e-Invoicing Guidelines: ZATCA Releases Guidelines and Standards for e-Invoice Implementation

The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) (earlier known as GAZT) is the tax regulating authority in Saudi Arabia (SA). In 2020, ZATCA announced implementing e-invoicing in two phases. Accordingly, it implemented phase 1 of e-invoicing from 4th December 2021.

After that, ZATCA is set to implement phase 2 of e-invoicing from 1st January 2023. It clarified that phase 2 would be implemented in waves by dividing applicable taxpayers into targeted taxpayer groups and will notify them six months before their wave. 

Accordingly, ZATCA announced that the first wave of phase 2 applies to Value Added Tax (VAT) registered taxpayers whose revenue exceeded 3 billion SAR for the year ending 2021.

ZATCA issued e-invoicing guidelines for giving more understanding to taxpayers and smoothly implementing e-invoicing in Saudi Arabia.

Simplified Guidelines for e-Invoicing

​​​​The simplified guidelines for e-invoicing aim to provide taxpayers with a non-technical overview of the e-invoicing implementation in SA. It also contains requirements to facilitate their readiness for phase 1, i.e., the generation phase and phase 2, i.e., the integration phase.

e-Invoicing Detailed Guidelines

The detailed e-invoicing guidelines contain requirements for e-Invoicing (Fatoorah) and technical and security requirements for taxpayers and e-invoicing solution providers. Also, it includes detailed technical requirements such as invoice specifications, security specifications and the data dictionary.

This guideline provides more information and the impact of e-invoicing on certain transactions, scenarios and industries. Also, this guideline contains several examples of various invoices to be issued based on the types of transactions.

This guideline addresses all persons covered by Article (3) of the e-Invoicing Regulation, i.e., 

• The taxable person (who must be a resident of KSA).
• Customer or any third party issuing tax invoices on behalf of the taxable person as per the VAT Implementing Regulation.

Also, this guideline gives an understanding of the end-to-end taxpayer journey on e-invoicing, obligations, and the solution requirements to comply with e-invoicing regulations.

e-Invoicing Detailed Technical Guideline

The e-invoicing detailed technical guideline includes the technical requirements for the e-invoicing solutions. Also, after reading this guideline, you should be able to:

• Understand the onboarding process
• Understand the reporting and clearance process

This guideline guides users to understand the taxpayer’s journey in onboarding their e-Invoice Generation Solution (EGS) units and monitoring their compliance with the e-invoicing regulations.

This guideline covers the following specific processes and functionalities:

• An overview of the taxpayer e-invoicing journey
• Onboarding-related processes, such as:
  • Taxpayers accessing and logging into the Fatoora Portal
  • Generating a new Cryptographic Stamp Identifier (CSID) for the EGS unit or renewing the existing CSID
  • Sending a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) to receive a compliance CSID
  • Compliance checks by the EGS unit
  • Viewing the onboarded EGS units
  • Specific tax group onboarding scenarios
  • Common onboarding scenarios faced by Taxpayers
• Reporting and Clearance of e-invoices, Credit and Debit Notes (CDNs) related processes

This document is intended to be used by taxpayers and other persons such as service providers and EGS providers conducting e-invoicing activities on behalf of taxpayers.

​​​​​Fatoora Portal User Manual 

​​​​The fatoora portal user manual explains how to:

1. Access the fatoora portal
2. Onboard the EGS units for obtaining CSID
3. Renew or revoke the existing CSID
4. View the list of onboarded EGS units