In Saudi Arabia, businesses are required to issue invoices in Arabic. In many cases, having both Arabic and English on the same invoice has become the practical choice. This format is known as a bilingual invoice.
Bilingual invoices help companies follow ZATCA and VAT requirements while still being clear to customers, suppliers, and international partners. They reduce confusion, support smooth communication, and make financial documents easier for different teams to understand. For businesses operating in the Kingdom, bilingual invoices are an important part of daily transactions and overall compliance.
Benefits of bilingual invoices
The benefits of bilingual invoices are as follows:
- Meets all requirements of the government with regard to documentation
- Make sure there is compliance with VAT/ZATCA/e-invoicing
- The risk of invoice misunderstanding gets minimised
- Demonstrates respect for customer language and trust
- Supports smooth communication between cross-border businesses
- Ensures all departments are clear on their understanding of financial documents
- Minimises errors and maximises verification
- Helps businesses stand out by improving their overall image and brand
- Supports compliance in digital and e-invoicing systems
Creating bilingual invoices in TallyPrime
TallyPrime fully supports Arabic + English entry and printing of invoices. The software has a ‘List of languages’ option, which will help you easily add Arabic and enter all details.
For those countries where tax becomes applicable, one can print invoices in Arabic or bilingual, even if tax is enabled or not. If tax is enabled at the time of printing invoices, one can select the invoice format. If not, the system automatically sets the format of the invoice to format one by default without having any option to change it.
Steps to print an invoice with or without tax in bilingual
Before you begin, it is important to set up a few basic details correctly. Once these settings are in place, you can print your invoices in Arabic or in a bilingual format with or without tax.
The steps below will guide you through the process.
Step 1: Provide the company mailing details in Arabic
- Press F11 (Features) and enable the option to mail details in the local language
- Fill in name, address and region in Arabic in the primary mailing details screen
- Press Ctrl+A to save the information
Step 2: Enable language aliases and add ledger/stock item names in Arabic
- Press Alt+G (Go To) and select alter master, then type or choose ledger and press Enter
- Alternatively, navigate to Gateway of TallyPrime > Alter and type or select the ledger, then press Enter
- Press F12 (Configure) and set the option to provide language aliases for names to Yes
- Press Ctrl+A to save the configuration
In the ledger alteration screen:
- Go to the name field and press Enter to select the language alias
- Choose Arabic (Saudi Arabia) (System) from the language list and enter the name in Arabic
- To include mailing details in Arabic, enable the option and fill in the name, address and region in Arabic
- Press Ctrl+A to save this
Repeat this process to enter stock item names in Arabic.
Step 3: Update declaration in Arabic
- Press Alt+G (Go To) and select alter master, then choose voucher type > sales and press Enter
- Alternatively, go to Gateway of Tally > Alter, select voucher type > sales, and press Enter
- Add the default title for printing in Arabic and enable the option to set or alter the declaration in Arabic
- Provide the declaration text in Arabic so that invoices print with the declaration in Arabic or in a bilingual format
Step 4: Configure and print the sales or POS invoice in Arabic or bilingual
With Tally Prime, you have the option to print your invoices in Arabic or bilingual format and save them as PDF files.
- Open the relevant sales voucher or POS voucher to create or alter it
- Press Ctrl+P to print the invoice
- Choose any PDF writer as your printer and save the invoice
- Press C (Configure) to adjust the fields for your invoice
Print configuration options:
You can print the invoices in Arabic or bilingual in both simple invoice format and commercial format.
- Use simple invoice format: set to Yes to view invoices in a simple format, or keep No to view the commercial format
- Print type: select English, Arabic or bilingual
- Show amount in words in Arabic: set to Yes
- Show numerals in Arabic: set to Yes
- Show amount in words in English: set to No to view the amount in Arabic
- Footer information > generated by: enter the text in Arabic to display ‘This is a computer-generated invoice’ in Arabic
- Press Ctrl+A to accept the print configuration settings
- Press I to preview the invoice or P to print it
Once you have configured these settings, you can proceed with recording your sales transactions and printing invoices in either Arabic or bilingual formats.
Bilingual invoices help businesses in Saudi Arabia stay compliant, reduce errors and communicate clearly with customers and authorities.
With TallyPrime, creating invoices in Arabic and English becomes a simple and efficient process. Adopting bilingual invoicing is a small step that brings long-term advantages in accuracy, trust and compliance.
