The blanks that divert it, and the blanks that let it go out wrong — transcript

Presentation 4 of 6 in Self-billed e-invoices: reporting what your supplier will not · about 12 minutes · for the whole-system operator — you run the books.

Play this as a presentation — one slide per step, with the same narration. Every word of every step is on this page.

This lesson is for you if a self-billed purchase at GadgetSphere never reached LHDN and nothing told you so. That is the normal failure here: a blank field on the supplier does not raise an error, it quietly diverts the document. In about twelve minutes you will know the check that makes the decision, the five blanks that divert a document, the two blanks that let it go out wrong instead, and where to watch a single document move.

Step 1 — Understand the check that decides everything

After this step you know what has to be true before anything reaches LHDN. Once a self-billed purchase document is finalised, BigLedger looks at its submission type first: a document marked for consolidation goes straight to the Batch Pool and no check runs on it at all. Everything else reaches the posting queue, where a scheduled processor assembles the e-invoice from the document, your company and the supplier, and runs a mandatory-field check over it. The header must carry both parties’ name, tax number, identity type and identity value; the supplier’s industry code and business-activity description; both addresses with line one, city and state; both contact numbers between eight and twenty characters; and the document’s currency and totals. Every line must carry a classification, an item name, a unit price, a tax type and a tax amount. Pass, and the document is built and queued. Fail, and it is parked in a pool.

Reference: My E-Invoice Admin Applet — 2 posting queue to irb or a pool cron e_invoice_generic_document_to_irb_processor

Step 2 — Learn the five reasons a supplier diverts a document

After this step you can read a diverted row and know which field to go and fix. When the supplier half of a self-billed e-invoice is incomplete, nothing fails loudly. The document is set aside with a reason written against it, and there are five of them, phrased almost identically. The supplier tax number is missing. The supplier identity type is missing. The supplier identity value is missing. The supplier identity number is missing. The supplier business activity description is missing. Every one of those is a field on the supplier’s E-Invoice tab, so every one of them is fixed in the same place, and fixing it fixes every future document against that supplier at the same time.

Screen: a pool row for a self-billed purchase invoice with the Validation Error panel open, listing the missing supplier fields

Reference: Supplier — Self-billed e-Invoices and Peppol routing

Step 3 — Know the two blanks that go to LHDN anyway

After this step you will stop assuming that a document which passed the check is a document that is right. Two supplier fields behave differently from the five above. If the service tax or tourism tax number is blank, it is not treated as missing — the letters N A are sent in its place. If the industry classification code is blank, five zeros are sent instead. Neither blank stops BigLedger from sending it, so the document goes out with a substitute in place of a real number and nothing raises a word about it. Watch the verdict on that one like any other. If your supplier really has a service tax registration or a meaningful industry code, put it on the record; otherwise you are filing a substitute.

Reference: Supplier — Self-billed e-Invoices and Peppol routing

Step 4 — Deal with the line that has nothing to inherit

After this step you have budgeted for the part of self-billing that actually takes time. A sales line usually points at an item in your item master, and the item carries the LHDN classification code, so the line fills itself. A self-billed line almost never does: a commission, a licence fee, a freight charge or a foreign subscription is an expense account, not a stock item, and there is no item behind it to inherit from. A blank classification does not divert the document; it is sent as the catch-all code for other items. If that is not what the purchase really is, the code has to come from your own general-ledger or expense mapping and, in practice, be set by hand.

Reference: Incoming Supplier E-Invoices — Step 5: When the supplier will not issue one

Step 5 — Watch one document through its four stages

After this step you can answer “where is it?” without opening the admin applet at all. Every purchase document that can be self-billed has its own E-Invoice tab, and that tab is the quickest place to look. Submission shows the submission type and the supplier identity block that was actually used, which is what you want when you suspect the document went out with stale details. Progress shows four stages in order: pending in the posting queue, sitting in the pool, waiting in the submission queue, and submitted to LHDN. A document resting at the pool stage is either waiting for consolidation or waiting for a missing field, so open the row and read its reason before you go and edit a supplier. Which pool it is in depends on the amount: under ten thousand ringgit the Batch Pool, at ten thousand and above the Individual Pool.

Screen: the purchase invoice’s E-Invoice tab with Progress open, the four stages shown and the document resting at the pool stage

Reference: Incoming Supplier E-Invoices — Step 5: When the supplier will not issue one

Step 6 — Fix it in the pool, and fix it at the source

After this step a diverted document moves and stops coming back. From the pool row you can edit the missing values and press Save and Resubmit, which writes your corrections, runs the mandatory check again and, if it now passes, builds the e-invoice and queues it for submission. That clears the one document in front of you. It does not necessarily mend the supplier record that caused it, and the next purchase against that supplier will divert in exactly the same way. So do both: clear the row to get the month reported, then open the supplier’s E-Invoice tab and fill in what was missing, permanently.

Reference: My E-Invoice Admin Applet — 3. Pools — what the buttons do

How the steps fit together

    flowchart TD
  s1["Step 1 — Understand the check that decides everything"]
  s2["Step 2 — Learn the five reasons a supplier diverts a document"]
  s3["Step 3 — Know the two blanks that go to LHDN anyway"]
  s4["Step 4 — Deal with the line that has nothing to inherit"]
  s5["Step 5 — Watch one document through its four stages"]
  s6["Step 6 — Fix it in the pool, and fix it at the source"]
  s1 --> s2
  s2 --> s3
  s3 --> s4
  s4 --> s5
  s5 --> s6

Check yourself

Three to five questions on what you just heard. Every correct answer links to the page that makes it correct, so you can check the source, not just the mark.

1. A self-billed purchase never reached LHDN and no error was raised anywhere. What happened? The submission failed in transit and will be retried
A required supplier field was blank, so the document was diverted with a reason written against it
The supplier's tax number was rejected by LHDN

2. The supplier's service tax number and industry classification code are both blank. What happens? The document is diverted until both are filled
Neither stops the submission — a substitute is sent for each, and the document goes to LHDN wrong
The submission is rejected by LHDN with a content error

3. A self-billed line for an agent's commission has no classification code. What is sent? The catch-all code for other items, because there is no item master behind the line to inherit from
Nothing, and the line is dropped from the e-invoice
The classification code from the supplier's industry code

4. Where do you look first to see how far one self-billed document has got? Its own E-Invoice tab, on the Progress sub-tab with its four stages
Submission History in the admin applet
The purchase-document matching queue

5. You correct a pooled self-billed document and press Save and Resubmit. What has that fixed? Both the document and the supplier record it came from
That one document — the supplier's own E-Invoice tab still needs the same fix
Nothing until the next consolidation run

Answer key

A required supplier field was blank, so the document was diverted with a reason written against it — Supplier — Troubleshooting
Neither stops the submission — a substitute is sent for each, and the document goes to LHDN wrong — Supplier — Self-billed e-Invoices and Peppol routing
The catch-all code for other items, because there is no item master behind the line to inherit from — Incoming Supplier E-Invoices — Step 5: When the supplier will not issue one
Its own E-Invoice tab, on the Progress sub-tab with its four stages — Incoming Supplier E-Invoices — Step 5: When the supplier will not issue one
That one document — the supplier's own E-Invoice tab still needs the same fix — My E-Invoice Admin Applet — 3. Pools — what the buttons do

This is a self-check. Your answers are marked in your browser and stay there — nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is recorded, and the marking is readable in the page source, so it is not a credential. Open the answer key at any time.

Next: What runs for you, and what never will · Back to the series · Play this as a presentation

Last updated on September 17, 2026

The blanks that divert it, and the blanks that let it go out wrong What runs for you, and what never will