Zoho Books for VAT in Saudi Arabia, ZATCA Phase-2 Setup Guide

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Zoho Books is one of the only mid-market accounting platforms with full ZATCA Phase-2 e-invoicing integration baked in, meaning Saudi businesses can issue compliant Fatoora-format invoices without a third-party plugin. But out of the box, Zoho Books defaults to international settings. Here's how to configure it properly for Saudi VAT, ZATCA Phase-2 e-invoicing and Arabic-bilingual invoices.

Initial setup: organization, currency and VAT

Set base currency to SAR. Enable VAT (15% standard rate, 0% for exports, exempt for healthcare/education). Enter your VAT registration number (15 digits) and Commercial Registration. Configure your fiscal year (Saudi government uses Hijri but most businesses operate Gregorian, set whichever matches your books). This is the foundation; everything downstream depends on it.

ZATCA Phase-2 e-invoicing integration

From Zoho Books → Settings → e-Invoicing → Integration with ZATCA. Generate a Compliance CSID through the ZATCA portal, then paste it into Zoho. Run the first 6 sandbox invoices through ZATCA's compliance test. Once approved, Zoho automatically signs and clears every B2B invoice through ZATCA in real-time and B2C invoices within 24 hours.

Arabic invoice templates and best practices

Saudi law requires invoices in Arabic. Use Zoho's bilingual template (Arabic + English side-by-side), your Arabic-speaking clients see Arabic, your international vendors see English. Mandatory fields: seller VAT, buyer VAT (B2B), invoice date in Hijri+Gregorian, QR code (auto-generated), goods/services description, VAT amount per line.