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:AccountingCostCode, a code for booking that discount or charge in the buyer's ledger. EN 16931 has one buyer accounting reference for the whole invoice (BT-19), and none on a single discount or charge.
Why it matters
EN 16931 does not use cbc:AccountingCostCode on document-level discounts (BG-20) or charges (BG-21).
How to fix it
Delete cbc:AccountingCostCode from each cac:AllowanceCharge directly under the Invoice or CreditNote element. If the buyer gave you an accounting reference for the whole invoice, enter it once in the buyer accounting reference field of the invoice (BT-19). In your invoicing software, check for a cost code on the discount or charge and leave it empty. 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 AccountingCostCode 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-474 still fails, and which other rules do.
Related rules
- 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
- UBL-CR-480 Do not put an exemption reason code on an invoice-level discount or charge