Saudi Arabia is now home to E-Invoicing and paperless transactions

Written by: Araxi Keoshgerian

Digital transformation has been actively discussed topic of each and every organization these days, but this was also true in the late 1990s and again in the mid-2000s. Today, digital transformation has paved a roadmap regionally and internationally due to the COVID 19 pandemic disruption which accelerated digital transformation reforms as an outcome to the world’s urge to rapid solutions to be integrated in all types of business activities to tackle the stagnation and ensure business continuity and growth. 

National Digital transformation

National Digital transformation has become a key enabler towards Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030. Geared en route for creating a vibrant and thriving economy. Today; the kingdom remains an important future growth accelerator for business as it upholds a robust digital infrastructure in its journey to accelerating the digital transformation. This structure allows the kingdom to face public and private sector disruptive crisis ensuring business continuity, educational operations, citizen requirements, consumer gratification and the comfort of daily resident lives.

GAZT - General Authority for Zakat and Tax mandate

Digital transformation is playing a fundamental paperless transaction and e-payment driver by transforming every facet of the economy. For instance, The GAZT - General Authority for Zakat and Tax mandate considers the 4th of December 2021 the official date of validating application of E-Invoicing. Application mechanisms and stages between the system’s implementation of the E-invoice issuance mechanism will be in place, however, the 2nd stage purpose will be linking it with the authority. It is expected that these implementation regulations and all necessary instructions will be issued during the next short period. This system is in line with the digital transformation that has become the general feature of all services and transactions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and aims at limiting manipulations by some sales outlets.

Benefits of E-Invoicing

Saying this, the benefit of E-Invoicing is abundant  and aside from adopting global best practices, KSA is implementing E-Invoicing for several aims, such as; Reducing the shadow economy, Enabling fair competition and improving consumer protection, Reducing commercial concealment and Increasing compliance with tax obligations.

Pros and Cons

Mentioning the Pros makes us also aware that the Cons of adopting the E-Invoicing on both aspects of public and private sectors might inflict some disadvantages such as; security issues, spam filters on the receiver side, bookkeeping issues, the challenge of reaching offline customers, however, the advantages are way bigger and better, as E-Invoicing offers, Convenience, a Positive approach towards the environment, contact free delivery, time saving, Faster payment process and Digital paper tray for a better tracking records.

E-Invoicing phases

To ensure seamless transactions, the E-Invoicing will consist of 2 phases; 

A - Generating and storing of tax invoices and electronic notes in a structured electronic format issued through an electronic solution, and including all the requirements of tax invoices. 

B – The integration of the taxable persons’ electronic solution used to generate electronic invoices and notes, with GAZT - General Authority for Zakat and Tax systems, with the objective of sharing data and information.