Base and modifiers

In a Unify submission, documentType is an object beside payload. Select exactly one base. Send modifiers as an array, even when it is empty. Include variant only when the country and base offer one. These selections affect which GETS fields you must supply; see the field reference.

On your country’s fields page, such as UAE fields, the Table view summarises requirements across all document types in Requirement and explains conditions in Description; Enums lists fixed allowed values. Required fields by document type, under the table, lists the paths each document type, modifier and variant makes mandatory. Open List with sample request to choose your document type, modifiers and variant under Scope and see the matching field paths and sample.

For an ordinary UAE tax invoice:

{
  "country": "AE",
  "documentType": {
    "base": "tax_invoice",
    "modifiers": []
  }
}

This is a selection excerpt, not a complete request. The quickstart supplies the GETS payload and other required request fields.

What modifiers change

A modifier can change the required fields or the treatment of a document. Some examples of what to check (every country’s modifiers are under Choices by country):

The UAE has no separate variant. For example, an out-of-scope UAE invoice uses base: "tax_invoice" with modifiers: ["out_of_scope"], not an out_of_scope variant. An out-of-scope document’s lines must be exempt, zero rated or not subject to VAT (ibr-122-ae), so it cannot carry reverse-charge lines either. If you send out_of_scope with self_billed, the document is sent as out of scope (type code 480 or 81), not as self-billed. See UAE document types and UAE fields for the supported routes and their requirements.

Variants are country-specific: Germany’s partial is an invoice variant; Malaysia’s refund is a credit-note variant. Do not assume a modifier or variant accepted for one country is accepted for another.

Choices by country

The bases, variants and modifiers each country offers, and the combinations its validation rejects.

United Arab Emirates (AE)

ibr-157-ae: an out-of-scope document cannot be a summary invoice, a deemed supply or under the margin scheme.

• Do not combine out_of_scope with summary, deemed_supply or margin_scheme.

Saudi Arabia (SA)

BR-KSA-31: simplified documents cannot be self-billed.

• self_billed works only with tax invoices, credit notes and debit notes.

BR-KSA-07: an export invoice cannot be self-billed.

• Do not combine export with self_billed.

Oman (OM)

Oman’s transaction type rules reject these:

• self_billed works only with tax invoices and credit notes.
• summary works only with tax invoices, credit notes and debit notes.
• export works only with tax invoices, credit notes and debit notes.
• reverse_charge works only with tax invoices and credit notes.
• margin_scheme works only with tax invoices, credit notes and debit notes.
• import_goods works only with tax invoices and credit notes.
• b2g works only with tax invoices, credit notes and debit notes.
• advance works only with tax invoices and simplified invoices.
• Do not combine self_billed with third_party, export, reverse_charge or import_goods.
• Do not combine summary with continuous_supply, export, margin_scheme, import_goods or advance.
• Do not combine continuous_supply with deemed_supply, margin_scheme or import_goods.
• Do not combine export with deemed_supply, reverse_charge, margin_scheme or import_goods.
• Do not combine deemed_supply with margin_scheme or advance.
• Do not combine reverse_charge with margin_scheme or import_goods.
• Do not combine margin_scheme with import_goods.
• Do not combine e_commerce with import_goods.

Malaysia (MY)

• refund works only with credit notes.

Belgium (BE)

Validation does not reject any pairing of these modifiers for Belgium. Each modifier still adds its own required fields.

Germany (DE)

Validation does not reject any pairing of these modifiers for Germany. Each modifier still adds its own required fields.

If the selection is rejected

Check country, base, variant and each modifiers value against your chosen country’s options. Then use the field reference to supply any newly required fields. A validation failure returns 422 with field-level errors; Unify errors explains the response and how to correct it.