# BR-IC-12: Add the deliver-to country to an intra-community supply

A document with a `K` VAT breakdown must give the country the goods were delivered to, in the deliver-to address under `cac:Delivery/cac:DeliveryLocation`.

- Layer: EN 16931
- Severity: fatal (the document is invalid)
- Topics: VAT, Parties and addresses
- Official definition: https://docs.peppol.eu/poacc/billing/3.0/rules/ubl-tc434/BR-IC-12/
- Explanation last updated: 2026-09-24

## The short answer

`BR-IC-12` fails when the VAT breakdown has a `K` category and there is no country code at `cac:Delivery/cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address/cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode` under the document root. Add the deliver-to address with the ISO 3166-1 code of the country the goods went to: `DE` in the recorded example.

The path is exact. A country in `cac:Delivery/cac:DeliveryAddress`, or in the buyer postal address, does not satisfy it.

## What the rule checks

A `K` category in the document-level VAT breakdown, under the `VAT` scheme, is what brings the rule into play; the lines are not consulted. It reports once, at the root.

It reads a single location: the `cbc:IdentificationCode` in `cac:Country` of `cac:Address` in `cac:DeliveryLocation` of the document-level `cac:Delivery`, and the value there must be longer than one character.

The buyer address is not used as a fallback. The failing invoice has a buyer in Berlin with country `DE` and still fails.

The country alone is enough. When tried, a `cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address` holding only `cac:Country` gave a valid document; the city in the recorded example is optional.

The code is not compared with anything. A deliver-to country of `GB`, the same as the seller, passed every layer when tried, so the rule will not flag a supply marked `K` that never left the seller country.

Whether the code is a real country is left to `BR-CL-14`. With `de` in lower case this rule passed and `BR-CL-14` failed; an empty code failed this rule, `BR-CL-14` and `PEPPOL-EN16931-R008` together.

An address with no `cac:Country` fails this rule and `BR-57`, which wants a country in every deliver-to address.

| Term | Meaning | UBL element |
|---|---|---|
| BT-118 | VAT category code | `cac:TaxTotal/cac:TaxSubtotal/cac:TaxCategory/cbc:ID` |
| BG-15 | Deliver to address | `cac:Delivery/cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address` |
| BT-80 | Deliver to country code | `cac:Delivery/cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address/cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode` |

## How an integration ends up here

Possible causes, from the shape of the rule rather than from measured usage:

- The mapping writes the destination to `cac:Delivery/cac:DeliveryAddress`, an element UBL has but Peppol does not use. When tried, that reported this rule plus the warning `UBL-CR-682`.
- Only a deliver-to party name is sent, in `cac:DeliveryParty`, with no location. That also failed when tried.
- The export leaves out `cac:Delivery` when the goods go to the buyer address, assuming the buyer address covers it.
- The deliver-to address is mapped without a country, because the source holds the country only on the customer record.

## How to fix it

1. Take the destination country from the shipping or dispatch record. It can differ from the buyer address; use where the goods were delivered, not where the invoice is addressed.
2. Write it at `cac:Delivery/cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address/cac:Country/cbc:IdentificationCode` as an upper-case ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code. Street, city and postcode can go in the same `cac:Address` when you have them.
3. If the mapping uses `cac:DeliveryAddress`, move its content into `cac:DeliveryLocation/cac:Address` instead.
4. Keep `cbc:ActualDeliveryDate` in the same `cac:Delivery`, ahead of `cac:DeliveryLocation`. With the date after the location, the document failed the XSD layer when tried.

## Before and after

These are fragments, not complete documents. The complete synthetic documents they come from are linked below.

Fragment of the failing invoice: the delivery block has a date and no deliver-to location

```xml
<cac:Delivery>
  <cbc:ActualDeliveryDate>2026-09-07</cbc:ActualDeliveryDate>
</cac:Delivery>
```

Fragment of the corrected invoice: the deliver-to address in Berlin with country DE

```xml
<cac:Delivery>
  <cbc:ActualDeliveryDate>2026-09-07</cbc:ActualDeliveryDate>
  <cac:DeliveryLocation>
    <cac:Address>
      <cbc:CityName>Berlin</cbc:CityName>
      <cac:Country>
        <cbc:IdentificationCode>DE</cbc:IdentificationCode>
      </cac:Country>
    </cac:Address>
  </cac:DeliveryLocation>
</cac:Delivery>
```

The corrected invoice has a `cac:DeliveryLocation` with an address in Berlin and country `DE` inside `cac:Delivery`; the failing invoice has only the delivery date there. The failing document reports only `BR-IC-12`. Its buyer postal address also says `DE`, which shows that the rule does not borrow the buyer country.

### What the validator reported

- The failing invoice reports **BR-IC-12**. The corrected document passes every layer with no findings.
  - [Download the failing XML](https://ironfang.uk/finance/rule-examples/BR-IC-12-invalid.xml)
  - [Download the corrected XML](https://ironfang.uk/finance/rule-examples/intra-community-valid.xml)

Recorded on phive 12.1.0 / phive-rules-peppol 4.5.6 / Saxon-HE 12.10, the engine behind the free validator, using synthetic data. A recorded result is regression evidence for these documents; it is not a certification.

## Where it applies

- Applies to UBL `Invoice` and `CreditNote`. Converted to a credit note, the failing invoice produced the same finding when tried.
- Reported by the EN 16931 layer, so any XSD failure in the document, such as elements in the wrong order inside `cac:Delivery`, stops it from being reported.
- Outside category `K` a deliver-to address is optional, but one that is sent still needs a country under `BR-57`.

## Related rules

- [BR-57 requires a country in any deliver-to address, whatever the VAT category](https://ironfang.uk/docs/finance/rules/BR-57.md)
- [BR-IC-11 asks for the delivery date or invoicing period on the same document](https://ironfang.uk/docs/finance/rules/BR-IC-11.md)
- [UBL-CR-682 warns when the address is sent as cac:DeliveryAddress, where this rule does not look](https://ironfang.uk/docs/finance/rules/UBL-CR-682.md)
- [BR-CL-14 checks that the deliver-to country code is a valid ISO 3166-1 code](https://ironfang.uk/docs/finance/rules/BR-CL-14.md)

## Scope and source

Written for Peppol BIS Billing 3.0.21 (May 2026), EN 16931 1.3.16, as applied to UBL 2.1 Invoice and CreditNote documents. Other profiles, syntaxes and releases can define this identifier differently. Guidance version 2026-09-24.1: source checked 2026-09-24, explanation last updated 2026-09-24.

[The official definition of BR-IC-12](https://docs.peppol.eu/poacc/billing/3.0/rules/ubl-tc434/BR-IC-12/) carries the normative wording and test. This page is our explanation of it, not a copy.

Guidance does not change the engine verdict. Fixing this finding does not mean the document passes every layer, and validation does not certify legal or tax compliance or transmit a document over Peppol.

## Links

- [This rule as a web page](https://ironfang.uk/docs/finance/rules/BR-IC-12)
- [Free Peppol invoice validator](https://ironfang.uk/tools/peppol-validator)
- [Rule index](https://ironfang.uk/docs/finance/rules.md)
- [Ironfang Finance API docs](https://ironfang.uk/docs/finance)
- The same rule is available to MCP clients as the tool `finance.rule.get` on https://mcp.ironfang.uk/mcp