ZATCA e-invoicing — the national programme called Fatoora, run by the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority — replaces paper and manual invoices with structured, validated, digitally-issued ones. It rolls out in two phases.
Phase 1 — Generation
Live since December 2021. Every VAT-registered business had to stop handwritten and text-editor invoices and issue structured electronic invoices carrying a QR code and all mandatory fields, stored electronically.
Phase 2 — Integration
Live since January 2023, rolled out in waves by revenue. Phase 2 connects your invoicing system directly to the Fatoora platform through a secure API. Invoices must be UBL 2.1 XML carrying a cryptographic stamp, a UUID and a QR code. Standard (B2B) tax invoices are cleared by ZATCA in real time before they are valid; simplified (B2C) invoices are reported within 24 hours.
The waves keep widening: Wave 24, announced in September 2025, dropped the threshold to SAR 375,000 of turnover — making integrated e-invoicing nearly universal for small and mid-size businesses — with a deadline of 30 June 2026. ZATCA notifies each wave roughly six months ahead.
Getting it wrong is expensive
Non-compliance draws fines up to SAR 50,000, and ZATCA can suspend your ability to issue invoices. A penalty-waiver initiative has run to 30 June 2026 — a closing window to fix historical gaps without the fines.
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