What it means
The rule looks at the discounts (BG-20) and charges (BG-21) placed on the whole invoice, directly under the invoice or credit note. It warns when one of them has a cbc:SequenceNumeric, a number that in UBL says in which order they are applied. EN 16931 records the final amount of each discount or charge: the discounts are added together (BT-107) and the charges are added together (BT-108).
Why it matters
EN 16931 does not use cbc:SequenceNumeric on document-level discounts (BG-20) or charges (BG-21).
How to fix it
Work out the final amount of each discount and charge yourself and enter it as the discount amount (BT-92) or charge amount (BT-99). Then delete cbc:SequenceNumeric from each cac:AllowanceCharge directly under the Invoice or CreditNote element. 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 AllowanceCharge SequenceNumeric 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 |
Check your file
Drop your e-invoice to see whether UBL-CR-473 still fails, and which other rules do.
Related rules
- UBL-CR-474 Do not add an accounting cost code to an invoice-level discount or charge
- UBL-CR-475 Do not add an accounting cost to an invoice-level discount or charge
- UBL-CR-476 Do not give an invoice-level discount or charge an amount per unit
- UBL-CR-477 Do not name the VAT category of an invoice-level discount or charge
- UBL-CR-478 Do not give a base unit for the VAT of an invoice-level discount or charge
- UBL-CR-479 Do not give a VAT amount per unit on an invoice-level discount or charge