PEPPOL-EN16931-R044: Charge on price level is not allowed

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-R044] Charge on price level is NOT allowed. Only value 'false' allowed.

Why this error occurs

On the price of an invoice line only a discount is permitted (item price discount, BT-147), which turns the gross price into the net price; a charge at price level has no semantic in EN 16931. The rule checks cac:Price/cac:AllowanceCharge/cbc:ChargeIndicator for the value false (UBL), or ram:GrossPriceProductTradePrice/ram:AppliedTradeAllowanceCharge/ram:ChargeIndicator/udt:Indicator (CII). It fails when software maps surcharges (metal surcharge, energy surcharge) into the price block or copies the line allowance structure with the indicator set to true.

How to fix it

Keep cbc:ChargeIndicator in cac:Price/cac:AllowanceCharge at false and use it only for a discount from the gross price. Move any surcharge either into the unit price itself (cbc:PriceAmount already including it) or into a line-level cac:AllowanceCharge with ChargeIndicator true, placed under cac:InvoiceLine, where charges are allowed. In CII the same applies to ram:AppliedTradeAllowanceCharge under GrossPriceProductTradePrice versus ram:SpecifiedTradeAllowanceCharge under ram:SpecifiedLineTradeSettlement.

Example (valid)

<cac:Price>
  <cbc:PriceAmount currencyID="EUR">90.00</cbc:PriceAmount>
  <cac:AllowanceCharge>
    <cbc:ChargeIndicator>false</cbc:ChargeIndicator>
    <cbc:Amount currencyID="EUR">10.00</cbc:Amount>
    <cbc:BaseAmount currencyID="EUR">100.00</cbc:BaseAmount>
  </cac:AllowanceCharge>
</cac:Price>

What the validator checks

Checked element (context):

UBL

cac:Price/cac:AllowanceCharge

Test (XPath):

normalize-space(cbc:ChargeIndicator) = 'false'

CII

rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:IncludedSupplyChainTradeLineItem/ram:SpecifiedLineTradeAgreement/ram:GrossPriceProductTradePrice

Test (XPath):

not(ram:AppliedTradeAllowanceCharge/ram:ActualAmount) or ram:AppliedTradeAllowanceCharge/ram:ChargeIndicator/udt:Indicator = 'false'

Check your invoice

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Same check via API:

curl -F file=@invoice.xml https://einvoicechecker.com/v1/validate

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-R044 mean?

PEPPOL-EN16931-R044 is a peppol bis billing 3.0 rule: Charge on price level is NOT allowed. Only value 'false' allowed.

Will my invoice be rejected because of PEPPOL-EN16931-R044?

Yes. PEPPOL-EN16931-R044 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-R044 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.