PEPPOL-EN16931-R043: ChargeIndicator is not exactly 'true' or 'false'

StandardPeppol BIS Billing 3.0 (OpenPeppol)SeverityError: the invoice is rejectedSyntaxUBL, CIIApplies toInvoices and credit notes sent over the Peppol network (UBL) and, because XRechnung embeds the Peppol rule set, every XRechnung as well.

Official rule text

[PEPPOL-EN16931-R043] Allowance/charge ChargeIndicator value MUST equal 'true' or 'false'

Why this error occurs

The charge indicator tells whether an cac:AllowanceCharge is a charge (true) or an allowance (false), and Peppol insists on the literal lowercase values. The rule checks cbc:ChargeIndicator at document and line level (UBL) or ram:ChargeIndicator/udt:Indicator (CII) for exactly true or false. It fails on 1/0, True/FALSE, yes/no or values with whitespace, which usually come from a boolean being serialised with the programming language's default formatting.

How to fix it

Serialise the indicator as the lowercase strings true or false, with no surrounding whitespace. In UBL cbc:ChargeIndicator is the first child of cac:AllowanceCharge; in CII the structure is ram:ChargeIndicator/udt:Indicator. Use true for charges (freight, packaging, fees) and false for allowances (discounts, rebates). Fix the mapping once in the serialiser rather than per document.

Example (valid)

<cac:AllowanceCharge>
  <cbc:ChargeIndicator>true</cbc:ChargeIndicator>
  <cbc:AllowanceChargeReason>Freight</cbc:AllowanceChargeReason>
  <cbc:Amount currencyID="EUR">5.90</cbc:Amount>
  <cac:TaxCategory><cbc:ID>S</cbc:ID><cbc:Percent>19</cbc:Percent><cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme></cac:TaxCategory>
</cac:AllowanceCharge>

What the validator checks

Checked element (context):

UBL

ubl-invoice:Invoice/cac:AllowanceCharge | ubl-invoice:Invoice/cac:InvoiceLine/cac:AllowanceCharge | ubl-creditnote:CreditNote/cac:AllowanceCharge | ubl-creditnote:CreditNote/cac:CreditNoteLine/cac:AllowanceCharge

Test (XPath):

normalize-space(cbc:ChargeIndicator/text()) = 'true' or normalize-space(cbc:ChargeIndicator/text()) = 'false'

CII

ram:SpecifiedTradeAllowanceCharge
ram:AppliedTradeAllowanceCharge

Test (XPath):

normalize-space(ram:ChargeIndicator/udt:Indicator/text()) = 'true' or normalize-space(ram:ChargeIndicator/udt:Indicator/text()) = 'false'

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Related rules

PEPPOL-EN16931-R001 Business process identifier (BT-23) is missing
PEPPOL-EN16931-R002 No more than one note is allowed on document level, unless both the buyer and seller…
PEPPOL-EN16931-R003 Neither buyer reference nor purchase order reference given
PEPPOL-EN16931-R004 Specification identifier is not the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 identifier
PEPPOL-EN16931-R005 VAT accounting currency equals the invoice currency
PEPPOL-EN16931-R006 Only one invoiced object is allowed on document level
PEPPOL-EN16931-R007 Business process identifier has the wrong format
PEPPOL-EN16931-R008 Document contains empty elements

Frequently asked questions

What does PEPPOL-EN16931-R043 mean?

PEPPOL-EN16931-R043 is a peppol bis billing 3.0 rule: Allowance/charge ChargeIndicator value MUST equal 'true' or 'false'

Will my invoice be rejected because of PEPPOL-EN16931-R043?

Yes. PEPPOL-EN16931-R043 is flagged "fatal"; validators (KoSIT, Peppol access points, the German ZRE/OZG-RE portals) reject the invoice until it is fixed.

Which formats does PEPPOL-EN16931-R043 apply to?

Invoices and credit notes sent over the Peppol network (UBL) and, because XRechnung embeds the Peppol rule set, every XRechnung as well. Syntax: UBL and CII.

Source: Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.20 (November 2025). Catalogue generated from the official schematron on 2026-10-14.