Rule BR-AE-05
A reverse charge line must have a VAT rate of zero
On a line marked reverse charge, the VAT rate is zero, because the buyer accounts for the VAT rather than the seller charging it.
Business term BT-152, Invoiced item VAT rate (with BT-151, the category code). Source: EN 16931. Our wording, not the normative text, which is published in the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 rule list and was checked against it on 2026-08-16.
Why it fires on invoices that look fine
Almost nobody hits this rule because they forgot the field exists. They hit it because something between their system and the document dropped it, changed its shape, or filled it with a value that is right somewhere else. These are the causes worth checking first.
- The line is correctly marked AE but the rate field still carries the seller's domestic rate, usually because the rate is copied from the product record and the category is set separately.
- The invoicing system treats reverse charge as a discount to zero rather than as a category, so it computes tax at the normal rate and then zeroes the amount, leaving the rate visible.
- A template was cloned from a domestic invoice and only the category was changed.
What to change
- Set the rate to 0 on every line whose category is AE. The amount of VAT is zero because the mechanism moves it to the buyer, not because a zero rate applies.
- Fix it where the category is decided, not per invoice: if the rule that picks AE does not also force the rate, the next invoice fails the same way.
- Keep the reverse charge wording on the document as well. The rate is what the validator checks; the mention is what the tax authorities expect the buyer to see.
The validator runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and you can confirm that yourself with the network panel open.
Rules you are likely to hit next
A document that breaks BR-AE-05 usually breaks one of these too, because the same mapping gap tends to affect neighbouring fields.
Questions people actually ask
- What does BR-AE-05 mean?
- On a line marked reverse charge, the VAT rate is zero, because the buyer accounts for the VAT rather than the seller charging it.
- Which field does BR-AE-05 apply to?
- BT-152, Invoiced item VAT rate (with BT-151, the category code). That is the name the semantic model uses, which is what you search for in your own system's mapping when the identifier alone does not tell you which field to look at.
- Does our validator check BR-AE-05?
- Yes. Paste your invoice data into the free validator and it reports this rule with the value it actually saw, without the document leaving your browser.