Read a ZATCA invoice QR

Every Saudi e-invoice carries a QR code storing the seller's name, VAT number, timestamp and amounts. Drop the invoice PDF or a photo of it and we read the code and show its contents as-is, all on your own device. The tool displays what the code stores; it does not verify the signature or the seller's registration with the authority.

Drop your files here

Files are processed on your device and never uploaded

Runs in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.

Take a photo

You can process several files at once, up to 3.

100% local, nothing uploaded

Three steps, that's it

Drop the invoice PDF or a clear photo of it
Press Read the code
See the fields and copy them as text

What does the ZATCA invoice reader do?

An e-invoice issued in Saudi Arabia carries a square QR code, and inside that code is data written in an encoding the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority defined: each field has a number identifying it, then its length, then its value. This tool finds the code on the invoice, reads it and unpacks that encoding, then shows you what is inside field by field under names you can understand, instead of the long run of letters and symbols a phone camera shows when it scans the code.

All of it happens inside your browser: the invoice is not uploaded, the photo is not sent, and neither the supplier's name, its VAT number nor the amounts pass through any server. It works with the invoice PDF and with a picture of the invoice in JPG, PNG or WebP, whether you took it with the camera, received it in a message or captured it as a screenshot.

When you need to read an invoice's QR code

An accountant entering supplier invoices wants the VAT number, the total and the tax exactly as they were stored, not as somebody retyped them. An employee filing an expense claim with an invoice that arrived as a WhatsApp photo wants to know what its code holds before uploading it. A shop owner receiving a first invoice from a new supplier wants to see the name and VAT number recorded in it before adding it to the books.

In every one of those cases the result is text you copy with one button or download as a text file, with each field labelled in Arabic and English together, so it pastes cleanly into a spreadsheet or a message to the accountant without anyone typing a fifteen-digit VAT number by hand and getting one digit wrong.

What does an e-invoice QR code store?

The five basic fields are text and read directly: the seller's name, its VAT number, the time the invoice was issued, the total including VAT, and the VAT amount. We show each one exactly as it was stored in the code, character for character, so we do not reformat the date, round the amount or add a currency nobody wrote.

Phase-two invoices add further fields: the invoice hash, the digital signature, the public key and the stamp signature. Those are encrypted binary data with no readable text form, so we state that they exist and how many bytes they take instead of printing meaningless symbols. A field with a number we do not recognise is shown under that number rather than dropped, and if the end of a code is cut short we still show every field that was read whole before it.

Reading is not verifying

This is the most important limit of the tool, so we state it without hedging: we display what the code stores, and we do not check the signature, the seller's registration with the authority, or whether the invoice exists in its systems. A code printed on an invoice that is not genuine reads just as easily, which is why reading it here is never a judgement on the invoice. To check an invoice, use the authority's own official channels.

What reading does give you is a comparison. Is the name in the code the supplier's name printed at the top of the invoice? Is the VAT number the same? Do the total and the tax in the code match the invoice's own table? On an invoice where every line carries the standard 15% rate, the VAT equals 15/115 of the total including VAT. The tool does not do that arithmetic for you, but it is a quick check you can run yourself before accepting the invoice for an expense or a claim.

How to read a ZATCA invoice QR code, step by step

Open the ZATCA invoice reader and drop the invoice into the tray: the PDF as you received it, or a clear picture of the code in JPG, PNG or WebP.
If the invoice is on paper, photograph the code itself from close up, in light that does not glare off the paper and from straight on, so the square fills a clear part of the picture.
Drop other invoices in alongside it if you want them read in the same run, and each invoice's fields will appear under its file name.
Press read the code. In a PDF we search the first pages in order and stop at the first code that reads.
Review the fields that appear: seller name, VAT number, timestamp, total and VAT, and compare them against what is printed on the invoice.
Copy the fields as text with the copy button, or download them as a text file that opens with Arabic intact in Windows Notepad and in Excel.

Limits worth knowing

The tool displays and does not verify: it does not check the digital signature, the seller's registration, whether the invoice exists in the authority's systems, or the VAT arithmetic.
In a PDF we look for the code on the first 10 pages only, because an invoice's code normally sits on its first page. If the code is on a late page of a long file, separate that page with the split PDF tool and read it on its own.
We read one code per file: the first readable code we reach. A file holding several invoices gives you one of them, so split it first.
A QR code that carries no invoice fields, such as a website link or a payment code, is treated as no code at all, because what it holds is not invoice data we can show.
A blurred picture, one tilted steeply, or one that crops an edge of the square may not read. The clarity of the square matters more than the clarity of the rest of the invoice.
You can drop more than one invoice into a single run, and a run takes up to 3 files. The ceiling is technical rather than commercial, because each invoice is drawn and read inside your own browser.
Pictures in formats other than JPG, PNG and WebP are not accepted, and a password-protected PDF cannot have its pages drawn until the password is removed with the unlock PDF tool.

Common problems and their fixes

It says no QR code was found, but my invoice has one

Photograph the code on its own from close up, in light that does not glare, and make sure the whole square is inside the picture with its white margin. If the invoice is a long PDF, check that the code is on one of its first pages.

My phone camera reads the code but the tool rejects it

A camera reads any code and shows its raw text. This tool only accepts a code carrying e-invoice fields, so if that square is a link or a code for something else, it is not the invoice code, and there may be another square on the invoice.

Some fields show a size in bytes instead of text

Those are the phase-two fields: the hash, the signature and the key, which are encrypted data with no text form. Their presence does not mean the invoice is sound and their absence does not mean it is faulty, because the tool checks neither.

The seller name in the code differs from the printed name

The tool shows what is in the code and makes no judgement about the difference. The printed name may be a trading name while the code holds the registered one, or the system that issued the invoice may be at fault. Ask the supplier, or check the invoice through the authority's official channels.

The amount in the code does not match the invoice total

Compare it with the total including VAT rather than the amount before tax, because that is what the code stores. If the gap remains, the code and the invoice table disagree, and the tool shows the code as it is without correcting it, so ask the supplier for a corrected invoice.

The invoice reached me as a WhatsApp photo

Save the picture to your device and drop it straight in here, with no extra app. If it is rejected because compression has softened the code, ask for the invoice as a PDF, or for a close picture of the code alone.

My file holds several invoices and only one appeared

The tool stops at the first code it reads in a file. Split the file into pages with the split PDF tool, then drop the pages in together, up to the run's file limit, and each invoice's fields appear under its own page's name.

Frequently asked questions

Does this tool verify a ZATCA invoice?

No. We decode the code and display what is inside it, field by field, exactly as stored. We do not check the digital signature, the seller's registration with the authority or whether the invoice exists in its systems, and a code on an invoice that is not genuine reads just as easily. Verification belongs to the authority's official channels; we do not offer or claim it.

What information is stored in a ZATCA e-invoice QR code?

Five basic text fields: the seller's name, its VAT number, the time the invoice was issued, the total including VAT and the VAT amount. Phase-two invoices add the invoice hash, the digital signature, the public key and the stamp signature, which are encrypted data. The tool shows the text fields exactly as stored and states that the encrypted ones exist and how large they are.

Why do some fields show only as a byte size?

Because they are not text. The invoice hash, digital signature, public key and stamp signature are encrypted binary data added by phase-two invoices, and printed as characters they would be meaningless symbols. So we state that they exist and how large they are. That says nothing about whether the invoice is sound or faulty, because the tool checks neither.

How do I read an e-invoice QR code from a photo?

Drop the picture straight in, as JPG, PNG or WebP, with no extra app. Reading works when the code is clear in the picture; if it fails, take a closer, sharper shot of the code itself, in light that does not glare off the paper and from straight on, because the clarity of the square matters more than the rest of the invoice.

Is my invoice uploaded to a server when I read it?

No. The picture or PDF is drawn and read inside your browser and the code is decoded on your device, so the supplier's name, its VAT number and the amounts never pass through any server. That is what makes the tool fit for your company's invoices and for expense claims without their financial details leaving the device in your hands.

Why can't the tool find a QR code when my invoice has one?

Usually for one of two reasons: the code is not clear enough, through blur, glare or a cropped edge, or it is not the invoice code at all but a link or a payment code carrying no invoice fields. Photograph the code on its own from close up and check it is the right square. In a long PDF we search the first pages only.

Can I read several invoices at once?

Yes. Drop the invoices in together, up to the run limit shown at the tray, and each invoice's fields appear under its own file name in a single result you can copy or download. The limit is technical rather than commercial, because every invoice is read inside your browser. We read the first code we reach in each file, so a file holding several invoices needs splitting first.

Tools that go with this one

All tools

Every tool runs inside your browser without uploading the file.