BR-CO-14:Tax subtotal taxable amount mismatch
The taxable amount in each tax subtotal must equal the sum of line amounts with that tax category.
Engine Classification
Financial or legal field · Modification blocked by policy
Reason: Taxable amount per VAT category must reconcile with line items. Discrepancies may indicate incorrect tax category assignments.
What is BR-CO-14?
BR-CO-14 is a fatal validation rule defined in the EN 16931 specification. It validates the TaxableAmount element under TaxTotal > TaxSubtotal in the UBL invoice XML.
When this rule fires, the invoice is non-compliant and will be rejected by Peppol access points and national validation services. The sending system receives a rejection response and the invoice does not reach the buyer.
Target path: XPath: /Invoice/cac:TaxTotal/cac:TaxSubtotal/cbc:TaxableAmount
Why This Error Matters
Invoice rejected. VAT total mismatch causes tax reporting issues and payment discrepancies.
BR-CO-14 is a hard failure. Invoices that trigger this rule are rejected at the access point and never reach the recipient. In Peppol networks, this means your sending system receives an MLR (Message Level Response) with a rejection status. The invoice must be corrected and re-sent, adding delay to your payment cycle.
Validator Behavior
- ·Causes invoice rejection
- ·Error returned: BR-CO-14
- ·Specification: EN 16931
How to Fix It
Group by tax category
Find all lines with same TaxCategory/ID and Percent
Sum line amounts
Add LineExtensionAmount for each group
Set TaxableAmount
Must match sum for that category
Before / After
<cac:LegalMonetaryTotal> <cbc:TaxInclusiveAmount>999.99</cbc:TaxInclusiveAmount> <!-- Does not match expected calculation --> </cac:LegalMonetaryTotal>
<cac:LegalMonetaryTotal> <cbc:TaxInclusiveAmount>100.00</cbc:TaxInclusiveAmount> <!-- Matches expected calculation --> </cac:LegalMonetaryTotal>
Technical Reference
XPath: /Invoice/cac:TaxTotal/cac:TaxSubtotal/cbc:TaxableAmountCode Example
<cac:TaxSubtotal>
<cbc:TaxableAmount currencyID="EUR">1000.00</cbc:TaxableAmount>
<cbc:TaxAmount currencyID="EUR">210.00</cbc:TaxAmount>
<cac:TaxCategory>
<cbc:ID>S</cbc:ID>
<cbc:Percent>21</cbc:Percent>
</cac:TaxCategory>
</cac:TaxSubtotal>Common Causes
- ·Total VAT amount does not equal sum of breakdown
- ·BT-110 does not match sum of BT-117 values
- ·Tax total calculation mismatch with breakdowns
- ·VAT breakdown added/changed without updating total
- ·Rounding differences in tax category amounts
Seeing this in production? The API handles BR-CO-14 automatically. See the fix response →
Commonly Seen In
Frequently Asked Questions
The taxable amount in each tax subtotal must equal the sum of line amounts with that tax category.
Review and correct the `cbc:TaxInclusiveAmount` element in your Invoice XML to satisfy this validation rule. This error involves a protected field — Invoice Navigator flags it in your pipeline so your team can correct it at the source.
Yes, BR-CO-14 is a critical error that will cause invoice rejection. It must be fixed before submission to ensure your invoice is accepted by the recipient's system.
BR-CO-14 involves a financial or legal field that cannot be auto-modified by policy. Invoice Navigator detects and flags this error immediately, but the correction must be made manually in your ERP or invoicing software.
BR-CO-14 is commonly seen in exports from All invoicing software. These software packages sometimes generate invoices that need adjustment to meet full compliance standards.
Related Content
Last updated: 3 March 2026
Detect BR-CO-14 Before Submission
This error involves a financial or legal field that cannot be auto-modified. The compliance engine flags it immediately with a clear diagnosis so your team can fix it at the source.