BR-DE-8: Buyer city is missing

A rule from XRechnung, the German national specification (CIUS) of EN 16931. What the message means and how to fix it.

What the message means

XRechnung always requires the city (BT-52) in the buyer postal address (BG-8). Without it the KoSIT validator rejects the invoice.

How to fix it

Take the city from the customer’s billing address. For German public authorities the correct address is usually in the purchase order or listed with the Leitweg-ID (German public-sector routing ID).

Where the field is in the file

UBL: cac:AccountingCustomerParty/cac:Party/cac:PostalAddress/cbc:CityName
CII: ram:BuyerTradeParty/ram:PostalTradeAddress/ram:CityName

The rule applies only to invoices that declare XRechnung in the specification identifier (BT-24), for example invoices to German public authorities. For Peppol BIS, ZUGFeRD or a plain EN 16931 invoice it does not apply. The original rule text in the KoSIT files is German.

Check the invoice again: The free validator runs the official KoSIT rule files (EN 16931 rules for UBL and CII, plus the German XRechnung rules) in your browser. Your invoice never leaves your computer, and the report links to the English explanations.

All error codes

Technical notes on the data format, not tax or legal advice. Whether VAT rate, supply and amounts are correct in substance is a question for your tax adviser.