Glossary

An e-invoicing architecture where invoices must be submitted to (and approved by) the tax authority before they can be sent to the buyer. KSA Phase 2 and India's IRP follow this model.

An umbrella term for tax-authority systems that monitor invoices in (near) real time — including clearance, real-time reporting, and SAF-T-style periodic feeds.

Saudi Arabia's national e-invoicing platform, operated by ZATCA, through which all B2B and B2C electronic invoices must be issued or cleared.

A 15-character alphanumeric identifier assigned to every GST-registered taxpayer in India, used on all tax invoices and GST returns.

A 64-character hash returned by India's Invoice Registration Portal that uniquely identifies a B2B invoice — without it, the invoice is not legally valid.

The Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia's national e-invoicing portal, through which taxpayers submit invoices for clearance before issuing them to buyers.

Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line — an open, four-corner network for exchanging electronic invoices across borders, now adopted as the basis of mandates in the EU, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, and others.

An e-invoicing architecture where invoices are exchanged directly between buyer and seller and reviewed by the tax authority only retrospectively, typically through audits or periodic reporting.

A 2D barcode embedded in tax invoices encoding key invoice metadata (seller, VAT number, totals, timestamp). Mandatory in KSA Phase 1 and on simplified UAE invoices.

A VAT mechanism that shifts the obligation to account for tax from the supplier to the buyer — common in cross-border B2B services.

A short-form tax invoice permitted for B2C transactions below a jurisdictional threshold — typically requiring fewer fields than a full B2B invoice but still subject to e-invoicing rules.

A unique 15-digit identifier issued by the UAE Federal Tax Authority to VAT-registered businesses; required on every tax invoice.

Universal Business Language — an open-standard XML library for business documents (invoices, orders, despatch advices) maintained by OASIS and used by Peppol.

A consumption tax levied at each stage of the supply chain on the value added to goods or services, ultimately borne by the end consumer.

VAT in the Digital Age — the European Commission's reform package mandating structured e-invoicing and digital reporting for intra-EU B2B transactions, with phased application from 2030.

Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority — the Saudi Arabian government body responsible for VAT collection and the country's mandatory e-invoicing programme (Fatoora).