An exempt line must have a VAT rate of zero

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 rate field kept the domestic percentage while the category was switched to E, the same split-population problem the other categories show.
• Exempt was chosen for something outside the scope of VAT entirely, which is category O and has a different and stricter rule about the rate field.

What to change

• Set the rate to 0 on every line whose category is E.
• Most tax authorities expect an exemption reason on the document as well. The validator does not check that the reason is correct, only that the rate is consistent, so passing here is not evidence the exemption applies.

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-E-05 usually breaks one of these too, because the same mapping gap tends to affect neighbouring fields.

• BR-Z-05: zero rated lines need a VAT rate of zero
• BR-O-05: lines not subject to VAT must carry no VAT rate at all
• BR-CL-*: codelists: currency, country, VAT category, invoice type

Questions people actually ask

What does BR-E-05 mean?

On a line marked exempt from VAT, the VAT rate is zero.

Which field does BR-E-05 apply to?

BT-152, Invoiced item VAT rate (with BT-151, category code E). 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-E-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.