BR-DE-25-a — E-Invoice Validation Rule & Fix

Fixture ID: directDebitMeansCode · XPath: /ubl:Invoice/cac:PaymentMeans/cac:PaymentMandate

1. Why This Rule Triggers (Diagnostic Message)

The payment means type code (BT-81) is "59" (SEPA direct debit), so exactly one DIRECT DEBIT group (BG-19) must be present. BG-19 carries the mandate reference (BT-89), the bank assigned creditor identifier (BT-90, required by BR-DE-30) and the debited account (BT-91, required by BR-DE-31). Those three are what a collection is matched against: without them the buyer's bank cannot tell whether the debit you are about to raise is one they have authorised, and the mandate is what makes the collection lawful rather than merely expected.

2. How to Fix BR-DE-25-a

Set payment.directDebit with mandateReference (BT-89), creditorIdentifier (BT-90, your SEPA Gläubiger-ID) and debitedAccount (BT-91, the payer's IBAN). If you are asking to be paid rather than collecting, use payment.meansCode "58" with payment.iban instead — that is what most invoices want even when a mandate exists, since the mandate governs the collection rather than the invoice.

3. Valid Code / Payload Example

"payment": { "meansCode": "59", "directDebit": { "mandateReference": "MANDAT-2026-01", "creditorIdentifier": "DE98ZZZ09999999999", "debitedAccount": "DE98700500001234567890" } }