Definition · Saudi Arabia
What is ZATCA Phase 2 e-invoicing for contractors in Saudi Arabia?
ZATCA Phase 2 (Fatoora) requires VAT-registered businesses in Saudi Arabia to issue structured e-invoices that are integrated with ZATCA's platform for clearance or reporting. Hivenox Maintenance OS is designed to produce bilingual tax invoices with QR codes and to support Phase 2 clearance and reporting. Confirm your wave and obligations with your tax adviser.
How Phase 2 works
ZATCA, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, introduced e-invoicing in two phases. Phase 1 moved invoicing from paper to electronic. Phase 2, the integration phase, connects your invoicing system to ZATCA's Fatoora platform.
Phase 2 is rolled out in waves of businesses, and ZATCA notifies each wave ahead of its integration date. Every invoice then takes one of two routes.
| Clearance | Reporting | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | Standard tax invoices, typically business to business | Simplified tax invoices, typically business to consumer |
| What happens | ZATCA checks and clears the invoice before it goes to the buyer | You issue the invoice, then report it to ZATCA within the set window |
| For contractors | Progress claims and other invoices to clients and main contractors | Invoices to individual consumers |
| Credit and debit notes | Cleared, like the invoice they adjust | Reported, like the invoice they adjust |
Step by step
Confirm your wave
ZATCA notifies businesses in each wave ahead of their integration date. Check the notice and the date it sets.
Map every invoice you issue
Progress claims, variations, advance payments, retention releases, and credit and debit notes. Mark each for clearance or reporting.
Clean your customer data
Legal names, VAT numbers and addresses for every client and main contractor. Rejections often start here.
Onboard and test your system
Connect your invoicing system to Fatoora and test it in ZATCA's test environment before go-live.
Change the order of work
A standard tax invoice goes to the client only after it clears. Brief everyone who issues progress claims.
Watch rejections daily
Fix the cause at the source. Correct issued invoices with credit or debit notes, not edits.
Records to keep
Common mistakes
Sending the PDF before clearance
A standard tax invoice goes to the client only after ZATCA clears it.
Editing issued invoices
Correct them with a credit or debit note instead.
Re-keying progress claims
Claims built in spreadsheets and typed into the invoicing system invite errors and rejections.
Leaving onboarding late
Testing in the last weeks before your wave leaves no time to fix rejections.
Keeping only the PDF
Keep the XML and ZATCA's response for every invoice.
Where Hivenox fits
How Hivenox handles it
Hivenox is designed to produce bilingual tax invoices with QR codes and handle Phase 2 clearance and reporting, with the evidence on file.
ZATCA Worker
Designed to validate every invoice against Phase 2 rules, submit it for clearance or reporting, resolve rejections and keep the audit trail, in Arabic and English.
Maintenance OS
Designed to produce bilingual tax invoices with QR codes for maintenance work, with Phase 2 clearance and reporting.
Hivenox is designed to check and flag. A person approves, rejects or queries.
