Attestwire › Rule reference › BR-DE-4

BR-DE-4 XRechnung requires the seller post code

noun · XRechnung · fatal · BT-38

Your invoice was refused because your own address has no post code. An XRechnung needs a city and a post code for both seller and buyer, while core EN 16931 is satisfied by the country code alone. Put in the post code from your letterhead, as text, so leading zeros survive. In the standard the field is BT-38, and BR-DE-4 is the rule that requires it.

Diese Regel auf Deutsch: BR-DE-4 — auf Deutsch erklärt.

Business term

BT-38 — Seller post code

Severity

fatal

Applies to

xrechnung-ubl, xrechnung-cii

The fix

Set seller.address.postalCode, for example "10115", as a string, so a leading zero is not lost.

What the rule requires

Set the seller post code (BT-38). Its partner is BR-DE-3 for the city; together they turn the country-level address of EN 16931 into one a letter could reach.

The field is a string, not a number. Leading zeros are kept, and foreign formats with letters, such as SW1A 1AA, or with fewer digits, such as 1010, are just as valid. Copy the value as it appears on your letterhead.

In this library the field is seller.address.postalCode.

Das Element "Seller post code" (BT-38) muss übermittelt werden.

A passing value

"postalCode": "10115"

Why it exists

For the same reason as the city: §14 UStG requires the full address, and in German postal practice there is no full address without a post code. The check catches the gap where it is still cheap to fix.

What the library returns

The full error returned by @attestwire/en16931. It includes the rule ID, affected field and suggested correction. Developers can use this object in their application:

{
  "rule": "BR-DE-4",
  "field": "BT-38",
  "severity": "fatal",
  "message": "XRechnung requires the element \"Seller post code\" (BT-38). Core EN 16931 only requires the country code, but the German CIUS additionally makes city and post code mandatory on both parties so that the address is deliverable, not merely jurisdictional.",
  "fix": "Set seller.address.postalCode.",
  "example": "\"postalCode\": \"10115\"",
  "xpath": "/ubl:Invoice/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:PostalAddress/cbc:PostalZone",
  "docsUrl": "https://attestwire.com/rules/BR-DE-4"
}

xpath is always a UBL path. On a CII invoice, look for the matching CII field instead.

How our check differs

See also: BR-DE-3 — the seller city; BR-DE-9 — the same requirement for the buyer post code.