NEGATIVE_TOTAL_REQUIRES_RECTIFICATIVE

When it happens

The lines add up to a negative total on an invoice that is not a corrective one. Individual negative lines (a discount, a deposit) are allowed; a negative invoice is a refund, and a refund has to reference the invoice it refunds.

How to fix it

Create a corrective invoice from the invoice you are refunding. If the total should be positive, check the signs of your quantities and prices.

Retry

Not as is: the same request fails the same way. Fix the cause described above, then send the request again, under a new Idempotency-Key if the body changed.

Returned by

The operations where this code is most likely. The list is not exhaustive.

• POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices
• PATCH /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices/{invoice_id}
• POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/recurring-invoices

Rules that cite this code

• COR-012 Returns can be netted only on a later supply to the same customer
• CNT-019 Only a corrective invoice totals less than zero

Example response

When this error occurs, the API answers 422 Unprocessable Content with a JSON body of this shape:

{
  "type": "https://docs.beel.es/errors/NEGATIVE_TOTAL_REQUIRES_RECTIFICATIVE",
  "title": "NEGATIVE_TOTAL_REQUIRES_RECTIFICATIVE",
  "detail": "The invoice total cannot be negative. Use corrective invoices (R1-R5) for refunds.",
  "instance": "/v1/<resource>",
  "errors": [],
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "NEGATIVE_TOTAL_REQUIRES_RECTIFICATIVE",
    "message": "The invoice total cannot be negative. Use corrective invoices (R1-R5) for refunds.",
    "details": {}
  },
  "meta": {
    "timestamp": "2026-05-21T10:00:00Z",
    "request_id": "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736"
  }
}

The type URI is stable and always resolves to this page.

Message

Send the request with Accept-Language: <es|en|ca> to receive the message in your preferred language.

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