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Warning

UBL-CR-038: Do not use the self-billed invoice reference

In short

Warning: worth checking.

UBL-CR-038 warns that your UBL invoice or credit note contains cac:SelfBilledInvoiceDocumentReference inside cac:BillingReference. Remove that block. If you need to keep the reference to the earlier self-billed invoice, use cac:InvoiceDocumentReference instead.

On this page

What it means

In a UBL invoice or credit note, this rule checks that cac:BillingReference contains no cac:SelfBilledInvoiceDocumentReference. EN 16931 uses cac:InvoiceDocumentReference for the preceding invoice number (BT-25) and date (BT-26).

Why it matters

The EN 16931 UBL mapping uses the standard preceding invoice reference rather than a separate reference element for self-billed invoices.

How to fix it

Remove cac:SelfBilledInvoiceDocumentReference from cac:BillingReference. If you need to retain the reference, put the same earlier document's number (BT-25) in cac:BillingReference/cac:InvoiceDocumentReference/cbc:ID and any supplied invoice date (BT-26) in cbc:IssueDate within that block. Check the corrected file again.

Once the file is corrected, check it again for free: Validate an invoice against EN 16931

Or fix the invoice in a form and download the corrected file, for 1 credit: Fix a rejected e-invoice

The rule as published

A UBL invoice should not include the BillingReference SelfBilledInvoiceDocumentReference

Where this rule applies

Rule set Version
EN 16931 (UBL) 1.3.17
EN 16931 (UBL credit note) 1.3.17
XRechnung 3.0 (UBL) 3.0.2
XRechnung 3.0 (UBL credit note) 3.0.2
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 (invoice) 2026.5
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 (credit note) 2026.5
SI-UBL 2.0 / NLCIUS (invoice) 2.0.3.13
SI-UBL 2.0 / NLCIUS (credit note) 2.0.3.13
France CTC (UBL invoice) 1.4.0-04
France CTC (UBL credit note) 1.4.0-04
CIUS-RO UBL Invoice 1.0.9 1.0.9
CIUS-RO UBL Credit Note 1.0.9 1.0.9
Rule text from phive-rules 4.6.4.

Check your file

Drop your e-invoice to see whether UBL-CR-038 still fails, and which other rules do.

Updated 6 November 2026