Saudi Arabia is advancing considerably at the digital level in various fields, in line with its vision of digital empowerment and smart digital government. Among all the digital transformation achievements of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the implementation of e-invoicing was one of the most important and prominent leaps, as it enabled the conversion of the issuance of paper invoices, credit and debit notes into an electronic process. E-invoicing allows the exchange of invoices, debit and credit notes in an electronic format between the seller and the buyer, which are generated and stored by an e-invoicing solution, by the taxpayer subject to e-invoicing regulations. As an extension of the digital transformation journey that the Kingdom is witnessing and in continuation of the first phase of e-invoicing "Generation Phase" launched in December 2021, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority is preparing to start implementing the second phase of e-invoicing "Integration Phase" which aims to integrate the e-invoicing solutions of taxpayers with the "FATOORA" platform. According to the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the enforcement for the second phase of e-invoicing starts from January 1, 2023, and will be applied gradually in waves, as the Authority will inform the target wave groups directly at least six months before the start date. Wave 1 of Integration Phase The Integration Phase of e-invoicing begins with the taxpayers that have been selected for the first wave, which are taxpayers with revenues (VAT taxable sales) that exceed 3 billion Riyals for 2021. The enforced taxpayers will be required to prepare their e-invoicing solutions to ensure the Phase 2 requirements of e-invoicing are met. The Authority is providing e-invoicing support to taxpayers through several means, such as by answering inquiries, providing the required material on the e-invoicing website, in addition to hosting workshops for taxpayers and solution providers to provide clarifications. Requirements for the Integration Phase The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority has indicated in the e-invoicing implementation resolution the additional requirements to comply with phase two requirements (integration phase) whereas the main additional requirements are: 1- Ensure e-invoicing solution is connected to the internet 2- Integrate e-invoicing solution with ZATCA to share e-invoices 3- Generate and store e-invoices in the required format (XML or PDF/A3 with embedded XML) 4- Ensure the technical specifications of the second phase of e-invoicing are met It is noteworthy that the first phase of e- invoicing, " Generation Phase", has been ongoing since December 4, 2021, which obliges taxpayers subject to the e-invoicing regulation to completely stop using manual/handwritten invoices, and ensure that they are using an e-invoicing solution in line with the authority's requirements which generates and issues compliant invoices, including all the requirements such as QR Code for simplified tax invoices. After integrating e-invoicing solutions with "FATOORA" platform, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority will ensure all invoices in the Kingdom are documented safely in the required form.
