8 Days Left: Saudi SME Checklist Before the ZATCA Wave 24 Deadline

ZATCA Wave 24 Closes June 30 — 8 Days for Saudi SMEs to Get Compliant

Eight days. That is what separates thousands of Saudi small and medium businesses from the June 30, 2026 hard enforcement deadline for ZATCA's Fatoora Wave 24 — the Phase 2 e-invoicing integration mandate. Wave 24 is the first ZATCA phase to reach businesses with annual VAT-taxable revenues between SAR 375,000 and SAR 750,000, meaning most affected owners are navigating these technical requirements for the very first time.

The stakes are concrete. Non-compliance fines under Saudi e-invoicing regulations range from SAR 5,000 to SAR 50,000 per violation. The grace period initiative that allowed businesses to correct historical errors without standard penalties also expires on June 30. Eight days is tight — but it is enough to reach full compliance if you act today.

Does Your Business Fall Under Wave 24?

ZATCA Wave 24 covers every VAT-registered business in Saudi Arabia whose annual VAT-taxable revenues fell between SAR 375,000 and SAR 750,000 in any single calendar year — 2022, 2023, or 2024. If your revenues hit that range in even one of those three years, your business is in scope, regardless of what your revenues look like today.

Saudi Arabia had approximately 1.7 million active commercial registrations as of Q2 2025, and ZATCA has been issuing compliance notification letters since April 1, 2026. If you have received a letter, the June 30 deadline applies to you. If you are unsure, log in to the Fatoora portal using your national ID or tax registration number and check your notification status now. ZATCA processed over 8.2 billion e-invoices in 2025 — a 64 percent increase year-over-year — and the Fatoora system now covers 94 percent of all taxable transactions in the Kingdom.

The integration mandate covers:

• All B2B tax invoices and associated debit and credit notes
• All B2C simplified invoices issued to end consumers
• Import-related tax invoices for businesses with local procurement chains

What Phase 2 Integration Actually Requires

Phase 1 of Saudi e-invoicing, rolled out in 2021, required businesses to generate structured digital invoices offline. Phase 2 is a fundamentally different obligation: your invoicing system must connect directly to the ZATCA Fatoora platform via a real-time, certified API. The four non-negotiable technical requirements are:

• XML invoices with cryptographic stamps: Every invoice must be generated in UBL 2.1 XML format with a ZATCA-recognized digital signature and an embedded QR code. PDF copies alone do not satisfy Phase 2 requirements.
• B2B clearance before delivery: Business-to-business tax invoices must be submitted to Fatoora and cleared by ZATCA before they can legally be delivered to the buyer. An uncleared B2B invoice is non-compliant from July 1 onward.
• B2C reporting within 24 hours: Simplified invoices issued to consumers must be reported to the Fatoora portal within 24 hours of issuance.
• ZATCA-certified solution only: Your e-invoicing platform must appear on ZATCA's approved vendor list. A system that produces visually correct invoices but is not certified will not pass the Fatoora API handshake.

The 8-Step Compliance Checklist for the Final Days

If your Phase 2 integration is not yet live, here is the fastest path to full compliance before June 30. Every step is necessary — skipping any one of them will block your go-live:

• Step 1 — Confirm eligibility: Pull your VAT returns for 2022, 2023, and 2024 and confirm your taxable revenues fell between SAR 375,000 and SAR 750,000 in at least one of those years.
• Step 2 — Choose a ZATCA-certified solution: Browse the official approved-solutions list on the ZATCA website and select a platform that supports real-time Fatoora API integration — not just offline invoice generation.
• Step 3 — Register on the Fatoora portal: Obtain your Cryptographic Stamp Identifier (CSID) and API credentials through the ZATCA Fatoora portal using your business tax registration details.
• Step 4 — Configure invoice outputs: Ensure your system produces UBL 2.1 XML invoices and PDF/A3 copies that include your TIN, VAT registration number, per-line-item VAT breakdown, digital signature, and QR code.
• Step 5 — Whitelist ZATCA server IPs: Update your firewall and IT security settings to permit outbound API connections to ZATCA's Fatoora integration servers.
• Step 6 — Complete sandbox testing: Run a full set of B2B and B2C invoice scenarios through ZATCA's simulation environment and resolve any rejections before switching to production mode.
• Step 7 — Train your finance team: Make sure the staff who issue invoices understand how to monitor clearance confirmations, handle B2B rejections, and manage the 24-hour B2C reporting window.
• Step 8 — Go live and monitor daily: Switch to production mode, issue your first compliant invoices, and review ZATCA's daily reconciliation reports for at least two weeks to catch any integration errors early.

How Watily Solves This

Watily's ZATCA-compliant e-invoicing integration is purpose-built for Saudi SMEs facing the Fatoora Phase 2 mandate. The platform handles the entire technical layer — UBL 2.1 XML generation, cryptographic stamping, real-time API connectivity, B2B clearance, and automated B2C reporting — so your team does not need to become e-invoicing engineers in the next eight days.

With Watily, your business gets everything it needs to meet the June 30 deadline:

• Automatic B2B clearance requests sent to ZATCA before each invoice reaches the buyer
• B2C invoices reported to the Fatoora portal within 24 hours, fully automated
• A single dashboard showing the real-time status of every invoice: cleared, reported, pending, or rejected
• Audit-ready PDF/A3 and XML archives for every transaction, stored and retrievable on demand
• ZATCA-certified integration that passes the Fatoora API handshake without custom development
• Setup measured in days, not months — critical with only eight days until the June 30 deadline

Watily has helped hundreds of Saudi businesses achieve compliance across earlier ZATCA waves. The platform is certified, updated for Wave 24 requirements, and designed to reach production quickly — not the months a custom integration would require.

Do not let the deadline catch you unprepared. Start your ZATCA Wave 24 compliance with Watily today and protect your business from fines that can reach SAR 50,000 per violation.

Get compliant in days, not months. Visit Watily — Saudi Arabia's business platform for SMEs and let our team walk you through the complete Wave 24 integration process, from registration to go-live.