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E-invoice error explained

BR-DE-2: Seller contact block is missing

An XRechnung must name a contact at the seller: name (BT-41), phone (BT-42) and e-mail (BT-43).

What the rule checks

An XRechnung must name a contact at the seller: name (BT-41), phone (BT-42) and e-mail (BT-43). This rule fires when the whole contact block is missing. If the block is there and only one field is empty, you get BR-DE-5, BR-DE-6 or BR-DE-7 instead.

Official rule text

The group "SELLER CONTACT" (BG-6) must be transmitted.

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

Typical causes

  • No contact person is maintained in the company master data.
  • The export only writes the contact block when a name is present.
  • The file was reused from a ZUGFeRD output. The contact is optional in EN 16931, but not in XRechnung.

How to fix it

Add ram:DefinedTradeContact inside ram:SellerTradeParty with ram:PersonName (or ram:DepartmentName), ram:TelephoneUniversalCommunication/ram:CompleteNumber and ram:EmailURIUniversalCommunication/ram:URIID. A department such as "Accounts receivable" is accepted as the name. The block goes after ram:Name and before ram:PostalTradeAddress.

Example

Wrong (CII)

<ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:Name>Muster GmbH</ram:Name>
  <ram:PostalTradeAddress>...</ram:PostalTradeAddress>
</ram:SellerTradeParty>

Right (CII)

<ram:SellerTradeParty>
  <ram:Name>Muster GmbH</ram:Name>
  <ram:DefinedTradeContact>
    <ram:PersonName>Anna Beispiel</ram:PersonName>
    <ram:TelephoneUniversalCommunication>
      <ram:CompleteNumber>+49 931 123456</ram:CompleteNumber>
    </ram:TelephoneUniversalCommunication>
    <ram:EmailURIUniversalCommunication>
      <ram:URIID>rechnung@muster.de</ram:URIID>
    </ram:EmailURIUniversalCommunication>
  </ram:DefinedTradeContact>
  <ram:PostalTradeAddress>...</ram:PostalTradeAddress>
</ram:SellerTradeParty>

In Dynamics 365, Business Central and Finance

Sales / Project Operations: Sales and Project Operations have no e-invoice output out of the box. In the WBS Invoice Accelerator for Dynamics 365 the name, phone and e-mail come from the brand profile: Contact person, Phone and Email. Contact person is not on the brand profile form in version 1.1.0.2. Your administrator can ask WBS to set it.

Business Central: Fill Contact Person, Phone No. and E-Mail on the Company Information page. If the file still has no contact, also check the salesperson (Salesperson Code) on the sales document, because depending on the export format the contact can come from there.

Finance: Finance takes the legal entity's contact details from the Person linked to the signed-in user. Check the name, phone and e-mail of that person.

Related error codes

All error codes

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