If your business is being pulled into ZATCA Phase 2 — the Integration Phase of Saudi e-invoicing — the requirements can feel like a wall of acronyms. This checklist breaks the work into clear steps you can actually tick off.
This is a general guide, not tax advice. Always confirm your wave, dates, and exact obligations against ZATCA's official guidance or your tax advisor.
1. Confirm your wave and go-live date
ZATCA onboards businesses into Phase 2 in waves, based on annual revenue, with each wave given several months' notice. Your first job is simply to know:
- Which wave you are in.
- Your integration go-live date.
Everything else is planned backward from that date.
2. Make sure your invoicing is software-generated
Phase 1 already required structured electronic invoices from compliant software. If you are still producing invoices in Word, Excel, or a basic template, that is the first thing to fix — Phase 2 builds directly on top of system-generated invoices.
3. Check the required invoice fields
Phase 2 invoices carry more structured data than a typical paper invoice. At a minimum, make sure your system captures:
- Accurate seller details, including VAT registration number.
- Buyer details (with VAT number for standard tax invoices).
- Line items with correct tax treatment (standard, zero-rated, exempt).
- Totals, VAT amount, and the correct tax base.
See standard vs simplified tax invoices for which fields apply to each.
4. Get Arabic and English on your documents
E-invoicing expects the required information to be presented correctly, and Arabic is central to that. Your invoices should render properly in Arabic and English.
5. Understand clearance vs reporting
Phase 2 has two flows, and your system needs to handle the ones you use:
- Standard tax invoices (typically B2B) follow a clearance model.
- Simplified tax invoices (typically B2C) follow a reporting model with a QR code.
6. Clean your master data first
The fastest way to fail integration is dirty data — missing VAT numbers, wrong tax treatment on products, inconsistent customer records. Tidy this before go-live. We wrote a dedicated guide: preparing your master data for e-invoicing.
7. Make sure VAT actually flows to your return
E-invoicing is not just about the document — the VAT on every invoice and purchase should roll up into your VAT return without re-keying. Here is how VAT flows from invoice to return.
8. Keep an audit trail
Compliance reviews are far easier when every change is recorded. Make sure your system keeps a full, exportable audit history.
9. Test before the deadline
Do not leave integration to the last week. Generate test invoices, confirm the structure and fields, and fix issues with time to spare.
Where BIZA helps
BIZA App is built for ZATCA e-invoicing workflows: VAT is captured on the documents your team already works in, invoices follow auditable structures with Arabic and English, and every change lands in the audit log. If you are choosing software for this, see what to look for in ZATCA-ready accounting software, or read more about our ZATCA e-invoicing features.
Want help mapping this to your wave? Talk to the BIZA team — we work with Saudi businesses every day.