What it means
The payment instructions (BG-16) say how the invoice is to be paid. In UBL they are cac:PaymentMeans. The account you are paid into (BG-17) goes in cac:PayeeFinancialAccount. The buyer's account for a direct debit goes in cac:PaymentMandate/cac:PayerFinancialAccount (BT-91). This rule checks that cac:PaymentMeans has no cac:PayerFinancialAccount directly under it.
Why it matters
This is a warning. An account placed directly under the payment means has no matching field in EN 16931.
How to fix it
In your invoicing software, check the payment section. For a direct debit, enter the buyer's account and the mandate reference in the direct debit fields. If you build the XML yourself, delete cac:PayerFinancialAccount from cac:PaymentMeans, and put the debited account in cac:PaymentMandate/cac:PayerFinancialAccount/cbc:ID if you need it.
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 PaymentMeans/PayerFinancialAccount 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-680 still fails, and which other rules do.
Related rules
- UBL-CR-681 Do not add an instruction note to the payment instructions
- UBL-CR-682 The delivery address must sit inside the delivery location
- UBL-CR-679 The VAT category code on a line must have no scheme
- UBL-CR-678 The VAT category code must have no scheme
- UBL-CR-677 The account to be debited must not have a scheme attribute
- UBL-CR-676 The direct debit mandate reference must not have a scheme