ZATCA Phase 2 on Shopify: be ready by 1 February 2027.

Who's in Wave 25, and by when

On 24 July 2026, ZATCA announced Wave 25 of the Integration Phase (Phase 2). It covers every taxpayer whose revenue subject to VAT exceeded SAR 187,500 in 2022, 2023, 2024 or 2025. They must connect their e-invoicing solution to ZATCA's Fatoora platform by 1 February 2027.

That's half the threshold of Wave 24 (SAR 375,000, due 30 June 2026). One good year is enough: a store that crossed SAR 187,500 once, in 2022, is in. ZATCA notifies each business directly, but the date is already set, and integration means testing with ZATCA before you go live.

What Phase 2 means for every order

Phase 1 only asked for electronic invoices. Phase 2 makes every invoice travel to ZATCA. On a Shopify store, that splits by who's buying:

Three rules catch Shopify stores out:

• Invoices can't be changed or deleted. To cancel one, you issue a credit note and, if needed, a new invoice. Every refund, partial refund and order edit becomes a credit or debit note pointing to the original invoice, reported or cleared just like it.
• Every invoicing device is registered. Each solution or device gets its own cryptographic stamp identifier (CSID) through an OTP in your Fatoora portal. ZATCA says every device issuing invoices under your VAT number should be registered, POS terminals included.
• The invoice must be in Arabic. English can sit alongside it.

Why Shopify won't do it for you

Shopify calculates and charges VAT. For Saudi Arabia, its tax settings are manual rates you set yourself. It doesn't sign an XML invoice, add the Phase 2 QR code or talk to Fatoora, and it can't: the onboarding is tied to your VAT number, your Fatoora login and your CSID. So something else has to listen to your orders and do the ZATCA part.

“

Shopify charges the VAT. Getting the invoice to ZATCA is your job, on every order, refund and edit.

Where apps fall short

A handful of Shopify apps now offer ZATCA Phase 2. Several are brand new: the one I looked at today launched three days after Wave 25 was announced and has no reviews yet. Another invoicing app lists Saudi support as still in development. New isn't bad, but test what the listing doesn't promise:

• Order edits. Refunds to credit notes is common. Edits after payment (an item removed, a quantity changed) usually aren't mentioned.
• B2B clearance. Reporting consumer invoices is the easy half. A business buyer needs a cleared invoice with their VAT number on it.
• POS. In-store sales need the same onboarded solution, device by device.
• CSID renewal and outages. Who renews the certificate, and what happens to invoices if it lapses or Fatoora is down? ZATCA says to keep re-submitting until it responds, so nothing can be silently dropped.

Am I ready?

Answer six questions. You'll see your wave, what you must have by the deadline and the gaps in your current setup.

Got a list of gaps? Send it to me on WhatsApp and I'll tell you which ones an app can close and which need custom work.

The readiness plan

1. Confirm your wave. Pull your VAT-taxable revenue for 2022–2025 from your VAT returns. Over SAR 187,500 in any year means 1 February 2027.
2. Map every way you issue an invoice. Online checkout, draft orders, POS, wholesale, marketplaces. Each one must go through an onboarded solution.
3. Split B2C and B2B. Decide how a business buyer gives you their VAT number at checkout, so their invoice can be cleared.
4. Choose an app, your ERP or a custom integration. Then run the four tests above: a refund, an order edit, a B2B order and a POS sale.
5. Onboard. Get the OTP from your Fatoora portal, onboard each solution or device, and check it appears in your list of solutions and devices.
6. Go live early and watch it. Every order should show "reported" or "cleared". Rejections need fixing and re-sending, and warnings fixing on the next invoice.

How I'd wire it

I run the Shopify stack for a store that sells in Saudi Arabia, along with the UK, Pakistan and the UAE. I build embedded Shopify apps, webhooks and order pipelines. I haven't built a ZATCA integration yet, so here is exactly how I'd set one up:

• Webhooks, not exports. Order paid, refund created and order edited each trigger an invoice or note, so the 24-hour clock never depends on someone remembering.
• A queue with retries. Each document is stored with its status (pending, reported, cleared, rejected) and re-sent until ZATCA answers.
• One screen for staff. Rejections and warnings show up inside Shopify admin with the reason, plus a reminder before the CSID needs renewing.

If a good app passes the four tests, use it. Custom work makes sense when your edits, B2B or POS flows are what the apps miss.

Questions