IN-QUANTITY-POSITIVE:Line quantity should be positive
Invoice line quantity (InvoicedQuantity) should typically be a positive value.
Engine Classification
Financial or legal field · Modification blocked by policy
Reason: Line quantities should be positive values. Negative quantities indicate a data entry error or that this should be a credit note. Fix the quantities in your source system, or use invoice type 381 (Credit Note) for returns.
What is IN-QUANTITY-POSITIVE?
IN-QUANTITY-POSITIVE is a warning validation rule defined in the peppol-bis-3 specification. It validates the InvoicedQuantity element under Invoice > InvoiceLine in the UBL invoice XML.
This is a soft validation failure. The invoice may pass initial transmission, but non-compliant values in this field can cause problems during tax audits, buyer-side processing, or downstream VAT reconciliation.
Target path: XPath: /Invoice/cac:InvoiceLine/cbc:InvoicedQuantity
Why This Error Matters
Positive quantities expected on invoices.
IN-QUANTITY-POSITIVE is a soft failure. The invoice may pass initial validation, but the non-compliant field can cause issues at the receiving end — tax authorities may flag it during audits, buyer ERP systems may fail to process it, or VAT reconciliation may produce mismatches. Fixing warnings before they accumulate prevents larger compliance gaps.
Validator Behavior
- ·Generates validation warning
- ·Rejected by PEPPOL Access Points
- ·Error returned: IN-QUANTITY-POSITIVE
- ·Specification: peppol-bis-3
How to Fix It
Check quantities
Each line InvoicedQuantity
Use positive
Or use credit note for returns
XML Example
Generic example based on the rule's target XPath. Your actual XML structure may differ.
<!-- Incorrect value --> <cbc:InvoicedQuantity>INVALID</cbc:InvoicedQuantity>
<!-- Corrected value --> <cbc:InvoicedQuantity>VALID_VALUE</cbc:InvoicedQuantity>
Technical Reference
XPath: /Invoice/cac:InvoiceLine/cbc:InvoicedQuantityCommon Causes
- ·Negative quantity on invoice
Seeing this in production? The API handles IN-QUANTITY-POSITIVE automatically. See the fix response →
Frequently Asked Questions
InvoicedQuantity should typically be positive.
Use positive quantity; for credits use credit note. This error involves a protected field — Invoice Navigator flags it in your pipeline so your team can correct it at the source.
Yes, PEPPOL-EN16931-R053 is a critical error that must be fixed.
Related Content
Last updated: 3 March 2026
Detect IN-QUANTITY-POSITIVE 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.