BR-DEC-21:Tax total: max 2 decimals
Fix: Round total VAT to 2 decimals.
TaxTotal/TaxAmount allows maximum 2 decimal places.
Engine Classification
Financial or legal field · Modification blocked by policy
Reason: Tax total amounts must have maximum 2 decimal places. Automatic rounding of tax amounts is not permitted as it affects VAT calculations. Fix the tax calculation in your source system to produce proper 2-decimal values.
What is BR-DEC-21?
BR-DEC-21 is a fatal validation rule defined in the en16931 specification. It validates the TaxAmount element under Invoice > TaxTotal 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:TaxTotal/cbc:TaxAmount
Why This Error Matters
Total VAT must have proper precision.
BR-DEC-21 is a hard failure — the invoice must be corrected and re-sent before it can reach the recipient.
Validator Behavior
- ·Causes invoice rejection
- ·Fails EN 16931 business rule validation
- ·Error returned: BR-DEC-21
- ·Specification: en16931
How to Fix It
Check tax total
TaxTotal/TaxAmount precision
Round
Sum of subtotals, rounded
XML Example
Generic example based on the rule's target XPath. Your actual XML structure may differ.
<!-- Missing or empty element triggers cbc:TaxAmount error --> <cbc:TaxAmount></cbc:TaxAmount>
<!-- Provide the required value --> <cbc:TaxAmount>VALID_VALUE</cbc:TaxAmount>
Technical Reference
XPath: /Invoice/cac:TaxTotal/cbc:TaxAmountCommon Causes
- ·Sum of rounded subtotals may need rounding
Seeing this in production? The API handles BR-DEC-21 automatically. See the fix response →
Frequently Asked Questions
TaxTotal/TaxAmount allows maximum 2 decimal places.
Round total VAT to 2 decimals. This error involves a protected field — Invoice Navigator flags it in your pipeline so your team can correct it at the source.
Yes, BR-DEC-21 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-DEC-21 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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