How can you verify readiness before your ZATCA Phase 2 integration date?

Assemble a readiness file

We recommend asking the project owner to collect ZATCA’s notification, the software name and version, invoice sources, and responsible contacts at the business and provider. Clarify any channel outside the scope, such as a point of sale or online store, before approving the go-live plan.

For each item, record the available evidence, the open issue and its owner. This turns “the system is ready” into matters you can review.

Review the data that reaches the invoice

ZATCA’s guidance explains that a tax invoice contains seller and buyer information and transaction details, alongside technical fields generated by the solution. Integration-phase requirements include additional fields and a specified document format.

In practice, we recommend reviewing samples of business, customer and item data and tax settings, then tracing them from the source into the document. Ask the accountant and provider to review the same sample; a connectivity test alone does not establish the accuracy of the transaction data.

Test the flow for each document type you use

In normal integration-phase operation, standard tax invoices require clearance before being shared with the buyer, while simplified tax invoices must be reported to the platform within 24 hours of issue. The flows also cover the credit and debit notes associated with each type.

We therefore recommend a test register covering documents the business actually uses, the test environment, the result, and accounting or technical observations. Do not treat a simplified-invoice result as sufficient evidence that the standard-invoice flow was tested.

At the move into production, review the units and their portal status separately from document-submission results. The technical guideline describes these as different functions.

Test retrieval, not just printing

Invoices and notes must be kept under the applicable requirements, and ZATCA’s guidance says the solution must allow invoices to be exported and saved to an external archival system.

As an operational acceptance step, ask to retrieve a particular document from the archive and test its export. Identify who can access it when the usual user is absent. Document the retrieval method in the team’s instructions rather than relying on a printed copy.

Assign monitoring and failure responsibilities

Obligations for persons subject to the regulation include notifying ZATCA through its specified channels of incidents or faults that prevent invoice or note generation, notifying it of recovery, and resuming generation and clearance or reporting when the solution becomes operational.

We recommend identifying who reviews responses, collects failure logs, and contacts the provider and ZATCA as appropriate. Agree on what post-launch support covers and what needs a separate scope; do not assume integration preparation includes ongoing monitoring.

Turn open issues into a clear decision

Before approving go-live, classify open issues by impact and record the action, owner and evidence needed to close them. This is a suggested internal review, not a ZATCA approval procedure.

If data problems are unclear, start with an Accounting system health check: a diagnostic report identifying problems, without fixing them as part of the check. For invoice-readiness assessment, integration preparation, testing and team training, request Aleem’s E-invoicing readiness (Fatoora) with the scope agreed before implementation.

Aleem Consultations

Sources

https://zatca.gov.sa/en/E-Invoicing/Introduction/Guidelines/Documents/E-invoicing-Detailed-Technical-Guideline.pdf https://zatca.gov.sa/en/E-Invoicing/Introduction/Guidelines/Documents/E-Invoicing_Detailed__Guideline.pdf https://zatca.gov.sa/ar/E-Invoicing/Introduction/Pages/Roll-out-phases.aspx