Transit Invoice Jordan: Foreign Trade Invoices in JoFotara

Transit invoice Jordan rules cover two of the six invoice types defined by the National Invoicing System (JoFotara), the transit invoice and the foreign trade invoice. A seller registered with the Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD) issues them in two cases that ISTD’s guide describes. In the first, goods enter under transit status and leave in the name of the same person. In the second, the seller buys from a party outside Jordan and delivers to the buyer outside Jordan as well. ISTD’s technical guide gives each type a three-digit code that declares the trade type, the payment method and the tax family. On the general sales tax and special tax invoices of either type, it requires a 0% tax rate and the value O as the tax category for all goods.

This article rests on two official ISTD documents. The first is the procedures guide for issuing an invoice in the Jordanian National Electronic Invoicing System, 2026 edition, which describes when each type is used. The second is the technical guide for integrating with the National Invoicing System through the API, version 1.5, which sets the codes and the line conditions. The article keeps what the two documents say apart from what they do not say, because these two types in particular raise questions about customs and supporting documents that neither document answers.

If you want the differences between all six types, start with our article Invoice Types in the National Invoicing System. If you sell from inside Jordan to a buyer outside it, the type that applies is the export invoice, not transit or foreign trade.

What a transit invoice and a foreign trade invoice are in JoFotara

The invoice issuing procedures guide sets out a table of invoice types. It opens the description of every type with the same phrase, that this is the invoice the seller must issue to the buyer when the sale takes place. It then names the case in which each type is used. The image below shows the transit and foreign trade rows as they appear in the guide.

Transit invoice

The guide ties the transit invoice to one specific case. Goods enter the free zone, or enter Jordan, under transit status, and then leave in the name of the same person without any change to the condition of the goods. In other words, the description combines three elements that apply together. The goods enter under transit status, they leave in the name of the same person, and they stay in the same condition.

The guide does not explain what transit status means in customs terms, and it does not refer to any other regulation that defines it. This article therefore reports the description as the guide gives it and adds no conditions from outside it.

Foreign trade invoice

The guide says the foreign trade invoice is used when the seller buys from a party outside Jordan and the goods are also delivered to the buyer outside Jordan. Both ends of the route lie outside Jordan, the purchase from a party outside it and the delivery to a buyer outside it. The seller is the registered taxpayer who issues the invoice.

Telling these two types apart from similar ones

Two other non-local types in the same table come close to these two, the export invoice and the assignment inside the free zone invoice (فاتورة تنازل داخل المنطقة الحرة). What separates all four is where the sale takes place and the route the goods follow. The table below sums this up in the guide’s own descriptions.

According to the table, then, a sale from inside Jordan to a free zone is an export, not transit. A sale that takes place inside the free zones themselves is a third type, assignment inside the free zone, and this article mentions it only to draw the distinction. If your case does not clearly match one description, review it with your accountant or with ISTD before you issue the invoice, because an invoice cannot be edited once it is issued.

Transit invoice Jordan codes and foreign trade codes

The 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), and its name attribute carries a three-digit code built as follows.

• The first digit is the trade type, 3 for a transit invoice and 4 for a foreign trade invoice.
• 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 and 3 for Special Sales Tax.

Combining the three digits gives six codes for each type. The table below lists them with the condition the technical guide writes in its Conditions column (محددات).

The technical guide gives one-line examples, showing the code line only, for several of these codes. They include 321 for income invoices (p. 13), 322 and 422 for general sales tax invoices (p. 33), and 323 and 423 for special tax invoices (p. 59). A new foreign trade invoice for a receivable sale subject to General Sales Tax, for example, declares its type in the file like this, <cbc:InvoiceTypeCode name="422">388</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>.

The file declares the type but does not decide it alone

The system reads the invoice type from these two elements, but what they may say depends on two things outside the file. The first is the taxpayer’s registration status at ISTD, since the third digit must match the tax family under which the taxpayer is registered. The second is the reality of the transaction. A transit code fits only a sale that matches the transit description, and the same holds for the foreign trade code.

If a taxpayer sends an invoice type that does not match their tax number or their income-source sequence, the system rejects it with the message This user is not authorized to submit this type of invoice. The message is covered in our article JoFotara Error Codes: Why an Invoice Is Rejected and How to Fix It.

0% and category O on transit and foreign trade invoices

Each line of a general sales tax invoice carries two fields that go together, the tax rate in the cbc:Percent element and the tax category in the cbc:ID element with the attribute schemeID="UN/ECE 5305". Under the rate field in its table of invoice lines, the technical guide places a note that names transit and foreign trade 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. The English here is our rendering, and the Arabic text of the guide is the authority.

Every line of a transit or foreign trade invoice subject to General Sales Tax therefore has two conditions at once, a 0% rate and the category O. That is the category the table on the same page assigns to goods or services that are zero-rated. Because the note covers all goods, the condition applies to every line, and the text makes no exception for any item.

The same note appears again under the general tax rate field in the line table of the special tax invoice (p. 69), so the same condition applies to the lines of codes 313, 323, 413 and 423.

What the guide rejects explicitly

The error message the guide gives for this case concerns the category S. If a line arrives with a 0% rate and the category S, the invoice comes back with code 400 and the message General tax percentage must be zero. The guide explains that a 0% rate must carry the category O, not S.

For a transit or foreign trade invoice, the note itself settles the question, with O for all goods.

How the condition affects the line and invoice totals

The guide calculates the tax on a line by multiplying its base by the tax rate. The base is the line value after discount, with the special tax added on a special tax invoice. At a 0% rate the line tax is zero. The line total in the RoundingAmount element then equals the line value after discount on a general sales tax invoice, and the line value after discount plus the special tax on a special tax invoice. The invoice tax total is the sum of the line taxes, so it is zero as well.

The income invoice has no rate condition

An income invoice carries no tax lines at all. A line on it has only a quantity, a price, a discount and a name. That is why the technical guide puts None in the Conditions column for codes 311, 321, 411 and 421. The 0% and category O condition applies only to general sales tax and special tax invoices, and it does not extend to the income invoice.

Special Sales Tax on these two types

The guide describes the special tax as an amount that is entered without any calculation. It is sent in a separate subtotal under the OTH scheme, which comes before the general tax subtotal on the line. The note on page 69 sits under the general tax rate field, and the guide does not explain how the 0% condition applies to the special tax amount itself on a transit or foreign trade invoice.

Transit and foreign trade invoices on the JoFotara portal

If you issue your invoices on the portal rather than from accounting software, the New invoice form (فاتورة جديدة) in the invoice issuing procedures guide opens with the Invoice details section (بيانات الفاتورة). That section has a dropdown called invoice type (نوع الفاتورة) whose default value is local invoice (فاتورة محلية), and the guide says that the invoice type and the currency are selectable.

The guide does not describe what changes on the form when the transit or foreign trade type is selected. It does not say that the portal sets the tax rate to 0% by itself, and it does not say the opposite. The published image of the form shows 16% in the General Sales Tax rate field (نسبة الضريبة العامة).

Before you press Issue (إصدار), check two things. First, check that the invoice type field has not been left at its default value. Second, check that the General Sales Tax rate field on every item you added meets 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: The Steps.

Other fields to watch on these invoices

The technical guide sets no rules specific to transit or foreign trade beyond the code and the line condition. Three general fields still deserve attention, because by definition the buyer in foreign trade receives the goods outside Jordan.

• Invoice currency. The default value in the cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode and cbc:TaxCurrencyCode elements is JOD, and it can be changed. The guide requires a change of currency to apply to the whole invoice only. It has no element for the exchange rate and no rule for converting amounts to dinars.
• Buyer name. The buyer’s name is always mandatory on a receivable invoice, and on a cash invoice when its value is more than JOD 10,000 or the equivalent in foreign currencies. Codes 322 and 422, for example, need the buyer’s name in every case. The rejection message for a missing name is Bayer name is missing, spelled that way by ISTD.
• Buyer identifier. The guide defines three identifier types, NIN for the national number, PN for the personal number of a non-Jordanian, and TN for the tax number. The guide does not say how to identify a buyer who lives outside Jordan.

Returning a transit or foreign trade invoice

An invoice cannot be edited after it is issued. You correct it with a return invoice whose element value is 381, and in legal terms a return invoice is a credit note. The return invoice carries the same name code as the original invoice and the same currency. For example, a return on a cash transit invoice under General Sales Tax carries the code 312 with the value 381.

A return covers quantities only, cannot exceed the quantity sold, and states the reason for the return. The return examples in the technical guide all cover local, export and development zones invoices, so the guide has no example of returning a transit or foreign trade invoice. Nor does it deal with a wrong type code on an invoice that has already been sent, such as a foreign trade invoice sent with the local code. That case has no documented route, so the safer course is to set the type correctly before you send.

Pre-submission checklist for transit and foreign trade invoices

1. Match the transaction to the description. Transit means entry under transit status and exit in the name of the same person with no change to the condition of the goods. Foreign trade means buying from outside Jordan and delivering to the buyer outside Jordan. Tell both cases apart from export and from assignment inside the free zone.
2. Choose the right code. The first digit is 3 for transit or 4 for foreign trade, the second follows the payment method, and the third follows the tax family under which you are registered at ISTD. The element value is 388 for a new invoice.
3. Set every line. On a general sales tax or special tax invoice, set the general tax rate to 0% and the category to O on all lines without exception. An income invoice has no tax lines.
4. Recalculate the totals. Each line’s tax is zero, the invoice tax total is zero, and each line total equals its value after discount, plus the special tax on a special tax invoice.
5. Check the currency and the buyer’s name. One currency applies to the whole invoice, and the buyer’s name is mandatory on receivable invoices and on cash invoices above JOD 10,000 or the equivalent.
6. Judge the result by the invoice status. The status SUBMITTED means the invoice was accepted, and the 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 transit and foreign trade invoices

The two official documents answer what the two types are, what their codes are and what conditions apply to their lines. Some practical questions remain that they do not answer, and this article offers no answers of its own to them.

• Required documents. Neither document mentions any customs document or proof that accompanies a transit or foreign trade invoice.
• Link to customs procedures. Neither document ties the invoice to any customs declaration, and neither explains transit status in customs terms.
• A complete example. The technical guide has no complete XML file for either type, only the code line. Any complete file built for them needs a real test run before it is called valid.
• Portal behavior. The invoice issuing procedures guide does not describe what the form shows when one of the two types is selected, and it mentions no automatic setting of the rate.
• Exchange rate. The technical guide sets no exchange rate and no method for converting a foreign-currency invoice to dinars.
• A return example. The guide gives no example of returning a transit or foreign trade invoice.

On these points, check with ISTD or with your accountant before you adopt any practice.

How Qoyod helps

When you issue your invoices from accounting software, you do not write the XML file by hand. Here is how Qoyod’s integration with the National Invoicing System handles this part.

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.

• Pre-send check. 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.
• Invoice status. ISTD returns the invoice status and any error message, and Qoyod shows them in its status panel.
• Resend. 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 listed above. Accepting 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 our National Invoicing System page.
• General Sales Tax in Jordan. Rates, registration and filing, in our article General Sales Tax in Jordan: Rates, Registration, Filing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the transit invoice code in JoFotara?

A transit invoice code has 3 as the first digit of the name attribute. It is 311 or 321 for an income invoice, 312 or 322 for General Sales Tax, and 313 or 323 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.

What is the foreign trade invoice code?

A foreign trade invoice code has 4 as the first digit. It is 411 or 421 for an income invoice, 412 or 422 for General Sales Tax, and 413 or 423 for Special Sales Tax, with the payment method in the same order.

What is the difference between a transit invoice and an export invoice?

The invoice issuing procedures guide describes export as selling from inside Jordan to outside the country, and it treats sales to the free zones and to the Aqaba economic zone as exports too. It describes transit as goods entering the free zone or Jordan under transit status and leaving in the name of the same person without a change in their condition.

What tax category do the lines of a transit or foreign trade invoice use?

The technical guide requires a 0% tax rate and the value O for all goods on these two types. The rule appears in a note under the line table of the general sales tax invoice (p. 42) and again in the special tax line table (p. 69). An income invoice carries no tax lines, and its Conditions column reads None.

Does ISTD require customs documents with a transit invoice?

Neither the invoice issuing procedures guide nor the technical guide mentions any customs document or proof that accompanies a transit or foreign trade invoice. Check this point with ISTD or with your accountant, and do not draw a conclusion from the absence of a rule.

How do I correct an accepted transit invoice with a wrong quantity?

You issue a return invoice with the value 381, the same name code as the original invoice and the same currency. A return covers quantities only and cannot exceed the quantity sold. For a wrong type code on its own, the guide gives no correction route.

References

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