BR-E-05: Exempt (E) invoice lines must have a VAT rate of 0

Explained by Matheel from ZATCA's rule text and the condition SDK 3.4.8 executes · Updated October 24, 2026

Error: the invoice is rejectedConditional, see belowFields: BG-25, BT-151, BT-152

Applies to each line cac:Item/cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory with cbc:ID = 'E' and TaxScheme 'VAT': its cbc:Percent (BT-152) must equal 0.

How to fix it

For exempt lines use <cbc:ID>E</cbc:ID><cbc:Percent>0</cbc:Percent> inside cac:ClassifiedTaxCategory.

ZATCA's official text

[BR-E-05]-In an Invoice line (BG-25) where the Invoiced item VAT category code (BT-151) is "Exempt from VAT", the Invoiced item VAT rate (BT-152) shall be 0 (zero).
Source: ZATCA SDK 3.4.8 · EN 16931 (CEN) rules

Fails when (the condition ZATCA's SDK runs)

not((xs:decimal(cbc:Percent) = 0))

Related rules

• BR-16 · Every invoice needs at least one invoice line (BG-25)
• BR-21 · Each invoice line needs a line identifier (BT-126)
• BR-22 · Each invoice line needs an invoiced quantity (BT-129)
• BR-24 · Each invoice line needs a line net amount (BT-131)
• BR-25 · Each invoice line needs an item name (BT-153)
• BR-26 · Each invoice line needs an item net price (BT-146)