# Issue with E-Invoice: Seller and Buyer Having Same VAT Number (BR-CUSTOM-VALIDATION-01) **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [March 11, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://zatca1.discourse.group/t/issue-with-e-invoice-seller-and-buyer-having-same-vat-number-br-custom-validation-01/6232 "2025-03-11T12:57:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![khalifullah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@khalifullah](https://zatca1.discourse.group/u/khalifullah)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://zatca1.discourse.group/t/issue-with-e-invoice-seller-and-buyer-having-same-vat-number-br-custom-validation-01/6232/1 "2025-03-11T12:57:42Z")
Hi everyone, I’m facing an issue while generating an e-invoice. In our scenario, both the seller and buyer have the same VAT number. When we attempt to generate the e-invoice, we receive the following error: **BR-CUSTOM-VALIDATION-01**. The Seller VAT registration number or seller group VAT registration number (BT-31) of The invoice must not match the buyer VAT registration number (BT-48) Has anyone encountered this issue before? Is it possible to generate an e-invoice in such a case? If yes, what steps should we follow to resolve this error? Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Ankit.K.Tiwari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9d8465/32.png) [@Ankit.K.Tiwari](https://zatca1.discourse.group/u/Ankit.K.Tiwari)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://zatca1.discourse.group/t/issue-with-e-invoice-seller-and-buyer-having-same-vat-number-br-custom-validation-01/6232/2 "2025-03-11T13:16:11Z")
@khalifullah where Supplier and Buyer entities have same VAT Number, then such transactions are out of scope of VAT and Tax Invoice cannot be issued by a taxpayer to itself. You should not generate Tax Invoice (e-invoice) for transactions where seller and buyer VAT number is same. The concept of Self billing is different, in Self-billing, Buyer is allowed (with prior approval of ZATCA) to generate Tax Invoice on behalf of Seller. To understand self-billing, please refer Article 53(2) of KSA VAT Regulations. ---
**Author:** ![khalifullah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@khalifullah](https://zatca1.discourse.group/u/khalifullah)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://zatca1.discourse.group/t/issue-with-e-invoice-seller-and-buyer-having-same-vat-number-br-custom-validation-01/6232/3 "2025-03-11T14:55:50Z")
thanks @Ankit.K.Tiwari ---
**Author:** ![khalifullah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@khalifullah](https://zatca1.discourse.group/u/khalifullah)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 12:15pm UTC](https://zatca1.discourse.group/t/issue-with-e-invoice-seller-and-buyer-having-same-vat-number-br-custom-validation-01/6232/4 "2025-03-13T12:15:01Z")
hi @Ankit.K.Tiwari , some doubts as below ie buyer and seller in b2b 1. For branches with the same VAT number but **different** CRNs 2. For branches with the same VAT number and **same** CRNs 3. For VatGroup ---
**Author:** ![Ankit.K.Tiwari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9d8465/32.png) [@Ankit.K.Tiwari](https://zatca1.discourse.group/u/Ankit.K.Tiwari)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 12:20pm UTC](https://zatca1.discourse.group/t/issue-with-e-invoice-seller-and-buyer-having-same-vat-number-br-custom-validation-01/6232/5 "2025-03-13T12:20:43Z")
@khalifullah if your question is whether you should or should not raise Tax Invoice for above referred scenarios, then please note in all 3 scenarios you should not generate Tax Invoice as the Buyer VAT number is same as seller’s VAT number (i.e., its one taxable person for VAT purposes).