3830624 - The Rejection [BR-FR-CO-05/BT-3] Occurs for French Credit Memos – SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition

French Credit Memos (eDocuments) are rejected with validation error [BR-FR-CO-05/BT-3].

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition

1. Open the eDocument Cockpit app.
2. Locate a France eDocument with status Service Error.
3. Choose Go To... → History.
4. Select the last line in the history.
5. Choose Export File.
6. Open the XML File Downloaded.

 The rejection "[BR-FR-CO-05/BT-3]" is displayed.

The BT-25 reference is missing or not derived from the preceding document, which will lead to the rejection [BR-FR-CO-05/BT-3] to occur as a response from Tax Authority side. 

The French Authority mandate that credit notes require to include the tag BillingReference (BT-25) that points to the original invoice.

The reason for the Rejection [BR-FR-CO-05/BT-3] to be occurring for the French Credit Memos (eDocuments) is because the billing reference (BT-25) in the UBL Credit Note is a mandatory French legal requirement enforced by the PPF (Portail Public de Facturation) — rule BR-FR-CO-05. It is a FATAL validation on the authority side.

Currently there is no standard enhancement, or BAdI available to inject the original invoice reference into the XML structure independently of the document data. Even if such an enhancement existed, the PPF would still require the reference to point to a real, identifiable prior invoice. Injecting it outside of the actual document relationship would produce a legally incorrect e-invoice.

The correct resolution is to adjust your posting process so that the credit note carries a reference to the original invoice at document creation time:

• For SD credit memos: The credit memo must be created with a reference back to the original billing document, so that the system can trace the document flow and automatically derive the billing reference for the XML.
• For FI credit memos: At the time of posting, the original invoice reference must be populated in the document header (the reference/document number field), pointing to the prior invoice. The system will then identify it and include it in the XML.

This requirement was previously a warning at the PPF level and has since been elevated to a FATAL error following a schema change on the PPF side. The requirement itself has always existed under French e-invoicing regulations.

Note: For the eDocuments (French Credit Memo) maintained without a Reference ID before the rule BR-FR-CO-05 was considered as a Fatal error, they will be successfully accepted by the PPF (Portail Public de Facturation), however for the eDocuments (French Credit Memo) created after the rule BR-FR-CO-05 was considered as a Fatal error, they will be rejected as a Reference ID was not maintained for the Credit Memo.

This rejection occurs from Tax Authority side according to the new Schematron validations for France. Even though the Reference ID field can be maintained empty, as per new Schematron validations it will result in the rejection BR-FR-CO-05.

BR-FR-CO-05, BT-25, BillingReference, France eInvoicing, credit memo, eDocument Cockpit, validation error, PPF, UBL CreditNote, XML, Document and Reporting Compliance, SD credit memo, FI credit memo, French e-invoice, reference to initial invoice , KBA , CA-GTF-CSC-EDO-FR , France Electronic Invoicing , Problem