Development Zone Invoice JoFotara: The Three Conditions

A development zone invoice in the National Invoicing System (JoFotara) is the invoice a seller issues when the buyer is registered among development zone taxpayers. The Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD) also calls it an investment promotion invoice. For the development zone invoice JoFotara accepts, ISTD’s technical guide sets a condition it sets for none of the other types among the six. The buyer’s tax number is mandatory, and it must be registered in the development zones with a valid exemption letter entered on the financial system. On general sales tax invoices and special tax invoices of this type, the tax rate is 0% and the category is O for all goods.

This article brings together what two official ISTD documents say about this type. The procedures guide for issuing an invoice in the Jordanian National Electronic Invoicing System, 2026 edition, defines when it is used. The technical guide for integrating with the National Invoicing System through the API, version 1.5, sets its codes and the conditions for its lines. The article also separates what the two documents state from what they leave out, above all the details of the exemption letter, so that no tax decision rests on an inference.

If you are comparing all six types, start with our article Invoice Types in the National Invoicing System, then come back here for the details of the development zone invoice alone.

What a development zone invoice is in JoFotara

The procedures guide for issuing an invoice includes a table of invoice types and the use case for each one. In that table this invoice carries two names together, development zones (مناطق تنموية) and investment promotion (تشجيع الاستثمار). Its use case is a buyer who is registered among development zone taxpayers. In the same row, the table adds a note that sets a condition. The note reads as follows.

«يجب أن يكون الرقم الضريبي للمشتري مسجل في المناطق التنموية ومعه كتاب اعفاء مدخل على النظام المالي الضريبي ساري المفعول»

In English, the note says that the buyer’s tax number must be registered in the development zones and must come with a valid exemption letter entered on the tax financial system. ISTD publishes this guide in Arabic only, so the English here is our rendering, and the Arabic text is the authority.

So what defines this type in the table is the buyer. The description ties the invoice to the buyer’s registration among development zone taxpayers. It does not mention the kind of goods or service, or where they are delivered. That is what sets it apart from the other four non-local types, whose descriptions in the same table rest on where the sale takes place and how the goods move.

Neither guide names the development zones or says how many there are. This article therefore does not cover that question, and stays with the effect of the buyer’s registration on the invoice type.

The development zone invoice among the six types

The table in the procedures guide for issuing an invoice divides invoices into six types by trade type. The table below shows the use case of each type as the guide gives it, together with the element its description rests on.

Two points deserve attention here. First, the Aqaba Economic Zone does not appear in the table alongside the development zones. The table places a sale to it under export. Second, the free zones have two other types in the table. A sale to them is an export, and a sale that takes place inside them is an assignment inside the free zone.

If your case does not clearly fit one of these descriptions, review it with your accountant or with ISTD before you issue the invoice, because an invoice cannot be edited once it has been issued.

Development zone invoice codes in the invoice file

Accounting software sends the invoice type in the cbc:InvoiceTypeCode element. The value of the element itself separates a new invoice (388) from a return invoice (381). The name attribute carries a three-digit code, and each digit declares one aspect of the invoice.

• The first digit is the trade type, and on a development zone invoice it is 2.
• The second digit is the payment method, 1 for cash and 2 for receivable.
• The third digit is the tax family, 1 for an income invoice, 2 for General Sales Tax (GST) and 3 for Special Sales Tax.

Combining the three digits gives six codes for this type. The table below lists them with the conditions column that the technical guide sets for each code.

Under the development zone row in the code tables of all three tax families (pp. 12, 33 and 58), the guide places the note on registration in the development zones and the valid exemption letter. The note is therefore part of the conditions for all six codes, not only for the sales tax codes.

A new cash invoice for a sale subject to General Sales Tax, made to a buyer registered in the development zones, declares its type in the file as <cbc:InvoiceTypeCode name="212">388</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>. For a receivable sale the attribute becomes 222 and the value stays 388. That is the type line alone. The technical guide includes no full XML file for a development zone invoice, or for any non-local type.

The three conditions of a development zone invoice

Taken together, the two official texts set three conditions for this type. Reading them one at a time shows where each condition sits. The first is in the invoice file, and the other two are in the buyer’s records at ISTD.

1. The buyer’s tax number is mandatory. The technical guide defines three types of buyer identifier in the schemeID attribute, NIN for the national number, PN for the personal number of a non-Jordanian and TN for the tax number. It makes the buyer’s tax number mandatory when the invoice type is development zones. On this type, then, the identifier is sent as TN, and its value is digits only.
2. The number is registered in the development zones. Having a tax number in the file is not enough. The condition is that this same number is registered in the development zones. That is a matter of ISTD’s records, not of your file.
3. A valid exemption letter entered on the financial system. The text describes the letter in two ways. It must be valid, and it must be entered on the tax financial system. This condition also sits outside the file.

If the buyer’s tax number is not linked to the development zones, the invoice is rejected with a 400 code and a message on the BuyerTaxNumber field.

These conditions are different from the buyer-name rule, which is a general rule for every type. Under that rule the name is always mandatory on a receivable invoice, and on a cash invoice worth more than JOD 10,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency. A receivable development zone code (222, for example) therefore needs both the buyer’s name and the buyer’s tax number.

The exemption letter in the official text, and the limits of what it says

The two documents describe the letter in the same terms. The procedures guide for issuing an invoice describes it as an exemption letter entered on the tax financial system and valid, in the note quoted above. The technical guide requires a valid exemption letter entered on the financial system. Neither document mentions three things a seller may ask about.

• The body that issues the letter. Neither text names it.
• How long the letter is valid. Neither text sets a period, or says what follows when it ends.
• How it is entered on the financial system. Neither text says who enters it or how.

This article therefore settles none of these points. The reference for them is the buyer who holds the letter, and ISTD. In practice, ask the buyer to confirm their registration and that their letter is valid before you issue an invoice of this type, because this information does not appear in your invoice file.

The exemption letter here is a condition of the invoice type. A development zone invoice is sent to the National Invoicing System like every other type, has its own codes in the technical guide, and gets a QR code back only after it is accepted.

The 0% rate and category O on a development zone invoice JoFotara accepts

Every line on a general sales tax invoice carries two linked fields, the tax rate in the cbc:Percent element and the line’s tax category. Under the rate field in the invoice line table, the technical guide places a note that names the development zones explicitly. The note reads as follows.

«في حال كان نوع الفاتورة تصدير أو مناطق تنموية أو ترانزيت أو تجارة خارجية أو تنازل داخل المنطقة الحرة يشترط أن تكون نسبة الضريبة 0% وتعبأ القيمة O لجميع السلع»

In English, the note says that if the invoice type is export, development zones, transit, foreign trade or assignment inside the free zone, the tax rate must be 0% and the value O is entered for all goods. ISTD publishes this guide in Arabic only, so the English here is our rendering, and the Arabic text is the authority.

Each line of a development zone invoice subject to General Sales Tax therefore has two conditions at once, the 0% rate and category O. The words “for all goods” mean the condition covers every line. No line is exempted because its goods would be sent with another category on a local invoice. The same note is repeated in the special tax line table (p. 69), so the condition applies to special tax invoices of this type as well.

On a general sales tax invoice, the guide calculates the line tax from the line value after discount and the tax rate. Each line’s tax is therefore zero, and so is the invoice’s total tax, because the total is the sum of the line taxes. The General Sales Tax rates themselves are covered in our article General Sales Tax in Jordan.

At a 0% rate, category S is not used. If a line with a 0% rate is sent with category S, the invoice comes back with the message General tax percentage must be zero. The guide does not say what the system does if a development zone line arrives with a category other than O, so following the wording of the note is the safe course.

The income invoice of the development zone type

An income invoice carries no tax lines at all, so the 0% rate condition does not apply to it. Even so, this type stands apart from the other non-local types in the income invoice code table. In that table the conditions column reads None for export, transit, foreign trade and assignment inside the free zone. For development zones, the condition there is that the buyer’s tax number is mandatory, with the same note on registration and the exemption letter beneath it.

A taxpayer who issues income invoices therefore sends 211 for cash or 221 for receivable on this type, and needs the buyer’s tax number in the file as TN, exactly as on sales tax invoices. The buyer condition goes with this type in all three families, while the rate condition belongs to the two sales tax families.

The file declares the type, and its conditions sit outside the file

The system reads the invoice type from two elements in the file, but what those elements may say depends on things outside it. The third digit follows the seller’s registration status at ISTD. If a taxpayer sends an invoice type that does not match their tax number or their income-source sequence, the invoice is rejected with the message This user is not authorized to submit this type of invoice.

On this type, the first digit follows something else, the buyer’s registration in the development zones and the buyer’s valid exemption letter. Writing 2 in the first digit does not make a sale a development zone sale. It declares the type, and the conditions of that type still sit in the buyer’s records at ISTD.

A development zone invoice from the JoFotara portal

If you issue your invoices on the portal rather than from accounting software, the New invoice form (فاتورة جديدة) in the procedures guide for issuing an invoice opens with the Invoice details section (بيانات الفاتورة). It contains a dropdown called invoice type (نوع الفاتورة) whose default value is local invoice (فاتورة محلية), and the guide states that the invoice type and the currency are selectable. Among its fields, the Buyer details section (بيانات المشتري) includes buyer additional-ID type (نوع المعرفات الإضافية للمشتري) and buyer number (رقم المشتري).

The guide does not show the full list of values in that dropdown, and does not describe what changes on the form when the development zone type is chosen. It does not say that the portal asks for the buyer’s tax number on its own, or that it sets the tax rate to 0%. So before you press Issue (إصدار), check three things. The invoice type must not be left at its default value. The buyer number you entered must be the buyer’s tax number. The General Sales Tax rate (نسبة الضريبة العامة) on every item you added must meet the technical guide’s condition. The full steps for issuing an invoice on the portal are in our article Issue an Invoice on the JoFotara Portal.

Returning a development zone invoice

An invoice cannot be edited after it is issued. A correction is made with a return invoice whose element value is 381, and legally that return invoice is a credit note. The return invoice carries the same name attribute code as the original invoice, and the same currency. Among the technical guide’s examples of return codes on general sales tax invoices are 212 and 222, the cash and receivable development zone codes. A return on a cash development zone invoice under General Sales Tax is therefore written <cbc:InvoiceTypeCode name="212">381</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>.

A return is on quantities only, cannot exceed the quantity sold, and states the reason for the return. The note on O for all goods does not appear in the line tables of the general sales tax and special tax return invoices (pp. 54 and 82), so no category rule is attributed to them. The guide does not deal with a wrong type code on an invoice that has been accepted, for example an invoice to a development zone buyer sent with the local code. That case has no documented path, so the safer course is to set the type correctly before sending.

Checklist before issuing a development zone invoice

In its guidelines, the technical guide recommends checking totals, taxes, the tax number, the buyer number and the mandatory fields before sending. This checklist applies that recommendation to this type.

1. Confirm the buyer’s registration. Ask the buyer to confirm that their tax number is registered in the development zones before you choose this type.
2. Confirm the exemption letter. Ask the buyer whether they hold a valid exemption letter entered on the financial system.
3. Choose the right code. The first digit is 2, the second follows the payment method, and the third follows the tax family you are registered under at ISTD. The element value is 388 for a new invoice.
4. Enter the buyer identifier. The type is TN and the value is the buyer’s tax number, digits only, matching the buyer’s documents digit for digit.
5. Set every line. On a general sales tax or special tax invoice, use a 0% rate and category O on all lines.
6. Check the buyer name. It is always mandatory on a receivable invoice, and on a cash invoice worth more than JOD 10,000 or its equivalent.
7. Judge the result by the invoice status. The status SUBMITTED means the invoice was accepted, and a QR code comes back with it. If the invoice is rejected, fix it and resend it with the same invoice number and the same unique identifier (UUID).

What the guides do not say about development zone invoices

The two official documents answer what this type is, what its codes are and what conditions its lines must meet. Some practical questions remain that they do not answer, and this article does not supply answers of its own.

• Exemption letter details. The two documents do not name the body that issues the letter, and set neither its validity period nor how it is entered on the financial system.
• The zones themselves. The two documents do not name the development zones or say how many there are.
• How the seller checks the buyer’s registration. The two documents describe no way for the seller to check, before sending, that the buyer’s number is registered in the development zones.
• Portal behavior. The procedures guide for issuing an invoice does not describe what the form shows when this type is chosen.
• A category other than O on a line. The guide does not say how the system handles it, and states only O for all goods.
• A complete example. The technical guide includes no full XML file for a development zone invoice, only the code line.

On these points, go to ISTD or to your accountant before you adopt any practice.

How Qoyod helps

When you issue your invoice from accounting software, you do not write the XML file by hand. Qoyod is integrated with the National Invoicing System (JoFotara). Qoyod builds the invoice file in UBL 2.1 format with its unique identifier (UUID) and sends it to the National Invoicing System without any manual intervention. Around that file, it also does the following.

• Qoyod checks each invoice at field level as it is created, covering the tax number, the document type and payment method, the General Sales Tax rate and whether the lines are complete, and alerts you to any error before the invoice is sent, to reduce rejections.
• ISTD returns the invoice status and any error message, and Qoyod shows them in its status panel.
• The status panel lists invoices that were not sent and need to be resent, and when you resend one it keeps the same UUID.

The pre-send check is an alert, not a guarantee. It covers the four fields named above, while the buyer’s registration in the development zones and the exemption letter are data held by ISTD. Acceptance of the invoice rests with the National Invoicing System alone, and deciding the type of the transaction remains the taxpayer’s responsibility.

Where to go next

• The full picture of the system. How it works and how to connect your business to it, in our article Jordan’s National E-Invoicing System.
• Qoyod’s invoicing solutions in Jordan. On the National Invoicing System (JoFotara) page.
• Rejection codes in general. In our article JoFotara Error Codes.

Frequently asked questions

What is a development zone invoice in JoFotara?

The procedures guide for issuing an invoice defines it as the invoice where the buyer is registered among development zone taxpayers, and also calls it the investment promotion invoice. It requires the buyer’s tax number to be registered in the development zones, with a valid exemption letter entered on the tax financial system.

What are the development zone invoice codes in the technical guide?

The code starts with 2 in the first digit of the name attribute. It is 211 or 221 for an income invoice, 212 or 222 for General Sales Tax and 213 or 223 for Special Sales Tax, where the middle digit is 1 for cash and 2 for receivable. The value of the element itself is 388 for a new invoice and 381 for a return.

Is the buyer’s tax number mandatory on an income invoice of this type?

The technical guide sets the condition that the buyer’s tax number is mandatory for codes 211 and 221 in its income invoice table, together with the note on registration and the exemption letter. The 0% rate condition does not apply to an income invoice, because it carries no tax lines.

What tax category do the lines of a development zone invoice use?

The technical guide requires a 0% tax rate and the value O for all goods on a development zone invoice subject to General Sales Tax or Special Sales Tax. The rule appears in a note under the invoice line table on page 42, and is repeated in the special tax line table on page 69.

Who issues the required exemption letter, and how long is it valid?

The two official documents do not name the body that issues the letter, and do not set its validity period. They require only that the letter be valid and entered on the financial system, so for its details the reference is the buyer and ISTD.

Is a sale to the Aqaba Economic Zone a development zone invoice?

The procedures guide for issuing an invoice places a sale to the Aqaba Economic Zone under export, together with a sale to the free zones. The development zone invoice, by contrast, is tied in the table to the buyer’s registration among development zone taxpayers.

References

• Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD), technical guide for integrating with the National Invoicing System through the API, version 1.5 (in Arabic), pp. 12, 33, 42, 47, 58 and 69.
• Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD), procedures guide for issuing an invoice in the Jordanian National Electronic Invoicing System, 2026 edition (in Arabic), p. 7.
• ISTD’s National Invoicing System guides (in Arabic)