The Bahrain National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) is seeking a vendor to support a review of the existing legal framework and instruments in respect of potential future digitisation opportunities, such as electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) and continuous transaction controls (CTC).
The invitation was issued via the Bahrain Tender Board (544/2022/BTB) on 22 September. The selected vendor will also be expected to recommend and help NBR prepare for potential enhancements to the regulatory framework.
The adoption of e-invoicing and CTC would enable the NBR to have tax data available in a standard and accurate format, increasing transparency, facilitating the audit process and reducing the shadow economy. It is expected that the implementation would take place at the end of next year or early 2024.
This would represent a major step in NBR’s mission to secure a diversified public sector funding, ensure compliance in VAT and Excise, optimise efficiency and effectiveness of the operations by onboarding stakeholders and enhance integration and transparency of the system.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was the first country to implement e-invoicing in the GCC. It launched the first phase last December, when taxpayers were required to generate and store compliant electronic tax invoices, debit notes and credit notes using compliant e-invoicing systems. A second phase is scheduled for January 2023, when the e-invoicing software or systems used by businesses will be integrated with tax authority’s electronic system.
