The most frequent VAT errors

VAT is where an electronic invoice most readily goes wrong, because two systems must say the same thing: the category code (standard, zero-rated, exempt, reverse charge) and the numeric rate. First family: the category contradicts its rate. A line classed “zero-rated” (code Z) must carry a rate equal to 0; a “standard” line (code S) must carry a rate above 0. Software copying a default rate into the wrong category produces an invoice the BR-Z and BR-S rules refuse at once.

Second family: totals that do not add up. The VAT total must be the sum of the per-category amounts; the grand total must be the net total plus VAT; and every VAT amount must equal its base times its rate, rounded to two decimals. Those are consistency rules BR-CO-14, BR-CO-15 and BR-CO-17: three additions nobody checks by hand, and that XML makes checkable by machine.

Third family: decimals. Monetary amounts are written with at most two decimals; a total written “1234.500” is refused for its written decimals even though the value is round. That is the BR-DEC series, and it catches badly formatted spreadsheet exports. Fourth family: exemption without a reason. An exempt or reverse-charged invoice must say why, as a code or in words; omitting the reason is an error, not a detail.

These four families recur because they grow out of ordinary data entry: a copied rate, a spreadsheet rounding, a forgotten field. Pruvue applies these rules to your file in the browser, shows the official text of every failing rule and explains it in French, without the invoice leaving your device.