Engine Classification
Financial or legal field · Modification blocked by policy
Reason: SEPA debtor account must be provided by the buyer. This information cannot be automatically determined.
What is BR-DE-31?
BR-DE-31 is a fatal validation rule defined in the XRechnung (Germany) specification (DEU national rules). It validates the ID element under PaymentMandate > PayerFinancialAccount in the UBL invoice XML.
When this rule fires, the invoice is rejected by Peppol access points and never reaches the buyer.
Target path: XPath: /Invoice/cac:PaymentMeans/cac:PaymentMandate/cac:PayerFinancialAccount/cbc:ID
Why This Error Matters
Invoice will be rejected by XRechnung validation. Without the debited account IBAN, SEPA direct debit cannot be executed - banks need to know which account to collect from.
BR-DE-31 is a hard failure — the invoice must be corrected and re-sent before it can reach the recipient.
Validator Behavior
- ·Causes invoice rejection
- ·Rejected by XRechnung endpoints
- ·Error returned: BR-DE-31
- ·Specification: XRechnung (Germany)
How to Fix It
Add debtor account
PayerFinancialAccount/ID
Use IBAN
Valid IBAN of the debtor
Before / After
<Invoice> <!-- Issue: German SEPA direct debit requires buyer bank account. --> </Invoice>
<Invoice> <!-- Issue resolved per XRechnung (Germany) --> </Invoice>
Technical Reference
XPath: /Invoice/cac:PaymentMeans/cac:PaymentMandate/cac:PayerFinancialAccount/cbc:IDCommon Causes
- ·Direct debit selected but buyer IBAN not provided
- ·IBAN stored in customer master data not linked to invoice
- ·Buyer has not provided their bank details for direct debit
- ·ERP system does not populate IBAN on invoice automatically
- ·Privacy settings prevent IBAN from being included
Seeing this in production? The API handles BR-DE-31 automatically. See the fix response →
Frequently Asked Questions
SEPA direct debit requires debtor IBAN.
Review your Invoice XML structure and correct the issue described by this rule. Check relevant cbc: and cac: elements per XRechnung (Germany) (BR-DE-31). This error involves a protected field — Invoice Navigator flags it in your pipeline so your team can correct it at the source.
Yes, BR-DE-31 is a critical error that will cause invoice rejection. It must be fixed before submission to ensure your invoice is accepted by the recipient's system.
BR-DE-31 involves a financial or legal field that cannot be auto-modified by policy. Invoice Navigator detects and flags this error immediately, but the correction must be made manually in your ERP or invoicing software.
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Last updated: 3 March 2026
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This error involves a financial field that can't be auto-modified. We'll flag it with a clear diagnosis so you can fix it at the source.