Do you work fractional, interim or on a project?

All three. Fractional is a few days a month on an ongoing basis, interim is full-time for a fixed term, and a project is a fixed-scope build or raise. We pick whatever fits the problem.

Fractional work is a fixed monthly fee for an agreed number of days, so you can budget it. Interim is a market day rate for a fixed term. Builds and raises are a fixed quote once I've scoped the problem. Every engagement starts with a scoped proposal, so you see the number and exactly what it covers before you commit to anything. No open-ended retainers.

I'm already in Riyadh, so there's no relocation or visa wait. I can usually start a new engagement within about 30 days.

Do you work remotely or on-site?

Both. I'm in the Kingdom for on-site work across the GCC, and happy to deliver remotely. Whatever the engagement needs.

Who owns the systems you build?

You do. I scope, architect and govern, engineers build, and the IP and the running system are yours, documented and handed over.

Do you handle Zakat, VAT and withholding tax?

Yes. Tax sits inside the core work, not beside it: registrations and filings, provisions in the accounts, ZATCA e-invoicing readiness, and planning ahead of deadlines rather than reacting to them. My background covers tax compliance ownership for multi-site groups and tax planning across large project portfolios.

Do you work with family groups and private equity portfolio companies?

Yes. Family groups and family offices are a large part of my work, and private-equity-backed companies bring me in as a part-time CFO between raises or through transitions. Board packs, lender reporting and diligence-ready numbers are the usual asks.

Which sectors do you know?

Media and entertainment, real estate, manufacturing, FMCG and logistics. I also work with family groups preparing for institutional capital.

What is Fatoora in Saudi Arabia?

Fatoora is ZATCA's e-invoicing platform. Under Phase 2, a company's invoicing system connects to Fatoora through an API, so invoices are reported or cleared by ZATCA in real time, each carrying a cryptographic stamp, a UUID and a QR code.

Who has to comply with ZATCA Phase 2 e-invoicing?

ZATCA phases businesses in by wave, largest revenue first. Wave 25, announced in July 2026, covers any business whose VAT-taxable revenue exceeded SAR 187,500 in any year from 2022 to 2025, with a deadline to integrate by 1 February 2027. ZATCA notifies affected taxpayers directly.

What is the difference between Phase 1 and Phase 2 e-invoicing in Saudi Arabia?

Phase 1, from December 2021, required invoices to be generated electronically in a structured format with a QR code. Phase 2 connects the invoicing system directly to ZATCA, so invoices are reported or cleared in real time through the Fatoora platform.

E-invoicing in Saudi Arabia (ZATCA Fatoora): the 2026 guide

Draft, not published. Hidden from the blog listing, the sitemap and search engines until the flag is removed.

E-invoicing in Saudi Arabia: how ZATCA's Fatoora actually works

How ZATCA e-invoicing works in Saudi Arabia: Phase 1 versus Phase 2, the Fatoora integration, which businesses are in scope now that Wave 25 reaches SAR 187,500 in revenue, and what compliance actually takes. From a finance leader in Riyadh.

Every invoice a Saudi company issues now passes through ZATCA before the customer treats it as final. That is e-invoicing, and the system behind it is called Fatoora. If you sell anything in the Kingdom it is already your problem, and as of 2026 it reaches businesses far smaller than the ones that started with it.

I run this for a group in Riyadh. The rules are simpler than the acronyms make them sound.

Two phases, and only one still matters to newcomers

Saudi e-invoicing arrived in two phases. Phase 1, from December 2021, killed the paper and PDF invoice. Every business had to generate invoices electronically, in a structured format, with a QR code. If you were trading legally, you cleared that bar years ago.

Phase 2 is the one that bites. It connects your invoicing system directly to ZATCA through an API. A simplified invoice is reported to ZATCA, and a business-to-business tax invoice is cleared by ZATCA before it counts as valid, each one carrying a cryptographic stamp the authority issues. Your billing software stopped being a private tool and became a line to the tax authority.

The waves, and who is in scope now

ZATCA did not switch Phase 2 on for everyone at once. It rolls companies in by wave, largest revenue first, each wave given a date to integrate. The line keeps moving down. Wave 25, announced in July 2026, pulls in any business whose VAT-taxable revenue passed SAR 187,500 in any year from 2022 to 2025, with a deadline to connect by 1 February 2027.

Read that threshold again. SAR 187,500 is the voluntary VAT registration line. Phase 2 has reached the smallest registered businesses in the country. If that is you, ZATCA notifies you directly, and the date in the notice is not a suggestion.

What integration actually involves

You need an invoicing system that speaks ZATCA's language: invoices in the required XML format, each stamped and carrying a UUID and a QR code, submitted to the Fatoora platform in real time over an API. Most companies get there with compliant software or a certified solution provider rather than building it. The work is the integration and the testing, not the daily use, and once it is live the reporting runs in the background.

Get it wrong and the failure is loud. An invoice ZATCA does not clear is not a valid tax invoice, so your customer cannot reclaim the VAT on it, so your customer calls you.

The grace period is over

For the early waves ZATCA ran a penalty-waiver initiative that softened the first mistakes. That window closed in mid-2026. Enforcement now runs normally, so a missed integration deadline or a non-compliant invoice carries real penalties from the start. The companies treating Phase 2 as a next-year problem are the ones who meet the fines first.

The honest version

E-invoicing is not hard once it is set up. It is a systems project with a deadline, and the deadline is assigned to you whether you were watching or not. It sits inside the same ZATCA relationship as your VAT return, and it runs through the government portals that already hold your company together. The businesses that struggle are the ones who learn they were in a wave after the date passed.

If you have a Phase 2 deadline and no plan for the integration, that is worth a conversation.

Written from operating experience in Riyadh. General guidance, not tax advice on any specific company.