ZATCA Academy

There are multiple reasons in favour of implementing electronic invoicing. The main ones are:

• The new regulations announced by ZATCA making the e-invoicing mandatory from December 4th, 2021
• Financial transparency
• Compliance with e-invoicing regulations
• Reduced procure-to-pay cycles
• Automated invoice registration via API / EDI
• Reduced operational costs

The deployment of e-invoicing solution takes on average from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. The ready-to-deploy connectors shall just need to be customised towards a business specification as they are already configured meeting the ZATCA’s regulations.

There are currently no penalties applicable. However, the non-compliance penalties stipulated in the VAT Law will be applicable at the end of the grace period (December 4th, 2021).

All taxable persons for VAT purposes (excluding non-resident taxable persons), in addition to any other party issuing tax invoices on behalf of a supplier subject to VAT.

The implementation of Electronic Invoicing has two main phases:

1. Phase One: Generation and storing of tax invoices and electronic credit or debit notes in a structured electronic format issued through an electronic solution, and including all the requirements of tax invoices.

2. Phase Two: Integration of the taxable persons’ electronic solution used to generate electronic invoices and credit or debit notes, with ZATCA’s systems, with the objective of sharing data and information.

The first step is to determine whether the Electronic Invoicing Regulation applies to you, as well as assessing how ready you are to generate electronic invoices as per the minimum requirements outlined in the Regulation.

The second step is to determine whether you have capabilities to meet the regulations with your internal resources who shall complete the deployment within the grace period (December 4th, 2021).

The alternative is to engage a system integrating company like Infinite IT Solutions which provides the 100% compliant e-invoicing solution. The deployment is arranged from 2 to 6 weeks on average.

Any device, electronic solution, or application used for the generation of electronic invoices and credit or debit notes that meets the following minimum requirements:

1. Ability to connect to the Internet.
2. Compliance with the requirements and controls for data & information security or Cybersecurity in the Kingdom.
3. A tamperproof solution, which allows the detection of any tampering performed.
4. Ability to integrate with external systems using Application Programming Interface (API).

The first step is to determine whether you have capabilities to set up the connection and meet the regulations with your internal resources who shall complete the deployment within the grace period (December 4th, 2021).

The alternative is to engage a system integrating company like Infinite IT Solutions which provides the 100% compliant e-invoicing solution via ready-to-deploy API connectors. The deployment is arranged from 2 to 6 weeks on average.

Provided that the Electronic Invoice is considered a tax invoice in accordance with the provisions of the VAT Law and its Implementing Regulation, all the provisions that apply to tax invoices shall apply to electronic invoices, including the rules of keeping (storing) tax invoices stipulated in the VAT legislations, and specifically Article (66) of the VAT Implementing Regulation.

The archiving periods of e-invoices:

• 6 years (standard assets)
• 11 years (moveable and intangible capital assets)
• 15 years (real estate)

Infinite IT Solutions provides a long term, 100% ZATCA-compliant archiving service. The authenticity of invoice origin and the integrity of invoice content are guaranteed. Invoice data cannot be altered thanks to the qualified time stamp.

An electronic invoice needs to be issued in Arabic; however, other languages can be used in addition to the Arabic language.