What a Jordanian invoice must contain
Article 5(a) of Invoicing Regulation No. 34 of 2019 sets out the particulars, and the threshold it starts from is low: a seller of any good or service worth not less than one dinar must issue an invoice in at least two copies.
Two copies, not one: one is handed to the buyer and the rest are kept by the seller (Art. 5(c)(1)).
- The invoice serial number
- The seller's full name and address
- The seller's tax number if registered for sales tax, or national number if not registered
- The date the invoice was drawn up and issued
- The type, quantity and value of the goods or service sold, and the invoice total
Tax number or national number? Jordan asks for one or the other
This is the rule that sets Jordan apart from every other country this tool covers. The third item in Article 5(a) does not name one fixed identifier — it ties the identifier to the seller's status: the tax number if the seller is registered for sales tax, and the national number if the seller is not.
So a single field on the invoice carries two different legal identities. Registered for sales tax, and your tax number prints. Not registered, and your national number prints. The invoice is properly made out either way.
No Jordanian text publishes a format for either number — no length, no check digit — so this tool enforces no particular length on the field, and does not invent a format that no instrument states.
Paper, computerised and electronic are all valid forms
Article 4 provides that, for the purposes of the Regulation, the invoice is accepted in all its forms, whether paper, computerised or electronic. Article 12(b) adds that where the seller has no electronic invoicing system, manual invoicing is used.
That is a materially different posture from Saudi Arabia, where a PDF is explicitly not an e-invoice at all. The invoice this tool produces is properly formed under the Jordanian Regulation.
What the tool does not do deserves equal clarity: it sends nothing to the national e-invoicing system (JoFotara), and it does not produce the electronic number that system issues. If you are required to join the national system, the invoice is issued through it.
The buyer's name, and the 10,000 dinar threshold
The buyer's name is not required on every invoice, but it becomes required in specific cases. Article 5(b): the invoice must clearly carry the buyer's name where the good or service is sold on credit, by instalments, or in staged payments.
The portal repeats the requirement from another angle: the buyer's name is mandatory on receivable invoices and on invoices of 10,000 and above.
At that same figure a different obligation appears, in Article 5(c)(2): where the invoice value exceeds 10,000 dinars, the seller must evidence that the buyer received it. That is not about writing a name — it is about proving delivery.
Responsibility for the accuracy of what the invoice says is not the seller's alone. Article 10 places it on the seller and the buyer alike.
Who is exempt from issuing an invoice
Article 11(a) exempts certain businesses: a grocery, mini market, supermarket or shop actually carrying on that activity whose sales are under 75,000 dinars a year, and craftspeople whose sales or revenues from the craft are under 30,000 dinars a year.
The exemption is not absolute. Where sufficient evidence shows sales exceed the limit, the Director may require the person to issue invoices (Art. 11(b)). An exempt person may also apply in writing to issue invoices, and the Regulation then applies to them (Art. 11(c)).
Invoices are kept for four years, running from the latest of the dates set out in Article 8.
Frequently asked questions
What is the general sales tax rate in Jordan?
16%. Article 6(a) of General Sales Tax Law No. 6 of 1994, as amended, imposes a general tax on the importation or supply of any good or service at a rate of 16% of the value of the good or the consideration for the service. The portal also shows invoice types carried at 0%: export invoices, and development-zone or investment-promotion invoices.
Is a PDF invoice enough instead of the national e-invoicing system?
Article 4 accepts the invoice in paper, computerised and electronic forms, so the format itself is not the obstacle. But if you are required to join the national e-invoicing system, the invoice that counts is the one issued by that system or by a system linked to it, and this tool sends nothing to it.
Do I put my tax number or my national number on the invoice?
Your tax number if you are registered for sales tax, your national number if you are not. That is the third item in Article 5(a). One field, and what prints in it follows your registration status.
Is there a debit note in the national e-invoicing system?
We found no separate debit-note flow described in the published official guides. What the portal shows is a notice type with two values: «دائن» (credit) for a returned invoice and «مدين» (debit) for original invoices. We present that as what the interface displays, not as a rule. The return itself is made through the portal only.
How long must invoices be kept in Jordan?
Four years, running from the latest of the dates in Article 8: the end of the tax period in which the invoice was drawn up, the filing of the tax return, or notification of the result of an administrative assessment. Where a dispute exists, the invoice is kept until it is resolved.