Input VAT is money you are owed back, but only if the paperwork behind it is right. A supplier bill with a missing VAT number, a wrong calculation or the wrong kind of invoice can turn reclaimable VAT into a cost, and the problem usually surfaces months later, when someone prepares the return or answers a query. Most of the checks that prevent it are mechanical. This guide sets out what ZATCA asks of a tax invoice, which input VAT is not reclaimable at all, and the checks worth running on a bill before you rely on it.
This is a practical guide, not tax advice. ZATCA's guidelines and your adviser are the authority for your business; every rule quoted here links to ZATCA's own document.
What a supplier's tax invoice has to show
ZATCA's guideline on records and invoicing (version 3, May 2026) lists what a full tax invoice must carry. For a payables team, the fields that matter most are:
- the words "Tax Invoice", a sequential invoice number and the date of issue;
- the supplier's name, address and VAT registration number;
- your name, address and VAT registration number, as the customer;
- a description, quantity and unit price for each line, with any discount;
- the taxable amount, the VAT rate applied, the VAT amount and the total including VAT;
- a QR code.
The same guideline allows a simplified tax invoice, with less detail, only in limited cases: small supplies, and supplies to people who are not registered for VAT. A business buying goods for resale or for its kitchens should normally expect a full tax invoice with its own VAT number on it. A simplified invoice for a large business purchase is worth questioning before the VAT on it is claimed.
The guideline also says a tax invoice is due from the supplier within fifteen days of the end of the month in which the supply took place, and that records are kept for six years from the end of the tax period they relate to. A bill that never arrives is a VAT claim you cannot make: chase it before the close, not after the return.
E-invoicing changes where the invoice comes from
ZATCA's e-invoicing rollout has two phases: generation, from December 4, 2021, and integration, from January 1, 2023. In the integration phase, ZATCA's detailed guideline explains that a standard business-to-business tax invoice goes through clearance with ZATCA, which generates its QR code at that moment. A simplified invoice is stamped by the supplier's own invoicing system and carries a QR code of its own.
For the buyer this is good news: invoices from integrated suppliers arrive as structured data, which is far easier to check than a scanned page. It does not remove your own checks. Clearance confirms the invoice was issued in the right format; it does not confirm that you ordered the goods, received them, or were charged the agreed price.
Input VAT you cannot reclaim
ZATCA's input tax deduction guideline lists purchases whose VAT is not deductible however correct the invoice is. Among them: entertainment and cultural services, hospitality such as restaurant and hotel catering, motor vehicles available for private use (including their fuel, repairs and leasing), and goods or services for the personal use of owners or staff. The same guideline says input tax cannot be deducted in a period more than five calendar years after the year of the supply.
For a food business the hospitality line deserves care: catering bought for a staff event is treated differently from ingredients bought for the menu you sell. That is a treatment decision for a person, and a system should flag it, not settle it.
The checks worth automating
These are mechanical, repeatable and cheap to run on a bill in your workspace's currency. Each one is in RoleAxis's supplier bill rules today:
- Line arithmetic. Each line's VAT equals its net amount times its rate, and the bill's VAT equals the sum of its lines, within a small tolerance. A mismatch holds the bill.
- The supplier's VAT number. It is present, has the shape of a Saudi VAT number (15 digits, starting and ending with 3), and matches the number on the supplier's record. A missing, malformed or different number holds the bill.
- Your VAT number and the QR code. A standard tax invoice without your VAT number or without a QR code goes to a person, and so does a simplified invoice for a larger purchase.
- The QR against the page. Where the QR code can be read, the seller's VAT number, the total and the VAT amount in it must match the printed bill. A mismatch holds the bill; a code that cannot be read goes to a person. The digital stamp itself is not verified.
- More than one rate. Each line is checked at its own rate. A zero-rated or exempt line, or a rate with no matching purchase tax in your ERP, goes to a person to confirm the treatment.
- Tax included or not. When a bill does not make clear whether its amounts include VAT, a person decides.
- Non-recoverable lines. Lines for entertainment, hospitality, gifts or private-use vehicles are flagged for a person.
- Duplicates and bank details. The same bill twice is held, and so is a bill whose bank details differ from the supplier's record.
What stays with a person
The treatment of an unusual line, the correction of a wrong tax line with the supplier, the VAT return itself and anything said to ZATCA stay with your accountant and your adviser. A check can tell you a number is wrong. It cannot tell you what the right treatment is.
Where RoleAxis stands
RoleAxis has no ZATCA integration. It files, clears and submits nothing to ZATCA, and a ZATCA submission, a tax filing or a tax rate change is refused by the code before a draft exists. The VAT check is arithmetic on the fields your ERP holds, against your workspace's standard rate, plus the checks listed above. It is not e-invoicing validation, and RoleAxis makes no claim that a bill, a supplier or your business is compliant. When a check fails, the Payables agent drafts a hold on the bill with the exposure in your workspace's currency; by default a named person approves it before anything is written.