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ZRA requires exporters of minerals — and the incidental services around them, such as transport and insurance — to follow a specific invoicing chain. It is separate from ordinary sales invoicing because it carries far more information, and it is deliberately kept apart so those extra fields do not clutter your everyday invoicing.
This surface applies only to mining-sector exporters. If you do not export minerals, you will not see it and can ignore this page entirely.

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The export chain

Four documents, in order:
1

Commercial invoice

Issued before any export leaves. It acts as your customs declaration and tells ZRA what is going out.
2

Customs declaration

Handled through customs on the strength of the commercial invoice.
3

Provisional invoice

Issued when the goods have gone but the final price is not yet settled — normal in mineral sales, where price depends on assay results and market movement.
4

Final invoice

Closes the provisional once the real figure is known. Issued as a tax invoice, a credit note, or both, depending on which way the price moved.

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Commercial invoices

A commercial invoice is your pre-export declaration. It carries considerably more than an ordinary invoice:
Commercial invoices do not move stock. They are a declaration, not a sale. Your inventory balances are unaffected until the corresponding sale is invoiced.

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Lifecycle

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Acquittal

A commercial invoice is acquitted when a provisional or final invoice is successfully transmitted against it. This happens automatically — you do not acquit it by hand. Acquittal is what closes the loop for ZRA: it shows the export you declared was actually invoiced.
An issued commercial invoice that is never acquitted is a declared export with no matching sale. Review your unacquitted commercial invoices monthly — this is exactly the sort of gap ZRA questions.

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Correcting an issued commercial invoice

You cannot edit one after issue. You reverse it.
1

Open the commercial invoice

It must be in Issued status.
2

Choose Reverse

Select a reversal reason from ZRA’s list. You cannot write your own.
3

The reversal is transmitted

ZRA is told the original is reversed, referencing the original receipt.
4

Issue a corrected invoice

A new commercial invoice with the right details.
An already-reversed invoice cannot be reversed again.

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Provisional invoices

Issued when the goods have gone but the final price is not yet known.
1

Create the provisional invoice

It carries the same full detail as an ordinary sales invoice — tax breakdown, line items with their VAT categories, payment details.
2

Link the commercial invoices it covers

One provisional invoice can cover several commercial invoices. Select all that apply.
3

Transmit to ZRA

The linked commercial invoices are sent with it.
4

The commercial invoices are acquitted

Automatically, on successful transmission.
You can only link commercial invoices belonging to your own organisation, and acquittal cannot be undone. Check the links before transmitting.

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Final invoices

A final invoice closes a provisional once the real figure is known. Which form it takes depends on how the price moved:
1

Open the provisional invoice

From your provisional list.
2

Create the final invoice

Choose the form — tax invoice, credit note, or combined.
3

Enter the settled figures

The actual price now known.
4

Transmit

The provisional is recorded as closed by this final invoice, and the link is kept both ways.

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Reverse VAT invoices

Where reverse VAT applies, the invoice is raised against a registered principal rather than carrying VAT in the normal way. The principal must be recorded before you can raise the invoice against them. Reverse VAT invoices are a variant of the ordinary sales invoice — they behave the same way, but are flagged so ZRA treats them correctly.

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Sale types

Every sales invoice carries a sale type, which is what distinguishes these documents:

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Import declarations

Where you import as well as export, import declarations are recorded against your account and reconciled with your ZRA position.

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A working routine

  • Issue the commercial invoice before the goods leave
  • Check the shipment, incoterms and transporter details are right
  • Confirm it transmitted successfully before dispatch
  • Raise the provisional invoice
  • Link every commercial invoice it covers
  • Confirm those commercial invoices moved to acquitted
  • Raise the final invoice in the right form
  • Check it links back to the correct provisional
  • Review issued commercial invoices with no acquittal
  • Review provisional invoices with no final
  • Check for failed transmissions across all document types

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Common problems

This is a compliance chain, not a filing convenience. A broken chain — an unacquitted commercial invoice, or a provisional never closed — is visible to ZRA and is the sort of discrepancy that triggers an audit. Review it monthly.
Related: Smart Invoice for device setup and transmission, and Credit and debit notes for ordinary corrections.
Last modified on August 4, 2026