Invoice Builder

Invoice Builder helps you create and send electronic invoices from Sovos Compliance Network without ERP or API integration.

You can submit invoices one at a time using Create Document or in bulk by using Upload CSV for CSV files.

Before you begin

Make sure you've completed the following:

Your company is onboarded through the EmaraTax onboarding flow.
Your company is in active status.

Invoice Builder displays in the left navigation automatically after assigning the United Arab Emirates (UAE) products to your company. You don't need a separate login.

How Invoice Builder is organized

When you click on Invoice Builder you land on the Issue Documents page, which has three tabs:

Drafts: Invoices created but not yet successfully submitted.
Issued: Invoices successfully submitted to SovosCompliance Network and being tracked.
Failed: Invoices returned from Compliance Network that need correction before resubmission. Invoice Builder creates a pre-filled document draft for each invoice that needs correction.

Access Invoice Builder

Your company is onboarded through the EmaraTax onboarding flow.
Your company is in active status.
Your company has products assigned.

Go to Sovos Compliance Network.
Click Invoice Builder in the left navigation.

The Issue Documents page shows three tabs: Drafts, Issued, and Failed.

Set up your Master Data

Master Data stores your supplier (Self Master) and buyer (Recipient) records. You need to set up your Master Data before creating your first invoice to pre-fill party details.

If you don't set up Master Data first, you will need to enter seller and buyer information manually on every invoice.

The corporate Tax Registration Number (TRN) and the legal name required to set up your Master Data are pulled from your Sovos Compliance Network account and can't be edited here. The action changes permanently to Edit. You can't delete a Self Master entry.

The corporate TRN and the ERP reference ID have to be unique within a company. If you create a buyer with a TRN that already exists, the system blocks the creation and flags the conflict.

Go to Sovos Compliance Network
Click .Invoice Builder.
Select Master Data and select your company.
Click Add Details and complete the missing fields and save.
Go to the Self Master record and click View Recipient list.
Self Master represents your own company as the invoice issuer. Records sync automatically from your Sovos Compliance Network account.
Add your buyers using one of these options:
You can't delete a Self Master entry. You can only edit available fields.
- Click New Recipient to add a single buyer.
- Click Upload CSV, download the template, fill in your data, and upload to add multiple buyers at the same time.

Valid rows import immediately. You can edit and delete Recipient records at any time.

Manage buyers

Buyer records are created and managed inside Invoice Builder. Each record belongs to a specific company. Buyers added for one company aren't visible when issuing invoices for a different company.

The corporate Tax Registration Number (TRN) and the ERP reference ID has to be unique within a company. If you create a buyer with a TRN that already exists, the system blocks the creation and flags the conflict.

Go to Sovos Compliance Network.
Click Invoice Builder in the left navigation.
Select Master Data
Click Self Master.
Select your company and click View Recipient list.
Manage your buyers:
- To add a single buyer, click New Recipient, fill in the fields, and save.
- To add multiple buyers, click Upload CSV, download the template, fill in your data, and upload.
- To edit a buyer, select the record and update the fields.
- To delete a buyer, select the record and delete it.

Copy a buyer to another company

Each copy becomes a new, independent record. Changes made to the original after copying don't apply to the copies.

If a buyer with the same TRN already exists in a target company, Compliance Network skips and flags that target.

Go to Sovos Compliance Network.
Click Invoice Builder in the left navigation.
Select Master Data and Self Master.
Select your company and click View Recipient list.
On the Recipient list, select the buyer record you want to copy.
Click Copy to Company and select your target company.
You can select more than one target company
Click Confirm.

The buyer record is copied to the selected companies. Each copy is a new independent record. Changes made to the original after copying aren't applied to the copies. If a buyer with the same TRN already exists in a target Company, that target is skipped and flagged.

Issue documents

You can create and submit documents using Create Document . This feature creates one invoice at a time and updates automatically based on the document type and transaction type you select.

Supported document and transaction types


Document type	Transaction types
Tax Invoice	Standard Supply, Reverse Charge, Zero-rated, Deemed Supply, Disclosed Agent Billing, Summary, Continuous Supply, Free Trade Zone, E-Commerce, Exports, Margin Scheme, Exempt, and Government (13 types)
Tax Credit Note	Standard Supply, Disclosed Agent Billing, and Export
Self-Billed Tax Invoice	Standard
Self-Billed Tax Credit Note	Standard
Commercial Invoice	Standard
Commercial Credit Note	Standard

Create an invoice

Complete your Master Data setup.

Invoice Builder checks structural rules before submission. UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) mandate rules are checked by Sovos after submission. A structurally valid invoice may still be rejected at that stage.

Go to Sovos Compliance Network.
Click Invoice Builder.
The Issue Documents opens.
Click Create Document in the top right corner.
From the Issue From dropdown, select the company to issue.
Select a Document Type and Transaction Type.
The form updates automatically as you write. Changing the document type resets the transaction type.
Search for a buyer filtering by Name, TRN, or Endpoint ID.
Confirm the seller details.
The Seller details appear pre-filled from your Self Master record.
Add your line items.
You can add up to 100 line items for each invoice. Totals and Value Added Tax (VAT) are calculated automatically.
Review the Tax summary and Totals sections.
Decide what to do next:
- Click Send to validate and submit.
- Click Save and Exit to save as a draft.

After submitting, if the invoice passes validation it's locked and submitted to Sovos Compliance Network. You can find it in the Issued tab but won't be able to edit it.

Note: Invoice Builder checks structural rules before submission. UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) mandate rules are checked by Sovos after submission. A structurally valid invoice may still be rejected at that stage.

Duplicate an invoice

You can duplicate an invoice from the Drafts list, the Issued list, or from inside Transaction Detail list. All fields are copied to the new invoice.

Remember to enter a new Document Number and Document Date before submitting.

Go to Sovos Compliance Network.
Click Invoice Builder.
The Issue Documents page opens. You can duplicate from the Issued or Failed tabs.
Select the invoice you want to duplicate from one the following lists: Drafts, Issued , or Transaction Detail.
A transaction details screen opens for that invoice.
Select the Duplicate option for that invoice.
Enter a new Document Number and Document Date.
Review the remaining fields and update any details that need to change.
Decide what you want to do next:
- Click Send to submit the invoice.
- Click Save and Exit to save the invoice as a draft.

Prepare your CSV for bulk operations

Your file must meet the following requirements:

CSV format, UTF-8 encoding.
Maximum 100 MB and no more than 10,000 invoice rows.

Go to Sovos Compliance Network.
Click Invoice Builder.
The Issue Documents page opens.
In Uploads, click Open Field Explainer to understand which fields are required, optional, or conditional.
Important: Compliance Network rejects the entire upload if there are column errors. Read the Field Explainer before preparing your file.
Click Download sample CSV to get the CSV upload template.
Column names in your file must match the template exactly.
Fill in your invoice data using the template as a guide.
Save your file in the CSV format with UTF-8 encoding.

Your CSV file is ready to upload.

Upload issue documents in bulk

Prepare your CSV file before uploading. See Prepare your CSV for bulk operations.

Go to Sovos Compliance Network.
Click Invoice Builder.
Click Uploads in the left navigation.
The Uploads page shows all previously uploaded batches.
Use the search bar or filters to find your batch.
Available filters: File Name, Status, Buyer, Seller, or Date Range.
Click Upload CSV.
Upload your prepared file and click Upload & Validate.

Processing runs in the background. When processing is complete, the batch results page shows a summary of valid, transmitted, and failed invoices.

Review batch results


Outcome	What it means	What to do
Invalid Invoices	Failed structural validation	Download the error report for row-level errors. Correct the source data and re-upload as a new batch. Invalid rows can't be corrected inline.
Sent Invoices	Successfully sent to Sovos Compliance Network	Track progress in the Issued tab.
Failed Invoices	Returned from Sovos Compliance Network	Invoice Builder creates a pre-filled form draft for each. Find it on the Drafts tab and follow the standard correction flow.

You can view all submitted invoices on the Issued tab whether they came from the form or from Bulk Upload.

Track your invoices

Invoice Builder lets your track your invoices grouping them in three different tabs: Drafts, Issued, and Failed.

Drafts tab

The Drafts tab shows all invoices that haven't been successfully submitted yet. Drafts are kept for three months from the last edited date.


Submission status	What it means	What you can do
Not Submitted	Not yet sent to Sovos Compliance Network	Click the draft name to open the invoice in edit mode.
In-Progress	Submitted, awaiting response	View only. Locked until a response is received.
Validation Failed	Rejected for failing the UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) mandate's rules	Open, fix flagged fields, and send it again.
Other Failure	Technical or network error during submission	Click the draft name and retry. The system also retries automatically.
Sent	Successfully submitted and acknowledged	View or duplicate only. Permanently locked.

Issued tab

The Issued tab shows all submitted invoices as table. Submission, Delivery Status, and Reporting (FTA) statuses columns are shown in parallel. Select the Current and Archived toggle to switch between active and older records.

Delivery Status: If the column shows Failed, the invoice didn't reach the buyer's system.
Reporting Status: If the Reporting Status column shows Failed, the FTA didn't accept the report. Open Transaction Detail and check the History tab for the exact error.

Select a row in the Issued tab to show the Transaction Detail or the History.

Transaction Details: Shows information about the seller, buyer, date, amount, and current lifecycle and FTA status. The right panel shows Document Details and Attachments.
History: Shows information about the complete processing timeline with timestamps. Click Details on any event to see the full response. Useful to diagnose a rejection

You can also find here the different avaialble artifacts. Artifacts are fetched on demand and are typically available within a few minutes of submission. If an artifact has Pending status for more than 10 minutes, contact Sovos support.

Sovos Canonical Invoice: Contains the original invoice payload as received by Sovos Sovos.
Legal Tax Data Document (TDD): Contains the TDD reported to the tax authority.
Legal XML (PINT-AE UBL): Contains the PINT-AE UBL XML submitted to the PEPPOL network and recipient.
Presentable PDF: Contains a human-readable invoice rendering.

Failed tab

The Failed tab shows all the failed invoices. You can fix a failed invoice as follows:

Select the invoice name to open it in edit mode.
Fix the flagged fields.
Send it again.

Note:

Fixing a failed invoice won't create a new draft.

Failed invoices can have two different statuses:


Status	What happended	What you can do
Validation Failed	Sovos Compliance Network rejected the invoice for failing United Arab Emirates (UAE) FTA mandate rules.	Fix flagged fields and resubmit. Each resubmission creates a new transaction record.
Other Failure	There was a technical or network error during submission.	Retry manually or wait. System retries automatically.

Transaction detail and artifacts

Click any row in the Issued tab to open the Transaction Detail list.

Transaction detail tabs

Transaction Details: Shows seller, buyer, date, amount, and current lifecycle and FTA status. The right panel shows Document Details and Attachments.
History tab: Shows the full processing timeline with timestamps. Click Details on any event to see the full response. Most useful for diagnosing a rejection.

Available artifacts

Artifacts are fetched on demand and are typically available within a few minutes of submission.


Artifact	What it contains
Canonical Invoice (SCI)	Original invoice payload as received by Sovos Compliance Network
Legal (TDD)	Tax Data Document (TDD) reported to the tax authority
Legal XML (PINT-AE UBL)	PINT-AE Universal Business Language (UBL) XML submitted to the Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line (PEPPOL) network and recipient
Presentable PDF	Human-readable invoice rendering

Note: If an artifact shows Pending for more than 10 minutes, contact the Sovos support.

Correct and resubmit failed invoices

Failed invoices appear on the Failed tab. Click the invoice name to open it in edit mode. Fix the flagged fields and click Send again. No new draft is created.

Failure statuses


Status	What happened	What to do
Validation Failed	Sovos Compliance Network rejected the invoice for failing UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) mandate rules	Fix flagged fields and resubmit. Each resubmission creates a new Transaction record.
Other Failure	Technical or network error during submission	Retry manually or wait. The system retries automatically.

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