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Warning

UBL-CR-457: Payment terms must not carry a late-payment penalty percentage

In short

Warning: worth checking.

UBL-CR-457 warns that your UBL invoice or credit note includes a late-payment penalty percentage in cbc:PenaltySurchargePercent within the payment terms. Remove that element from the XML and describe any applicable payment condition in the payment terms text.

On this page

What it means

This rule checks that cac:PaymentTerms contains no cbc:PenaltySurchargePercent element. It does not assess whether a late-payment penalty is valid or payable.

Why it matters

EN 16931 does not use this structured penalty percentage within UBL payment terms.

How to fix it

Remove cbc:PenaltySurchargePercent from cac:PaymentTerms. If your payment terms include a late-payment penalty, describe the condition in cbc:Note (BT-20). Do not add a document-level charge (BG-21) merely to clear this warning. Recheck the file.

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 PaymentTerms PenaltySurchargePercent

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-457 still fails, and which other rules do.

Updated 6 November 2026