What every invoice must show
- The words TAX INVOICE in a prominent place, and the supplier's name, address, TIN and VAT registration number. The VAT registration number is a separate number from the TIN — the Ministry's own VAT declaration form has three identifier boxes: TIN, Sub-TIN and VAT Registration No.
- The recipient's name, address and TIN, plus their VAT registration number if they are registered.
- An individualised serial number and the date of issue, a description of what was supplied including quantity or volume, and the consideration and the VAT charged shown separately. Below ETB 10,000 a simplified tax invoice carrying the same particulars is enough.
- Where several items go on one invoice, anything on it that carries no VAT has to be identified as such on the face of the invoice. A recipient-created tax invoice, used for reverse-charged supplies, must instead say RECIPIENT-CREATED TAX INVOICE prominently and carry the recipient's details first.
Numbering, keeping and correcting invoices
Keep invoices in Amharic or English, in Ethiopia, and in a way that lets your tax liability be worked out easily (article 17(1) of Proclamation No. 983/2016). Electronic copies are allowed. The retention period is the longer of the Commercial Code period and five years from the date you filed the tax declaration for the period. Article 69 of the Commercial Code sets ten years from the last entry or from the date of the document for books and accounting documents, so in practice ten years is the longer.
For VAT, issue one original only. Under article 55 of Proclamation No. 1341/2024 a copy may be given only if clearly marked as a copy, to a buyer who says the original was lost, and your own copies of every invoice, credit note and debit note issued are kept in chronological order. A buyer can ask in writing within 60 days of the supply for a missing invoice, and you must comply within 14 days (article 54). A credit or debit note has to be issued by the end of the accounting period in which the adjustment event occurred (article 53(2)).
Penalties are heavy. Since 30 July 2026, each invoice not issued to a buyer carries ETB 100,000 under new article 125 of the Tax Administration Proclamation, and the Authority cannot waive it. Criminal liability follows only after two administrative penalties in the same tax period. Understating the price on an invoice, or issuing different prices on identical invoices for one transaction, is punishable by a fine of ETB 100,000 and five to seven years' rigorous imprisonment (new article 137(2)). Leaving your TIN off an invoice costs ETB 3,000 each time (old article 103), and failing to keep documents costs 20% of the tax payable for the period, or at least ETB 20,000 per year for income tax and ETB 2,000 per period for other taxes (old article 102, now 119).
Electronic invoicing in Ethiopia
Being built, obligation already in the statute book, start date not yet fixed. Part Six of VAT Regulation No. 570/2025 requires every VAT-registered person to use an electronic fiscal device at each place of business: software approved by the Tax Authority, notified to the Authority in writing at least seven days before it goes into use, capable of connecting to the Authority's IT system and transmitting recorded data to it, secure and tamperproof, and able to display messages in the working language of the tax laws. Every taxable supply must be recorded on the device, an invoice generated by it for each supply, the invoice delivered or transmitted to the buyer, and the invoice details transmitted to the Authority. Penalties are ETB 100,000 for each failure to comply with Part Six, and a fine of up to ETB 200,000 or up to three years' rigorous imprisonment, or both, for tampering with a device. The timing is the open question: article 64(2) of the Regulation gives a VAT-registered person twelve months to comply 'from the date specified in a Directive issued by the Ministry of Revenue', extendable once by up to six months on a written application made at least 30 days before the twelve months run out. The Ministry issued the Electronic Invoice System Administration Directive No. 1142/2026 (ኤሌክትሮኒክ ደረሰኝ ሥርዓት አስተዳደር መመሪያ), which its directives register lists as in force, in mid-2026. Until that regime bites, the live obligation is the older one: sales register machines under article 20 of the Tax Administration Proclamation and Council of Ministers Regulation No. 139/2007, with penalties from ETB 10,000 to ETB 100,000 by offence, ETB 50,000 for trading without a machine-generated receipt. And from 30 July 2026 there is a separate, flat ETB 100,000 penalty for each invoice not issued to a buyer, which the Authority has no power to waive.