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BT-40: Seller Country Code

Two-character ISO code of the country where the seller is resident.

BT-40•Mandatory (1..1)•EN 16931-1 / XRechnung 3.0 / ZUGFeRD 2.3

Technical Specification

Requirement & Cardinality
1..1(Mandatory)

Mandatory (1..1) 2-character ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code

Data Type
Country code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, e.g. DE, AT, CH)

Semantic data format according to European Standard EN 16931-1

XML Syntax Mappings
UBL 2.1(XRechnung / Peppol BIS)
Invoice/cac:AccountingSupplierParty/cac:Party/cac:PostalAddress/cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode
UN/CEFACT CII D16B(ZUGFeRD 2.3 / Factur-X)
rsm:CrossIndustryInvoice/rsm:SupplyChainTradeTransaction/ram:ApplicableHeaderTradeAgreement/ram:SellerTradeParty/ram:PostalTradeAddress/ram:CountryID

What does BT-40 mean?

Seller country code (BT-40) is crucial for tax jurisdiction determination and cross-border trade calculations. Must follow ISO 3166-1 alpha-2.

XML Syntax & Code Example

OASIS UBL 2.1 (XRechnung)
<cac:Country>
  <cbc:IdentificationCode>DE</cbc:IdentificationCode>
</cac:Country>

Business Rules & Schematron Checks

BR-09

The Seller postal address shall have a Seller country code (BT-40).

Check BT-40 in your invoice

Use the XML paths above to locate BT-40. A snippet illustrates this field; it is not a complete invoice. After correcting a value in the source application, export and check the entire file again.

Find rule violations in the validatorRead invoice values in the viewer

Official specifications and rule sets

Requirements depend on the invoice profile and version. Consult the matching specification for mandatory fields, code lists and rules; Peppol-specific requirements do not automatically apply to every ZUGFeRD invoice.

Related Business Terms (BTs)

BT-27
Seller Name
The full official registered legal name of the seller.
BT-35
Seller Address Line 1
The main street name and building number of the seller.
BT-55
Buyer Country Code
Country code of the buyer.

Create compliant E-Invoices easily

Create XRechnung and ZUGFeRD invoices in Billance and check the exported file locally. Use this guide to understand BT-40 and review your invoice details before sending.

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