The invoice screen is open, and one field is labelled invoice type. The sale you just closed went to a free-zone company, to a buyer in Aqaba, or to a client abroad whose goods never entered Jordan. Which type do you pick, and on what basis?
The direct answer: the invoice type in the National Invoicing System is determined by the nature of the transaction itself, not by its size and not by how it was paid. The Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD) publishes an official table of six types in its invoice-organisation guide, each with a use case taken from the sales tax law. Your choice is not a judgement call but a legal description of the deal.
This guide explains one thing: the six types, when each applies, and how the trade type differs from the document type. It does not cover registration, integration, the mandatory field list, penalties, or the return mechanics. Each has its own article in this track.
Before the six types: two axes that get conflated
Most of the confusion comes from one word. “Type” runs on two separate axes in the National Invoicing System, and the two get treated as one list. They are independent, and every invoice carries a value from each.
Axis one: the commercial invoice type
The subject of this guide: local, export, development areas, transit, foreign trade, or assignment inside the free zone. Six descriptions of the transaction and its geographic and customs destination.
Axis two: the tax document type
A different axis, with four values: income invoice, general sales tax invoice, special sales tax invoice, and credit note. The income invoice belongs to a taxpayer not registered for general sales tax and carries no tax node at all. The credit note is the return document.
A third, narrower axis gets mixed in: the invoice type element’s own value. It has two possibilities and no third: 388 for a new invoice and 381 for a return invoice. There is no separate code for an export invoice, and no debit note in the system at all. That axis is covered in editing an issued invoice in the National Invoicing System.
In one line: the six types describe the transaction, the four describe the document, and 388 and 381 describe the direction.
The six types and the use case for each
1. Local invoice
A sale inside the borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It is the only one of the six the system does not force to zero on every line, so it takes the rate applicable to the good or service.
2. Export invoice
A sale from inside the Kingdom to outside the country. Here is the point that catches people out: a sale to the free zones and to the Aqaba Special Economic Zone counts as an export too, even though the buyer sits inside the Kingdom’s borders.
Sell to a free-zone company on a local invoice at the usual rate and you have misdescribed the transaction and mistreated it for tax at once. No edit will fix it: the system defines none.
3. Development areas or investment promotion invoice
This applies when the buyer is registered among development-area taxpayers. It is the only one of the six carrying two extra conditions stated explicitly in the guide:
- The buyer’s tax number must be registered in the development areas.
- The buyer must hold a valid exemption letter entered in the tax system.
If either is missing, the transaction is not of this type wherever the buyer sits. The buyer’s tax number is mandatory here, the only one of the six for which the guide says so.
4. Transit invoice
Goods enter the free zone or the Kingdom under transit status, then leave in the same person’s name and with no change to their condition. Both bind: a change of owner takes the shipment out of the description, and so does any processing that changes its condition.
5. Foreign trade invoice
The seller buys from a party outside the Kingdom and delivery to the buyer also happens outside it, so the goods never enter Jordan. The difference from export is clean: there the goods leave the Kingdom; here they never enter it.
6. Assignment inside the free zone invoice
This applies when the sale occurs inside the free zones. The official text stops there, setting no conditions on the seller or the buyer.
The rule shared by the five non-local types
On export, development areas, transit, foreign trade, and assignment inside the free zone invoices, the tax rate is zero on every line, general sales tax or special sales tax alike. That is not a technical footnote; it is the financial outcome of choosing the type.
And a second rule many systems get wrong: at a zero rate the tax category must be the zero-rated O, not the taxable S. Confusing the two produces an explicit rejection stating that the general tax percentage must be zero. The accepted rates and how they are calculated are covered in general sales tax in Jordan.
The three-digit code: a matrix, not a list
When the invoice is sent, your choice becomes a three-digit code in the invoice type element’s name attribute. Not a list of values to memorise, but a matrix of three axes, each digit independent:
- First digit: trade type, numbered from zero:
0local,1export,2development areas,3transit,4foreign trade,5assignment inside the free zones. The local invoice starts at zero, not at one. - Second digit: payment method.
1for cash and2for receivables. - Third digit: tax family.
1for an income invoice,2for general sales tax,3for special sales tax.
So 011 is a local cash invoice on income tax, and 122 is an export receivable invoice on general sales tax.
Which brings a correction worth making, because the error circulates widely. Reducing it to “012 is cash and 022 is receivables” is not correct outside the local general sales tax invoice. They hold in that one case only, because the first digit moves with the trade type and the third with the tax family. Memorise two codes and apply them everywhere, and you misdescribe every non-local transaction you issue.
On a return invoice the code stays as it was and the invoice inherits the original’s currency. Only the direction of the document changes.
Three questions that settle the type before you issue
Instead of memorising the table, ask three questions:
- Where were the goods delivered or the service performed? Inside the Kingdom, local. Entirely outside it, foreign trade. Leaving the Kingdom, export, free zones and Aqaba included. Staying inside the free zone, assignment. Passing through unchanged, transit.
- Is the buyer a development-area taxpayer with a valid exemption letter? If so, the type is the development areas invoice, and the buyer’s tax number is mandatory.
- Was the value collected now, or did it become a receivable? This does not change the trade type, only the second digit of the code.
They are worth the minute they take. A type error is not one you repair with an edit: correcting it means a full return then a new invoice, two documents in your tax record instead of one.
How Qoyod handles invoice types
The point is not to apply these rules by hand, but to know what runs under the hood. Qoyod’s accounting software is integrated with the National Invoicing System, and it handles this layer as follows:
- It supports the four document types the system defines: income, general sales tax, special sales tax, and credit note.
- It calculates general sales tax at 16% along with the reduced rates, the exempt cases, and the zero-rated cases, where the five non-local types sit.
- It issues the invoice on the bilingual Jordanian tax invoice template, with the tax number and mandatory fields, and prints the QR code on it.
- It works in Jordanian dinars for invoicing and formatting.
- It sends the invoice to the system straight from the books through the National Invoicing System integration, so nothing is keyed in twice.
- It links the return invoice to the original and reflects it at once in the journal entry, the tax, and the customer balance, returns quantities to inventory for stocked products, and leaves the original in place, not deleted.
Two points for accuracy. First: the QR code is issued by the National Invoicing System and comes back in its response once the invoice is accepted. The software prints it, it does not generate it. Second: describing the transaction stays your decision. No software knows that your buyer is registered in the development areas or that your goods are under transit. It executes the description and keeps it tied to your books; you determine it.
Where to go next
We covered one question: the types and when to use each. The neighbouring topics:
- Fields, coverage, penalties: e-invoicing requirements in Jordan.
- Correcting after issuance: editing an issued invoice in the National Invoicing System.
- Technical integration: connecting to the National Invoicing System.
- Portal or software: the portal versus an accounting system.
- Verifying an issued document: verifying an e-invoice with the Sanad app.
- Your readiness: find the gaps before your first rejection with the JoFotara readiness check.
And the governing rule stands: the types table is official text from the Income and Sales Tax Department, and leaves no room for interpretation. For any borderline case, go back to the current edition of the invoice-organisation guide on the department’s site.
Frequently asked questions
How many invoice types are there in the National Invoicing System?
Six, per the invoice-organisation guide: local, export, development areas or investment promotion, transit, foreign trade, and assignment inside the free zone. These are separate from the four document types: income, general sales tax, special tax, and credit note.
Does a sale to a free zone count as a local sale?
No. A sale to the free zones and to the Aqaba Special Economic Zone counts as an export under the official table, even though the buyer is inside the Kingdom’s borders. The rate is zero on every line.
What is the difference between an export invoice and a foreign trade invoice?
On an export invoice the goods leave the Kingdom. On a foreign trade invoice the seller buys from outside the Kingdom and delivery happens outside it too, so the goods never enter Jordan.
What are the conditions for issuing a development areas invoice?
The buyer’s tax number must be registered in the development areas, and the buyer must hold a valid exemption letter entered in the tax system. On this type the buyer’s tax number is mandatory.
Is “012 is cash and 022 is receivables” a correct rule?
In one case only: the local general sales tax invoice. The code is a three-digit matrix of trade type, payment method, and tax family, so generalising the pair misdescribes every non-local transaction and every other tax family.
What do I do if I chose the wrong invoice type and sent it?
The system defines no edit for an issued invoice, and returns run on quantities rather than data. Return the invoice in full, then issue a new one with the correct description.
Does the tax rate change with the invoice type?
Yes. The local invoice is the only one the system does not force to zero, so it takes the rate applicable to the good or service. On the other five types the rate is zero on every line.
