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Warning

UBL-CR-280: The payee should not include a sole proprietorship flag

In short

Warning: worth checking.

UBL-CR-280 means the payee has a sole proprietorship flag (cbc:SoleProprietorshipIndicator), which EN 16931 does not use. Remove the flag from the payee block. It is only a warning, so the invoice is still accepted.

On this page

What it means

Checks that the legal entity of the payee (cac:PayeeParty/cac:PartyLegalEntity) does not contain cbc:SoleProprietorshipIndicator, a yes or no flag saying the payee is a sole trader. From this block, EN 16931 only reads the payee's company registration number (BT-61, in cbc:CompanyID).

Why it matters

This is a warning, so the file is still accepted. The standard has no field for the type of business the payee runs, so the recipient's software has nothing to do with the flag and normally ignores it. It is worth removing when you want a clean report, or when a recipient asks for a file without warnings.

How to fix it

Look for a sole trader or self-employed option on the payee in your invoicing software and turn it off for e-invoice exports, then export again. If you build the XML yourself, delete cbc:SoleProprietorshipIndicator from cac:PayeeParty/cac:PartyLegalEntity.

The rule as published

A UBL invoice should not include the PayeeParty PartyLegalEntity SoleProprietorshipIndicator

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-280 still fails, and which other rules do.

Updated 6 November 2026