Guide

ZRA Smart Invoice: what Zambian businesses need to know

Updated 26 October 2026 · Intetrix Solutions

Smart Invoice is ZRA's electronic invoicing system: each sale reaches ZRA as it is made, and each invoice carries ZRA's signature and QR code. Every business in Zambia must invoice through it: VAT-registered businesses under the VAT Act, and every other business under the Income Tax Act, whose Smart Invoice regulations came into force on 19 December 2025. And since 1 January 2025, input VAT can be claimed only on a supplier's Smart Invoice.

Who must use Smart Invoice

Every VAT-registered business in Zambia must record each sale on Smart Invoice and issue each tax invoice from it. That is section 7A of the VAT Act, with the VAT (Electronic Invoicing System) Regulations, Statutory Instrument 58 of 2023, in force since 1 January 2024. ZRA set 30 September 2024 as the last day to start, and penalties have applied since 1 October 2024.

Every other business is covered too. Section 55B of the Income Tax Act requires a person or partnership carrying on a business to record its sales on Smart Invoice, and its regulations, Statutory Instrument 84 of 2025, came into force on 19 December 2025: an invoice through Smart Invoice for every sale, whether or not the business is registered for VAT.

The Commissioner-General can exempt a business, or approve another way of invoicing for some kinds of business. An exempted business is given a notice, which it displays where it trades.

Four ways to issue Smart Invoices

ZRA offers three ways of its own, free of charge, and a fourth for businesses that keep their books in accounting software.

The ways to issue Smart Invoices
	What it is	Who it suits
Desktop and tablet app	ZRA's free app for a Windows computer, laptop or tablet, Windows 10 or later	Any business, small, medium or large, without accounting software
Mobile app	ZRA's free app for an Android phone or tablet, Android 8 or later	Businesses on turnover tax, not those registered for VAT
Online Smart Invoice	ZRA's free invoicing website, which needs a constant internet connection	Service businesses that issue few invoices, such as construction firms and lawyers
Certified invoicing system	Accounting software or an ERP, connected through ZRA's VSDC once ZRA has certified it	Businesses that keep their books in accounting software or an ERP

Connecting your own software

ZRA's Virtual Sales Data Controller (VSDC) is the bridge between a business's own software and Smart Invoice. A business that connects its software meets the cost of connecting it, and may then go on using that software. Cloud software can be connected too.

A business picks one way and uses it consistently, though it can switch if another suits it better.

What a Smart Invoice shows

The seller's name, TPIN and address. When the buyer is a business or a State institution, its name, address and TPIN too.
Each item or service with its quantity and price, the tax rates, the VAT, the total, the currency and exchange rate, and how it was paid.
ZRA's part, from the VSDC: the date and time, the SDC ID, the invoice counters, the internal data, the signature, and a QR code that opens the invoice on ZRA's portal, so the buyer can check it is genuine.
Numbers that run without gaps for each type of invoice, and one original only: a reprint is marked COPY.
A completed sale is never edited: it is corrected with a credit note or a debit note that names the original invoice.
An invoice for every sale, whether or not the customer is there or takes it. It can be printed or sent by email.

Input VAT only on Smart Invoices

Since 1 January 2025, section 18(3) of the VAT Act allows input tax only on an invoice issued through Smart Invoice, or by a supplier the Commissioner-General has exempted from it.

Input tax is claimed in a VAT return submitted within 90 days of the invoice's date, unless the Commissioner-General's rules allow otherwise.

Where buyer and seller both use Smart Invoice, the seller's sale reaches the buyer as a purchase, and imports arrive from ZRA's customs system, ASYCUDA World. Before relying on a supplier's input tax, check that its invoice is a Smart Invoice: its QR code opens it on ZRA's portal.

When Smart Invoice is down

A business that cannot use Smart Invoice goes on invoicing, by hand or on an approved system. If the disruption lasts 24 hours without a break, it tells ZRA, and everything invoiced meanwhile is uploaded to Smart Invoice within 72 hours of the system being restored.

ZRA's apps can invoice offline too; its online invoicing cannot.

Other duties

Display a notice about Smart Invoice where customers can see it.
Keep an issue log book, and report each fault to ZRA: what went wrong, when, and for how long.
Never pass an invoicing system registered for your own use to another business.
Ask ZRA to deactivate the system within 30 days of no longer using it, and keep its records for six years.
A customer given no invoice, or a wrong one, reports the business to ZRA.

Penalties

ZRA's Smart Invoice questions and answers give the fines under section 7A(3) of the VAT Act for not using Smart Invoice: up to K40,000 for a first offence, up to K80,000 for a second, and up to K120,000, up to 3 years in prison, or both, for a third or later one.

Smaller duties carry fines too: up to K12,000 for not displaying the notice, or for not asking ZRA to deactivate a system.

ZRA inspects businesses and prosecutes. In August 2026 a Lusaka trader who did not use Smart Invoice pleaded guilty and was fined K125,000, or 3 months in prison if unpaid.

How SwiftlyBooks does it

SwiftlyBooks runs ZRA's VSDC for you and sends every document through it, built on ZRA's VSDC API of 2 October 2026. Intetrix sets it up with each VAT-registered company.

Each branch is initialised once, with its TPIN, branch ID and device serial number from ZRA's taxpayer portal. Intetrix does it with you.
Items, and customers with a TPIN, are registered with ZRA the first time a sale names them, each item under its ZRA item code.
Every invoice, sales receipt, credit note and debit note goes to ZRA as it is approved, and its PDF carries ZRA's receipt number, SDC ID, internal data, signature and QR code. A reprint says COPY.
Credit notes and debit notes name the invoice they correct, and say why.
Suppliers' Smart Invoices come in from ZRA every 15 minutes. A bill claims input VAT only when it names one, and the VAT return holds back the rest.

Tax and e-invoicing, ready on day one

Common questions

Do I need Smart Invoice if I am not registered for VAT?

Yes. Since 19 December 2025, the Income Tax Act's Smart Invoice regulations require every business to issue an invoice through Smart Invoice for every sale, unless the Commissioner-General has exempted it. ZRA's free mobile app is made for businesses on turnover tax. SwiftlyBooks connects VAT-registered Zambian companies to Smart Invoice.

Can I claim input VAT on an invoice that is not a Smart Invoice?

Not since 1 January 2025, unless the supplier has been exempted from Smart Invoice. Ask the supplier for a Smart Invoice.

How long do I have to claim input VAT?

Claim it in a VAT return submitted within 90 days of the invoice's date.

What if Smart Invoice is down?

Invoice by hand or on an approved system. Tell ZRA if it lasts 24 hours, and upload those invoices within 72 hours of the system being restored.

What happens if I do not use Smart Invoice?

Fines of up to K40,000 for a first offence, K80,000 for a second, and K120,000 or up to 3 years in prison for a third. ZRA inspects businesses, and in August 2026 a Lusaka trader was fined K125,000.

Sources

This guide sums up what these sources say. Check anything that affects your business with ZRA or your tax adviser.

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