

Related Errors

BR-16

Invoice line must have an identifier

BR-24

Amount currency must match document currency

BR-32

Each Document level allowance (BG-20) shall have a Document level allowance...

Last updated: 27 February 2026

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