The required fields

Six header fields are checked on every profile, from MINIMUM to EXTENDED. That is what makes them worth knowing: whatever the profile of the invoice you receive or send, these rules apply. Each carries an identifier the report shows you.

The number (BT-1, rule BR-02). It must be filled in and the element cannot be empty. It is the number identifying the invoice itself, not an order, contract or customer reference: that is the most common confusion, and it goes unnoticed on the PDF where the two look alike.

The issue date (BT-2, rule BR-03). It must genuinely be filled in, an element that is present but empty being treated as absent. In Factur-X it is written in format 102, that is YYYYMMDD.

The document type code (BT-3, rule BR-04). It states what the document is, for example 380 for an invoice and 381 for a credit note. Without it, nothing tells the recipient which way to book the document.

The currency code (BT-5, rule BR-05). It sets the currency of every amount on the invoice, the amount due included. Here too, an element that is present but empty is treated as absent.

The two names (BT-27 and BT-44, rules BR-06 and BR-07). The seller's name, under the style it invoices with, and the buyer's name. For the buyer, neither the postal address nor an identifier stands in for the name.

One point recurs in nearly all of these rules and is worth remembering: an element that is present but empty is treated as absent. An export that writes the tag without filling it fails exactly as if it had not written it at all. That is the most ordinary cause of a report that looks incomprehensible next to the PDF, where the field is plainly there.

Open your invoice in Pruvue: the report names every failing rule, quotes its official text and explains it in French. The file stays on your device. For how to check a received invoice, see checking a received Factur-X invoice.