Under $PROJECT/resources create a file called error.template. Inside this file, place the formatted error template you want to return when a custom exception is thrown. If no custom template is given, the following default template will be used: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> %s Annotate the custom exception class with @Exception(httpStatus, contentType) The defaults are httpStatus = HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR contentType = MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE Make sure to add com.raychatter.common.annotation.AnnotationHandler as a bean in your XML. And that's it!