BR-DE-21 XRechnung: wrong specification identifier

The file says it's an XRechnung, but its specification identifier isn't the current XRechnung one.

What the rule says

Das Element "Specification identifier" (BT-24) soll syntaktisch der Kennung des Standards XRechnung entsprechen.

The rule's official wording (CEN / KoSIT). The German XRechnung rules are published in German.

Why it happens

The file presents itself as an XRechnung, but its identifier (BT-24) isn't the current XRechnung 3.0 one. Usually the software still writes an old XRechnung version.

How to fix it

Update your invoicing software, or set the identifier to urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:xeinkauf.de:kosit:xrechnung_3.0.

Applies to

XRechnung only (German rules by KoSIT).

Check your invoice again Create an invoice that passes

More about BR-DE-21

The file uses the XRechnung rules but carries an identifier the current XRechnung version doesn't accept. The receiver only accepts the identifier for XRechnung 3.0: urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:xeinkauf.de:kosit:xrechnung_3.0, or the extension variant with #conformant#urn:xeinkauf.de:kosit:extension:xrechnung_3.0.

Older identifiers look similar and are easy to miss: xrechnung_2.3, xrechnung_2.2 or, for versions up to 2.0, urn:xoev-de:kosit:standard:xrechnung_2.0. Those versions are no longer valid, so invoicing software that still writes them needs an update. Changing just the identifier in the XML is risky, because the newer version also changed some rules, and the invoice may then fail other checks.

The fields involved

BT-24 Specification identifier: CII rsm:ExchangedDocumentContext/ram:GuidelineSpecifiedDocumentContextParameter/ram:ID; UBL cbc:CustomizationID

Typical situations

The invoicing software hasn't been updated in a few years.
A template or script was copied from an old example.
A ZUGFeRD XRECHNUNG profile from an older ZUGFeRD version was used.

Example

The current XRechnung identifier in CII:

<ram:GuidelineSpecifiedDocumentContextParameter>
  <ram:ID>urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:xeinkauf.de:kosit:xrechnung_3.0</ram:ID>
</ram:GuidelineSpecifiedDocumentContextParameter>