BR-DE – XRechnung

BR-DE-6: seller contact telephone number (BT-42) missing

ErrorXRechnung business rule (KoSIT)

Official message

[BR-DE-6] Das Element "Seller contact telephone number" (BT-42) muss übermittelt werden.

Source: KoSIT XRechnung, version 3.0.2 (Schematron 2.6.0)

How to fix it

Add a reachable telephone number to the seller contact: in UBL cbc:Telephone under the seller's cac:Contact, in CII ram:CompleteNumber in the TelephoneUniversalCommunication of the DefinedTradeContact. A central number of the accounting department is enough.

Before – invalid

<cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cac:Contact>
      <cbc:Name>Accounting</cbc:Name>
      <cbc:ElectronicMail>[email protected]</cbc:ElectronicMail>
    </cac:Contact>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingSupplierParty>

After – corrected

<cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cac:Contact>
      <cbc:Name>Accounting</cbc:Name>
      <cbc:Telephone>+49 30 1234560</cbc:Telephone>
      <cbc:ElectronicMail>[email protected]</cbc:ElectronicMail>
    </cac:Contact>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingSupplierParty>

What the message means

XRechnung requires a contact person with a telephone number on the seller's side. The recipient must be able to reach someone with questions about the invoice without searching first. If the number is missing the check fails, even when an e-mail address is given. Many programs fill the contact only when a contact person is stored in the master data; then name, telephone and e-mail are missing together.

Common causes

No contact person with a telephone number is stored in the master data.
The telephone number appears only in the letterhead of the PDF, not in the data set.
The software assigns the number to the company, not to the invoice contact.

Frequently asked

Does it have to be a person's direct line?

No. A central number where questions about the invoice are answered satisfies the rule; the number should contain at least three digits.

Why is the invoice rejected although an e-mail address is given?

Telephone number and e-mail address are two separate mandatory fields of the contact. BR-DE-6 checks only the telephone number; the address falls under BR-DE-7: „Das Element "Seller contact email address" (BT-43) muss übermittelt werden.“

Fields concerned

BT-42
BG-6

Related rules

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Technical details

UBL · Context (XPath): /ubl:Invoice/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:Contact | /cn:CreditNote/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:Contact
UBL · Schematron test: cbc:Telephone[boolean(normalize-space(.))]
CII · Context (XPath): /rsm:CrossIndustryInvoice/rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement/ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:DefinedTradeContact
CII · Schematron test: ram:TelephoneUniversalCommunication/ram:CompleteNumber[boolean(normalize-space(.))]

Explanation written on 14 September 2026