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Warning

UBL-CR-501: Leave the per-unit tax amount out of the VAT breakdown

In short

Warning: worth checking.

UBL-CR-501 means a row of the VAT breakdown contains a PerUnitAmount, which EN 16931 does not use. Remove cbc:PerUnitAmount from that VAT breakdown row.

On this page

What it means

This rule checks that no VAT breakdown row (cac:TaxSubtotal under a document-level cac:TaxTotal, BG-23) has a cbc:PerUnitAmount, the UBL element for a fixed tax amount per unit. An EN 16931 VAT breakdown row gives its taxable amount (BT-116), VAT amount (BT-117) and, where applicable, VAT rate (BT-119). The check applies to invoices and credit notes.

Why it matters

The EN 16931 VAT breakdown does not use a separate fixed tax amount per unit.

How to fix it

Delete cbc:PerUnitAmount from each cac:TaxSubtotal inside a cac:TaxTotal directly under Invoice or CreditNote. Check the row's taxable amount and VAT amount, and its VAT rate where applicable. If your invoicing software writes this element, ask its supplier to leave it out of the export. Recheck the corrected 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 TaxTotal TaxSubtotal PerUnitAmount

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-501 still fails, and which other rules do.

Updated 6 November 2026