What happens if you miss the ZATCA integration deadline
If you miss your assigned ZATCA Phase 2 integration deadline, your business may face a violation for failing to connect its invoicing system to Fatoora. ZATCA's published violation classification provides for an initial warning and a correction period, followed by escalating fines for repeated violations. The deadline remains a legal requirement even if your store has not finished setting up its connection.
The published rules distinguish failure to integrate from other invoicing violations. The outcome depends on the violation recorded and its history.
Sources:
Wave 25 has a 1 February 2027 deadline
On 24 July 2026, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority announced the selection criteria for Wave 25 of its Phase 2 integration programme.
Wave 25 covers businesses whose revenue subject to VAT exceeded SAR 187,500 in any of these years:
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024
- 2025
The threshold concerns revenue in any one of those years. It does not require the business to exceed the threshold in every year.
ZATCA set 1 February 2027 as the integration date for Wave 25. It also stated that targeted taxpayers would be notified directly at least six months before their assigned integration date.
The preceding Wave 24 used a threshold of SAR 375,000. Wave 25 therefore reaches businesses with lower VAT-subject revenue than the previous group.
If your business is in Wave 25, review the notice issued to your taxpayer account and prepare the invoicing system used by your store. Read the Wave 25 requirements for the threshold and deadline. Source: https://zatca.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/News/Pages/Wave25-E-invoicing.aspx
Missing the deadline is a separate integration violation
ZATCA's Phase 2 rules require targeted taxpayers to connect their electronic invoicing systems to the Fatoora platform by the applicable integration date. The implementation resolution states that penalties under the VAT Law apply to violations of the e-invoicing rules according to the classifications adopted by ZATCA's Board of Directors.
The obligation covers electronic invoices and their associated notes. Meeting the earlier Phase 1 invoice generation requirements does not replace the Phase 2 connection requirement.
ZATCA's published penalty classification includes a specific violation for failing to connect all electronic invoicing systems used for issuing electronic invoices or notes after the effective integration date.
Sources:
ZATCA's published fines for failing to integrate
ZATCA links from its educational library to the second edition, dated May 2024, of its simplified guide to the classification of VAT violations. The guide contains a specific penalty row for failure to connect electronic invoicing systems to ZATCA after the mandatory integration date.
The source uses the Arabic term "تنبيه" for the first occurrence, meaning a warning. It then provides the following amounts in Saudi riyals.
| Occurrence | Published treatment |
|---|---|
| First | Warning |
| Second | SAR 10,000 |
| Third | SAR 15,000 |
| Fourth | SAR 20,000 |
| Fifth | SAR 30,000 |
| Sixth | SAR 40,000 |
| After the sixth | SAR 50,000 |
The source's Arabic table lists these amounts as:
"تنبيه 10,000 15,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000" The table specifies a 30-day interval for this violation category. This is the published classification schedule, rather than a statement that every late business automatically receives a particular fine on its deadline date.
Source: https://www.zatca.gov.sa/ar/E-Invoicing/Introduction/Guidelines/Documents/E-Invoice%20VAT.pdf
The initial warning and correction period
The same guide explains that general violations begin with notifying and warning the taxpayer. It provides a correction period of 30 to 60 days for these violations, with a separate exception concerning obstruction of ZATCA officials.
This warning and correction process is part of the published violation classification. It does not change the originally assigned integration date.
You should not treat the warning process as an extra integration period granted to every taxpayer. The published document does not state that a taxpayer may postpone integration until receiving a warning.
Source: https://www.zatca.gov.sa/ar/E-Invoicing/Introduction/Guidelines/Documents/E-Invoice%20VAT.pdf
Other invoicing violations can also apply
Missing integration is not the only issue covered by the regulations. ZATCA's violation guide separately addresses failure to share invoices or electronic notes in the required format and within the required period, where the taxpayer has not notified the Authority about circumstances preventing submission.
The guide also identifies failures involving electronic invoice generation and prohibited changes to issued documents. These have their own classifications.
For your WooCommerce store, there are therefore separate matters to check:
- Whether the invoicing system has been connected by the assigned date.
- Whether electronic invoices are issued in the required form.
- Whether those documents are reported or cleared as required.
- Whether issued invoices and associated notes are preserved.
Connecting the store later does not, by itself, establish how ZATCA will treat documents that were due before the connection. Source: https://www.zatca.gov.sa/ar/E-Invoicing/Introduction/Guidelines/Documents/E-Invoice%20VAT.pdf
What the official sources do not state
The cited ZATCA materials establish the integration obligation and the published penalty classifications. They do not give a single automatic financial penalty that applies to every taxpayer on the day after a missed Wave 25 deadline.
They also do not state that a late taxpayer receives an automatic extension, or that completing integration later cancels any violation already recorded.
The materials reviewed do not provide a fixed number of days within which every late taxpayer will be inspected. They do not specify that a business must stop all sales immediately after missing its integration date.
These distinctions matter because the published classifications describe violations and their treatment, while an individual taxpayer's position depends on its circumstances. For advice on an actual missed deadline, contact ZATCA or a qualified Saudi tax adviser.
Sources:
- ZATCA, Wave 25 announcement
- ZATCA, e-invoicing violations and penalties table
- ZATCA, E-Invoicing Implementation Resolution
What to do if your store is already late
Begin the integration work rather than waiting for a warning.
Check your assigned date
Review the notice sent to your business by ZATCA. Confirm which integration wave applies to the taxpayer and which invoicing systems must be connected.
If your business is targeted, use the assigned date when reviewing your obligations. The Wave 25 announcement provides the date for that group, while the wider programme operates through separate waves.
Source: https://zatca.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/News/Pages/Wave25-E-invoicing.aspx
Test your invoicing setup
Start with ZATCA's developer sandbox.
The sandbox uses test data and does not require a taxpayer account. You can use it to test invoice generation and the connection process before moving to the taxpayer environments.
ZATCA provides a separate Simulation environment that uses the taxpayer's VAT number without legally issuing invoices. Production is the environment for issuing and submitting the business's electronic tax documents.
Testing helps identify setup problems before you use the production certificate.
Complete production onboarding
For production onboarding, generate a one-time password (OTP) in the Fatoora portal at fatoora.zatca.gov.sa. The OTP contains six digits and is valid for one hour. Raseedo uses this code to create the signing key and certificate request, obtain a compliance certificate, complete the six ZATCA compliance checks and obtain the production certificate.
After onboarding, the store owner must turn on "Issue e-invoices" for Raseedo to begin issuing documents. See the Raseedo setup guide for the configuration process.
Review missing invoices and refunds
Check paid WooCommerce orders and their electronic invoicing records.
Raseedo Pro includes a missing e-invoice report. It identifies paid orders without an electronic invoice and refunds without an associated credit note, including records from before onboarding.
The report supports issuing missing documents in batches. Pro also provides bulk retry for documents that could not be sent.
Do not alter the dates or contents of previously issued electronic invoices to make the records appear complete. ZATCA's rules prohibit changing or deleting issued documents.
Source: https://www.zatca.gov.sa/ar/E-Invoicing/Introduction/Guidelines/Documents/E-Invoice%20VAT.pdf
Keep evidence of the work completed
Keep your ZATCA notices, onboarding information and correspondence about any outstanding issue.
Also retain issued XML documents and the responses received from ZATCA. Raseedo stores signed XML and ZATCA responses on your WordPress site.
The official penalty classification includes an exception to the failure-to-integrate violation where the taxpayer has evidence that the failure resulted from a technical problem in ZATCA's systems.
That exception is specific to its stated circumstances. A problem within your own WooCommerce store is not identified as the same exception.
Source: https://www.zatca.gov.sa/ar/E-Invoicing/Introduction/Guidelines/Documents/E-Invoice%20VAT.pdf
How long Raseedo setup takes
Raseedo's onboarding process differs between the developer sandbox and Production.
In the developer sandbox, onboarding is one step because Raseedo fills in the sandbox test OTP. A production taxpayer code is not needed for that test.
Production onboarding adds the step of obtaining your OTP from the Fatoora portal. Raseedo then performs the certificate request, compliance checks and production certificate process through the connection.
Production onboarding requires the store's own OTP from the Fatoora portal, complete seller details and successful compliance checks.
Details to prepare
Before onboarding, complete all 11 fields in Raseedo's Seller details section:
- Legal business name, preferably in Arabic.
- VAT number, containing 15 digits and starting and ending with 3.
- Seller ID number, usually the commercial registration number.
- Street.
- Building number.
- District.
- City.
- Postal code.
- National Address short code.
- Branch name.
- Business category.
Raseedo blocks onboarding until all 11 fields are filled, whether you use Sandbox, Simulation or Production. Once the fields are complete, choose the environment.
Raseedo requires WordPress 6.5 or later, PHP 8.1 or later and an active WooCommerce installation.
The free plugin issues signed simplified tax invoices, includes their QR codes and reports them through ZATCA's API. Pro adds standard B2B invoices that require clearance.
Choose the invoice handling appropriate to your store's transactions.
Check the connection after onboarding
Once electronic invoicing is enabled, review the WooCommerce > ZATCA E-Invoicing screen.
The E-invoices tab displays document status and ZATCA rejection reasons. Failed submissions can be retried following network problems or ZATCA outages.
Raseedo also adds Site Health warnings for missing onboarding, documents waiting too long and certificates approaching expiry.
Keep reviewing these records after the initial connection. Onboarding is one part of operating the invoicing system under Phase 2.
This article explains published requirements and Raseedo's features. It is not legal or tax advice. If your business has missed its assigned deadline, obtain advice about its specific position from ZATCA or a qualified Saudi tax adviser.
Sources
- ZATCA, Wave 25 Integration Phase Announcement, 24 July 2026
- ZATCA, Simplified Guide to the Classification of General VAT Violations, second edition, May 2024. See the e-invoicing violations table, especially the integration and submission violations
- ZATCA, Controls, Requirements, Technical Specifications and Procedural Rules for Implementing the E-Invoicing Regulation, updated May 2023
- ZATCA, E-invoicing Regulation
- ZATCA, Taxation Violation Fines
- ZATCA, Detailed Guidelines for E-Invoicing, May 2023
- ZATCA, Frequently Asked Questions
Questions
Will ZATCA fine my business immediately if I miss the Phase 2 deadline?
ZATCA's published violation classification lists a warning for the first occurrence of failing to connect an invoicing system. Later occurrences carry escalating fines, starting at SAR 10,000 for the second occurrence. This does not change your assigned integration date. The official sources reviewed do not state that every business automatically receives a fine the day after its deadline.
Can I integrate with ZATCA after my deadline has passed?
You can begin the technical onboarding process after your assigned date, but late integration does not automatically cancel a violation. Start by testing your invoicing setup, then complete production onboarding using the OTP from the Fatoora portal. Review any missing electronic invoices and keep the records of your integration work.
How long does it take to connect WooCommerce to ZATCA with Raseedo?
We have not measured setup time. In the developer sandbox, onboarding is one step because Raseedo fills in the test OTP. Production requires your store's own OTP from the Fatoora portal, all required seller details and successful compliance checks. Test the connection before using it for production invoicing.