Zid ZATCA e-invoice XML: what to check

The file Mutabiq needs

Mutabiq checks the e-invoice itself: the UBL 2.1 XML generated for each invoice, credit note and debit note under Phase 2 of e-invoicing with the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA), whether your system generates it or an e-invoicing add-on or integration connected to it does. A PDF with the invoice XML embedded in it (PDF/A-3) works as well. A PDF without that XML, a printout, a spreadsheet export or a screenshot carries nothing Mutabiq can check.

What Zid documents

Zid links a store to Fatoora from its dashboard, and its help centre says the feature is for the second (integration) phase of e-invoicing. The article gives the path as a merchant sees it: the dashboard, Settings, the link with the Fatoora platform (ZATCA), “link now”; a first step for the store’s information — the legal name, the VAT number, its first ten digits as the distinguishing number, the business activity, the address and the active sales channels; then a second step with a verification code generated in Fatoora under “Onboard new solution unit/device” for one device, pasted in and verified (الربط مع منصة فاتورة ZATCA (لوحة التحكم الجديدة)).
Zid’s invoice settings article (the dashboard, Settings, Invoice Settings) covers what the store’s invoice shows and names neither the XML nor a PDF/A-3 copy; the “QR code” it mentions is a link to the order page on the store, not the Authority’s QR code (إعدادات الفاتورة).
Neither article says whether the invoices are simplified or standard, and neither documents a field for a customer’s VAT number. The safe reading is that a Zid store issues simplified invoices to its buyers; a standard (B2B) invoice from Zid is not documented and is not claimed here.

Where the file usually is

Where the XML is kept depends on how your system is connected to ZATCA, not only on which system it is, and this guide names a screen or menu only where the vendor's own documentation states it, cited and dated. The usual places to look:

The e-invoicing or ZATCA section of your system, or of the add-on that handles e-invoicing for it, which may list each document with its status and let you view or download its XML.
The portal of your e-invoicing solution provider, if a provider sends your documents to ZATCA for you: the XML is often kept there beside each document’s clearance or reporting result.
An export or download of the document after it was cleared or reported, sometimes packaged with the PDF sent to the customer.
Your provider or implementer. If none of these shows the file, ask for the UBL XML of the document exactly as it was generated for ZATCA.

Check the file as your system generated it. A copy opened and saved again in another program may no longer be the file ZATCA receives.

Where do I get the XML file from Zid?

Zid does not publish a path to it. On 2026-10-15 its integration article and its invoice settings article described the link with Fatoora and the invoice’s settings, and said nothing about viewing, downloading or exporting the invoice’s XML, or about a PDF/A-3 copy that carries it. What a Zid merchant has in hand is the invoice given to the buyer, printed or as a PDF, which is lawful for a simplified invoice and holds nothing Mutabiq can check (what Mutabiq checks in a PDF).

If you need the file, there are two places it can come from. If an accounting or e-invoicing system is connected to your store and issues the invoices to Fatoora, the XML is in that system, not in Zid: see that system’s guide, or ask its support for the invoice’s XML exactly as it was sent to the Authority. If Zid’s own link issues them, ask Zid support for the XML of the invoice, or for a PDF/A-3 that carries it, and check that file. Mutabiq has not verified these screens itself. Vendor documentation changes: if Zid lets you download the XML, use it.

What to check in the XML

The seller’s data, which comes from the store’s information in the link’s first step and not from the order: confirm the seller’s cac:PartyTaxScheme/cbc:CompanyID is the 15 digits alone, beginning and ending in 3 (MTB-BR-KSA-40 reports an empty one), and that cbc:StreetName under the seller’s cac:PostalAddress is present (MTB-BR-KSA-09): an address entered as one line of free text is the usual cause.
The simplified-invoice shape: confirm cbc:InvoiceTypeCode is 388 on a sale and 381 on a refund, with a name attribute beginning 02 (MTB-STRUCT-01 reports the attribute), and that the QR document reference is present with a non-empty base64 payload (MTB-BR-KSA-27).
The rate: confirm every standard-rated breakdown carries cbc:Percent of 15; MTB-BR-KSA-84 reports any other rate under category S.
Refunds: a refunded order goes out as a credit note. Confirm it carries a reason in cac:PaymentMeans/cbc:InstructionNote (MTB-BR-KSA-17) and the original invoice’s number in cac:BillingReference/cac:InvoiceDocumentReference/cbc:ID (MTB-BR-KSA-56).

A merchant on a hosted platform changes the store’s name, VAT number and address and nothing else. A finding on anything else is not yours to fix: send the report to the platform’s support with the rule id and the element’s path.

What to do with the findings

Fix the source, not the file. Each finding names an element of the XML, and the value in it came from your system: a setting, a master record such as the company, the customer, the item or the tax code, or the mapping that writes the XML. Correct it there, so the next document is generated right.
Do not edit the XML by hand and send the edited copy. The file that goes to ZATCA is the one your system generates and signs, and an edited copy is not that file.
Where the mapping itself is wrong, take the finding to whoever maintains your e-invoicing: the ERP vendor, the add-on or integration provider, or your implementer. The rule id, the element’s path and the rule’s page are what they need to find it.
A document that has already been cleared or reported is not corrected by sending it again. Ask your accountant or provider how your system corrects it; usually that is a credit or debit note and, where needed, a new document.
Once the source is fixed, check the next file your system generates.

Sources

Both pages were read on 2026-10-15; the integration article was last updated by Zid on 2026-08-03 and the invoice settings article is dated 2023-09-10. Vendor documentation changes.

Zid: checking the ZATCA e-invoice XML