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E-invoice error explained

BR-DE-15: Buyer reference (Leitweg-ID) is missing

Every XRechnung needs a buyer reference in BT-10.

What the rule checks

Every XRechnung needs a buyer reference in BT-10. For invoices to German public authorities this is the Leitweg-ID, the routing ID the receiving platform uses to pass the invoice to the right office. The rule only checks that the field is present and not empty. It does not check whether the Leitweg-ID is correct.

Official rule text

The element "Buyer reference" (BT-10) must be transmitted.

Source: KoSIT configuration XRechnung 3.0.2 (31 Jan 2026).

Typical causes

  • The public buyer never sent a Leitweg-ID, or it was not entered on the customer or the order.
  • The ERP has the value, but the export writes a different field, or nothing, to BT-10.
  • The invoice went to a business customer and was still exported as XRechnung. BT-10 is mandatory there too.
  • The field holds only spaces, which counts as empty.

How to fix it

Enter the buyer reference in BT-10. For public buyers this is the Leitweg-ID exactly as the authority gave it to you. It has up to three parts separated by hyphens: the coarse address, an optional fine address and a two-digit check number. In CII the element is ram:BuyerReference inside ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement, in UBL it is cbc:BuyerReference. If a business customer has no Leitweg-ID, agree on another reference, such as their purchase order number. Never make up a Leitweg-ID.

Example

Wrong (CII)

<ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement>
  <ram:SellerTradeParty>
    <ram:Name>Muster GmbH</ram:Name>
  </ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:BuyerTradeParty>
    <ram:Name>Landesamt Beispiel</ram:Name>
  </ram:BuyerTradeParty>
</ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement>

Right (CII)

<ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement>
  <ram:BuyerReference>04011000-1234512345-06</ram:BuyerReference>
  <ram:SellerTradeParty>
    <ram:Name>Muster GmbH</ram:Name>
  </ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:BuyerTradeParty>
    <ram:Name>Landesamt Beispiel</ram:Name>
  </ram:BuyerTradeParty>
</ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement>

Wrong (UBL)

<cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>EUR</cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>
<cac:AccountingSupplierParty>...</cac:AccountingSupplierParty>

Right (UBL)

<cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>EUR</cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>
<cbc:BuyerReference>04011000-1234512345-06</cbc:BuyerReference>
<cac:AccountingSupplierParty>...</cac:AccountingSupplierParty>

In Dynamics 365, Business Central and Finance

Sales / Project Operations: Sales and Project Operations have no e-invoice output out of the box. There is no Leitweg-ID field. It is usually kept in a custom column on the account or the order. In the WBS Invoice Accelerator for Dynamics 365 it is the invoice column Routing ID (Leitweg-ID, B2G) (wbs_leitwegid).

Business Central: On the E-Document Services page, Export FastTab, the Buyer Reference field sets the source. With Customer reference, Business Central takes the E-Invoice Routing No. from the customer card. With Your reference, fill Your Reference on the sales document. Buyer Reference Mandatory makes the value required.

Finance: Microsoft's German xRechnung setup asks for a customer requisition on the sales order, free text invoice or project contract funding source (References section: Customer requisition and Customer reference). Check in the generated XML which of the two ends up in cbc:BuyerReference and enter the Leitweg-ID there.

Related error codes

All error codes

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