Saudi Arabia’s standard VAT rate has been 15% since 1 July 2020, and ZATCA’s e-invoicing rules (FATOORA) require businesses to issue electronic invoices. Even so, the invoices you receive often reach you as PDFs, images and printouts — and someone has to get them into your books. AlFasil does that part, and reads the e-invoice XML exactly when you have it (see ZATCA e-invoice XML to Excel).
What AlFasil checks on Saudi invoices
- VAT number format: a Saudi VAT registration number has 15 digits and starts and ends with 3. Typos are flagged.
- VAT rate: 15% (or 0% where applicable). A 5% rate on a Saudi invoice is flagged as unusual.
- VAT math and totals in SAR, including the Arabic ر.س symbol and Arabic-Indic digits.
- Hijri dates: converted to Gregorian with the Umm al-Qura calendar; the printed date is kept alongside.
Tax invoices and simplified tax invoices
Standard tax invoices (B2B) carry the buyer’s details; simplified tax invoices (B2C) usually don’t. AlFasil extracts whatever is printed and doesn’t invent missing values.
QR codes
Every Saudi tax invoice carries a QR code with the seller’s name, VAT number, the invoice time, the total and the VAT. AlFasil finds and decodes it in your browser when you upload a photo or a PDF, then compares it with what was read from the page:
- matching fields are marked as confirmed, even where the print was hard to read;
- a field that differs — say the total — is highlighted, with both values shown.
The QR code is written by the seller’s invoicing system, so a difference means either a reading problem or an invoice that doesn’t match what was reported.
This page is general information. Check ZATCA’s current guidance for your obligations.