The five Factur-X profiles, explained

Every Factur-X invoice declares its profile: the richness of data its XML layer commits to carrying. The specification defines five, from lightest to fullest: MINIMUM, BASIC WL, BASIC, EN 16931 and EXTENDED. The profile is written inside the file itself; a reading tool shows it, and holds the invoice to that profile’s rules.

MINIMUM and BASIC WL carry only totals and identities, without invoice lines: the specification itself states they are not a complete invoice in the fiscal sense, and that they accompany bookkeeping without replacing it. BASIC adds invoice lines and covers simple invoices. These three profiles exist for the transition: they let a flow start before the whole information system can produce the complete invoice.

EN 16931 is named after the European semantic standard it implements in full: it is the reference level of the European electronic invoice, and the base retained by the French reform. EXTENDED goes beyond it, for complex cases (logistics chains, elaborate allowances, multi-line structures); it obeys the full rule set, plus rules of its own.

What to remember: a profile is not a quality label, it is a content contract. A perfectly conformant MINIMUM invoice is still an invoice that says almost nothing. Pruvue reads the declared profile, applies the matching rules across all five profiles, and shows you what the file really contains, field by field, sending nothing anywhere.