ATW-CREDIT-NOTE-NO-PRECEDING-INVOICE — E-Invoice Validation Rule & Fix

Fixture ID: creditNoteType · XPath: /ubl:CreditNote/cac:BillingReference/cac:InvoiceDocumentReference/cbc:ID

1. Why This Rule Triggers (Diagnostic Message)

This credit note names no preceding invoice (BG-3 / BT-25). No rule requires one: BR-DE-26 is often read as demanding it, and it does not — its test fires on the corrected-invoice code 384, on either document type, and never on 381. KoSIT accepts a credit note with no reference, and so does the EN 16931 schematron. What it leaves is a reconciliation problem: the buyer holds a credit with nothing to net it against, and your own VAT return cannot show which supply the adjustment belongs to. A credit note that says what it credits is the ordinary case, which is why this is worth one line of advice at the level the regulator uses for advice.

2. How to Fix ATW-CREDIT-NOTE-NO-PRECEDING-INVOICE

Set precedingInvoices to the invoice being credited — [{ "invoiceNumber": "2026-000142", "issueDate": "2026-08-09" }]. BT-26, the issue date, is optional and worth supplying: it is what lets the buyer find the original after a numbering reset. If the credit note is genuinely standalone (a goodwill credit, a volume rebate over many invoices), leave it out — that is a real case and this finding is advisory for exactly that reason.

3. Valid Code / Payload Example

"precedingInvoices": [{ "invoiceNumber": "2026-000142", "issueDate": "2026-08-09" }]