Invoice Rejected by ERP: Why It Happens (and How to Fix It)
ERP systems reject invoices every day for reasons that are not “tax” or “legal” issues — but simple structural problems: missing fields, inconsistent totals, or formatting that prevents the document from being processed.
Goal: identify structural issues before the invoice enters your ERP workflow, so you avoid delays, rework, and back-and-forth with vendors.
Most common structural reasons ERPs reject invoices
- Missing vendor tax ID or incomplete supplier identity fields
- Invoice number missing or not unique
- Totals mismatch (base + tax ≠ total due to rounding or data errors)
- Required buyer fields missing (company name, tax ID, address)
- Duplicate invoice already submitted (same number, vendor, amount)
- Unreadable PDF (scanned/image-based invoices may have limited extractable text)
What to do before resubmitting
- Confirm the invoice has all required header fields (vendor, buyer, number, date).
- Recalculate totals (including rounding) and ensure line items sum correctly.
- Check duplicates against past submissions.
- If the PDF is scanned, request a digital (text-based) PDF version when possible.