Issue with Invoice Date Recorded Incorrectly due to System Clock Desynchronization & API Sending Error – Need Guidance

Clearance and Reporting
1

Hello,

We recently encountered a technical issue with our e-invoicing system and would like to seek advice and guidance from the community on both the root cause and the proper way to report/justify such cases to ZATCA.

Case Summary:

  • On Friday, 15th August 2025, the system encountered an error while attempting to send invoices through the API. The error message displayed was:
    “Error in Send Invoice API”
  • According to our system engineer, there was a temporary issue with the ZATCA e-invoicing platform on that day. We were advised that pending invoices would automatically be sent once the platform was back online.
  • For this reason, the POS (Point of Sale) screen was left open from Friday evening (15/08/2025) to allow the system to re-attempt sending the pending invoices.
  • On the next day, Saturday, 16th August 2025, a cashier created an invoice. However, due to a System Clock desynchronization between the Windows OS and the POS database, the invoice was recorded with the date 15/08/2025 instead of the actual date 16/08/2025.

Our Confirmation:

  • The invoice was indeed created on 16/08/2025.
  • The discrepancy was purely technical, caused by a timestamp mismatch (System Clock vs. Database time), and not due to any attempt of data manipulation.

Questions to the Community:

  1. Has anyone faced similar issues where API sending errors combined with clock desynchronization caused incorrect invoice dates?
  2. How should such cases be formally justified to ZATCA?
  3. What is the correct channel or link for submitting such justifications to ZATCA?
    • Should it be done through the ZATCA Portal?
    • Is there a dedicated support or ticketing system for such justifications?
  4. Are there specific technical details, logs, or corrective actions that ZATCA is more likely to accept?

Corrective Actions Taken:

  • Mandatory closure of POS sessions at the end of each day.
  • Automatic monitoring of date/time consistency with real-time alerts.
  • Enforced synchronization of Windows Time Service with reliable NTP servers.
  • Updated linkage between the POS application and the database to ensure timestamp accuracy.
  • Procedures for immediate escalation of API errors with full documentation.

We highly appreciate any advice, shared experiences, or recommended practices that could help us address this situation and formally report it to ZATCA through the correct channel.

Thank you in advance for your valuable input.

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