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Ethiopia e-Invoicing
Last reviewed 2 official sources
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Ethiopia has the legal framework for mandatory e-invoicing but no rollout dates. Directive No. 1142/2026 took effect in July 2026 and requires invoices to be registered with the Ministry of Revenues before they are issued. The schedule naming which taxpayers start, and when, has not been published.
Previous
1 July 2026
Electronic Invoicing System Administration Directive No. 1142/2026 published
Latest
30 July 2026
Tax administration amendment doubles the unissued-invoice penalty and orders an e-invoicing directive
Ethiopia e-Invoicing Overview
B2B
planned
Directive No. 1142/2026 makes a compliant sales register system mandatory for every taxpayer required to keep books of accounts, but Article 29(1) leaves the rollout to a schedule the Ministry of Revenues has not issued. Article 20(5) treats supplies between businesses most strictly: where both parties are registered taxpayers and the invoice is intended for tax reporting, it must be registered through a direct connection to the Electronic Invoice Registration System, and Article 20(6) keeps it out of the summarised report other sectors may file. The enabling power came from Proclamation No. 1434/2026 , which directs the tax authority to issue a directive on the electronic tax system and on invoices carrying a Quick Response code.
B2G
planned
Ethiopia operates no separate public sector e-invoicing regime, and none is legislated. Article 3 of Directive No. 1142/2026 fixes scope by taxpayer and transaction rather than by customer: it covers taxpayers that issue invoices under the tax law, sales registration system suppliers, taxpayers using software exclusively, software-as-a-service providers and e-commerce or digital marketplace operators, and it applies to transactions on which VAT is chargeable under Article 3 of Proclamation No. 1341/2024 . Supplies to government bodies are caught on the same terms as any other sale. No procurement-specific duty, format or deadline has been published.
B2C
planned
Consumer sales sit inside the same framework, with concessions for high-volume sectors. Article 20 of Directive No. 1142/2026 lets the Ministry of Revenues authorise banking, securities market, digital payment processing and telecommunications operators to invoice consumers without a direct connection, provided each invoice carries a unique number and a Quick Response code and summarised sales data reaches the authority on a daily, weekly or monthly cycle the authority sets by sector. Annex 2 runs the other way: under Article 19 (3) a sales register system used in a listed retail, transport, accommodation or food service activity must function in offline mode, making business continuity a required capability rather than a relief. E-commerce and digital marketplace operators are licensed in their own right under Article 14(4) and must run at least one platform that has passed inspection.
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Implementation Timeline(5 events)
Key mandate dates. Select a date for detail, or show all updates below.
Sales register machines made obligatory
26 January 2007
Legislative
Council of Ministers Regulations No. 139/2007 , published in Federal Negarit Gazeta No. 48 on 26 January 2007, required taxpayers named in ministerial directives to use accredited sales register machines and set out the data every machine-generated receipt must carry. This fiscal device regime, rather than e-invoicing, is what Ethiopian businesses have operated since.
Federal Tax Administration Proclamation No. 983/2016 enacted
20 August 2016
Legislative
Proclamation No. 983/2016 of 20 August 2016 consolidated tax administration, including the Article 17 duty to keep records in Amharic or English inside Ethiopia and the invoice offences in Articles 119 and 120. Its Article 19(4) later supplied the authority under which the Ministry of Revenues issued the electronic invoicing directive.
VAT Proclamation No. 1341/2024 replaces the 2002 law
21 August 2024
Legislative
Proclamation No. 1341/2024 , published on 21 August 2024, replaced Value Added Tax Proclamation No. 285/2002 and set the tax invoice, debit note and credit note rules the electronic invoicing directive was later built on, including the Article 3 test that decides which transactions the directive reaches.
Electronic Invoicing System Administration Directive No. 1142/2026 published
1 July 2026
Legislative
The Ministry of Revenues published Directive No. 1142/2026 , running to 31 articles and two annexes and signed at Addis Ababa by Minister Aynalem Nigussie Ali. Article 4(1)(c) permits a system to issue an invoice or receipt only after it has transmitted the data, had validity confirmed and obtained an Invoice Reference Number, a Receipt Reference Number and a Quick Response code. Article 31 brings the directive into force on registration by the Ministry of Justice and publication on the Ministry of Revenues website, and Article 30 repeals Articles 8 and 23 of Tax Invoice Utilization and Administration Directive No. 149/2018 . No implementation schedule accompanied it.
Tax administration amendment raises the invoice penalty to ETB 100,000
30 July 2026
Legislative
Proclamation No. 1434/2026 , carried in Federal Negarit Gazette No. 48 of 30 July 2026 and effective on publication, amended Proclamation No. 983/2016. It replaced the failure-to-issue penalty of ETB 50,000 per transaction with ETB 100,000 for each invoice not issued to a buyer, moving the charge from the transaction to the individual invoice, barred the Authority from waiving that penalty, and added a sub-article requiring the tax authority to issue a directive on the electronic tax system, on invoices carrying a Quick Response code and on e-commerce.
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Compliance Regime
Tax Authority
CTC Model
Clearance
Clearance applies to each document. Under Article 4(1)(c) of Directive No. 1142/2026 an accredited sales registration system may issue an invoice or receipt only once it has transmitted the transaction to the Electronic Invoice Registration System, had its validity confirmed and obtained an Invoice Reference Number, a Receipt Reference Number and a Quick Response code, and Article 4(1)(b) requires that transmission to happen in real time as the transaction occurs. Accreditation under Article 14 carries a bank or insurance performance guarantee renewable every two years, starting at USD 30,000 for a system supplier, USD 50,000 for a software-as-a-service provider, USD 25,000 for an e-commerce or digital marketplace operator and USD 15,000 for a taxpayer running a system for its own exclusive use. Article 14(6) then sets the amount on a ten-level scale, keyed to whichever of user taxpayer numbers or aggregated annual sales is reached first: nothing below 500 user taxpayers or ETB 5 billion of sales, rising through USD 10,000 to USD 250,000 above 40,000 taxpayers or ETB 1,000 billion, with required qualified staff climbing from two to eight. Hosting infrastructure must sit within Ethiopia and meet a Tier III or Level 3 data centre standard. Article 18 establishes a Technical Team and an Accreditation Board to test and accredit systems, with the State Minister of the e-Data Division taking the final licensing decision; Article 18 (6) (k) also makes issuing the implementation schedule a duty of that Board. Taxpayers onboard through the Authority's Taxpayer Portal under Article 19 (5), receiving a System Number, an API Key and a Client Secret, and obtain a digital signature certificate from the Information Network Security Administration or another authorised body. No invoice format, syntax or delivery network is named: Annex 1 gives a sample receipt and Article 4(1)(a) sets the minimum content by reference to the Value Added Tax Regulation. Article 22 allows manual invoices carrying a Quick Response code while the system is unavailable, with those transactions registered within 72 hours of the connection being restored.
Standards
N/A
Record-keeping & Reporting
Archiving
Five years from the date the tax declaration for the relevant tax period was filed, or the record-keeping period in the Commercial Code if that is longer, under Article 17 of Proclamation No. 983/2016 . Documents must be kept in Amharic or English and inside Ethiopia, and the period runs on while a proceeding started before it expired remains unfinished. A Category A taxpayer that fails to retain them is liable for ETB 50,000 and a Category B taxpayer for ETB 20,000, and the licensing authority cancels the business licence of a taxpayer that fails to maintain documents for more than two years.
Technical Formats
N/A
Penalties
Failure to issue a tax invoice
Understating a sales price
A fine of ETB 100,000 and rigorous imprisonment of five to seven years for recording different prices on identical invoices issued for a single transaction, or for issuing an invoice that understates the sales price, under Article 120(2) of Proclamation No. 983/2016 , renumbered 137(2) and replaced by Proclamation No. 1434/2026 . Where the actual sale price exceeds ETB 100,000, the surviving sub-article (3) raises the fine to the highest price shown on the invoices and imprisonment to seven to ten years. The same amendment limits criminal liability for failing to issue an invoice to cases where the person has already been penalised administratively twice for the same act within one tax period.
Fraudulent invoices
A fine of ETB 100,000 and rigorous imprisonment of seven to ten years for preparing, producing, selling or distributing fraudulent invoices, or using them to reduce a tax liability or claim a refund, under Article 119 of Proclamation No. 983/2016 , which Proclamation No. 1434/2026 renumbered as Article 136 without amending it. Where the benefit obtained exceeds ETB 100,000 the fine equals that benefit and imprisonment runs from ten to fifteen years.
Accredited suppliers and service providers
Sales register software suppliers, service providers and e-commerce or digital marketplace operators that fail to discharge their obligations face criminal and civil liability and forfeit the security bond they deposited, under Article 28 of Directive No. 1142/2026 . Where a discrepancy between the registration system and a taxpayer's sales records is traced to the provider or to a technical defect in its system, the provider carries the liability.
Exemptions
High-volume consumer sectors
Article 20(1) of Directive No. 1142/2026 lets the Authority authorise taxpayers in banking, securities markets, digital payment processing and telecommunications, whose operations generate high volumes of invoices and are open to audit and monitoring, to issue invoices for consumer transactions without a direct connection to the system. Article 20(2) lets the Ministry extend the same approach to other sectors. The concession is conditional on summarised sales reporting and on each invoice carrying a unique number and a Quick Response code.
Business-to-business supplies excluded from the concession
Article 20(5) of Directive No. 1142/2026 removes the concession where a transaction is between registered taxpayers and the invoice is intended for tax reporting: it must still be registered through a direct connection with the Electronic Invoice Registration System, and under Article 20(6) it is left out of the summarised report.
Latest Update
New Mandate
30 Jul 2026Tax administration amendment doubles the unissued-invoice penalty and orders an e-invoicing directive
Proclamation No. 1434/2026, published in Federal Negarit Gazette No. 48 on 30 July 2026 and in force on publication, amended Federal Tax Administration Proclamation No. 983/2016. Article 108, renumbered 125, was repealed and replaced: a taxpayer that fails to issue a tax invoice when required is now liable for ETB 100,000 for each invoice not issued to a buyer, up from ETB 50,000 per transaction, and the Authority is barred from waiving the penalty. A new sub-article added after Article 93(5) requires the tax authority to issue a directive on the use of the electronic tax system, on invoices carrying a Quick Response code, on e-commerce and on any other taxable transaction for which an electronic invoice is issued, giving the July directive its statutory footing. Article 120(2), renumbered 137(2), keeps the ETB 100,000 fine and five to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for understating a sales price, and a new sub-article (8) confines criminal liability for failing to issue an invoice to cases where the person has already been administratively penalised twice for the same act within a single tax period. The amendment also renumbered Articles 61 to 139 of the 2016 proclamation as Articles 72 to 156.
Read our full Ethiopia e-invoicing compliance guide
In-depth mandate analysis, timeline, exemptions, and vendor selection
Official Sources
Related Countries
Frequently asked questions about e-Invoicing in Ethiopia
e-Invoicing is currently planned for future implementation for B2B and planned for future implementation for B2G transactions in Ethiopia.
B2B e-Invoicing in Ethiopia is planned for future implementation. Directive No. 1142/2026 makes a compliant sales register system mandatory for every taxpayer required to keep books of accounts, but Article 29(1) leaves the rollout to a schedule the Ministry of Revenues has not issued. Article 20(5) treats supplies between businesses most strictly: where both parties are registered taxpayers and the invoice is intended for tax reporting, it must be registered through a direct connection to the Electronic Invoice Registration System, and Article 20(6) keeps it out of the summarised report other sectors may file. The enabling power came from Proclamation No. 1434/2026 , which directs the tax authority to issue a directive on the electronic tax system and on invoices carrying a Quick Response code.
B2G e-Invoicing in Ethiopia is planned for future implementation. Ethiopia operates no separate public sector e-invoicing regime, and none is legislated. Article 3 of Directive No. 1142/2026 fixes scope by taxpayer and transaction rather than by customer: it covers taxpayers that issue invoices under the tax law, sales registration system suppliers, taxpayers using software exclusively, software-as-a-service providers and e-commerce or digital marketplace operators, and it applies to transactions on which VAT is chargeable under Article 3 of Proclamation No. 1341/2024 . Supplies to government bodies are caught on the same terms as any other sale. No procurement-specific duty, format or deadline has been published.
Ethiopia supports the following e-Invoice formats: N/A.
Ethiopia uses the following e-Invoicing standards: N/A. Archiving requirement: Five years from the date the tax declaration for the relevant tax period was filed, or the record-keeping period in the Commercial Code if that is longer, under Article 17 of Proclamation No. 983/2016 . Documents must be kept in Amharic or English and inside Ethiopia, and the period runs on while a proceeding started before it expired remains unfinished. A Category A taxpayer that fails to retain them is liable for ETB 50,000 and a Category B taxpayer for ETB 20,000, and the licensing authority cancels the business licence of a taxpayer that fails to maintain documents for more than two years.
Clearance applies to each document. Under Article 4(1)(c) of Directive No. 1142/2026 an accredited sales registration system may issue an invoice or receipt only once it has transmitted the transaction to the Electronic Invoice Registration System, had its validity confirmed and obtained an Invoice Reference Number, a Receipt Reference Number and a Quick Response code, and Article 4(1)(b) requires that transmission to happen in real time as the transaction occurs. Accreditation under Article 14 carries a bank or insurance performance guarantee renewable every two years, starting at USD 30,000 for a system supplier, USD 50,000 for a software-as-a-service provider, USD 25,000 for an e-commerce or digital marketplace operator and USD 15,000 for a taxpayer running a system for its own exclusive use. Article 14(6) then sets the amount on a ten-level scale, keyed to whichever of user taxpayer numbers or aggregated annual sales is reached first: nothing below 500 user taxpayers or ETB 5 billion of sales, rising through USD 10,000 to USD 250,000 above 40,000 taxpayers or ETB 1,000 billion, with required qualified staff climbing from two to eight. Hosting infrastructure must sit within Ethiopia and meet a Tier III or Level 3 data centre standard. Article 18 establishes a Technical Team and an Accreditation Board to test and accredit systems, with the State Minister of the e-Data Division taking the final licensing decision; Article 18 (6) (k) also makes issuing the implementation schedule a duty of that Board. Taxpayers onboard through the Authority's Taxpayer Portal under Article 19 (5), receiving a System Number, an API Key and a Client Secret, and obtain a digital signature certificate from the Information Network Security Administration or another authorised body. No invoice format, syntax or delivery network is named: Annex 1 gives a sample receipt and Article 4(1)(a) sets the minimum content by reference to the Value Added Tax Regulation. Article 22 allows manual invoices carrying a Quick Response code while the system is unavailable, with those transactions registered within 72 hours of the connection being restored.
Ethiopia has penalties for e-Invoicing non-compliance. Failure to issue a tax invoice: ETB 100,000 for each invoice not issued to a buyer, under Article 108 of Proclamation No. 983/2016, renumbered 125 and replaced by Proclamation No. 1434/2026; Understating a sales price: A fine of ETB 100,000 and rigorous imprisonment of five to seven years for recording different prices on identical invoices issued for a single transaction, or for issuing an invoice that understates the sales price, under Article 120(2) of Proclamation No. 983/2016, renumbered 137(2) and replaced by Proclamation No. 1434/2026; Fraudulent invoices: A fine of ETB 100,000 and rigorous imprisonment of seven to ten years for preparing, producing, selling or distributing fraudulent invoices, or using them to reduce a tax liability or claim a refund, under Article 119 of Proclamation No. 983/2016, which Proclamation No. 1434/2026 renumbered as Article 136 without amending it; and 1 more.
B2C e-Invoicing in Ethiopia is planned for future implementation. Consumer sales sit inside the same framework, with concessions for high-volume sectors. Article 20 of Directive No. 1142/2026 lets the Ministry of Revenues authorise banking, securities market, digital payment processing and telecommunications operators to invoice consumers without a direct connection, provided each invoice carries a unique number and a Quick Response code and summarised sales data reaches the authority on a daily, weekly or monthly cycle the authority sets by sector. Annex 2 runs the other way: under Article 19 (3) a sales register system used in a listed retail, transport, accommodation or food service activity must function in offline mode, making business continuity a required capability rather than a relief. E-commerce and digital marketplace operators are licensed in their own right under Article 14(4) and must run at least one platform that has passed inspection.
Exemptions from Ethiopia e-Invoicing may apply to: High-volume consumer sectors, Business-to-business supplies excluded from the concession. Check specific criteria as exemptions vary by transaction type and business size.