In short: The free JoFotara portal is a fair choice for anyone issuing a few invoices with no busy counter and no stock. Once every sale is an invoice and customers are waiting, a POS connected to JoFotara saves you hours a day and adds stock, staff and offline selling.
In this guide
- What the free portal gives you
- JoFotarah on your phone: check where the app comes from
- What the portal has going for it
- When the free portal is enough
- When it is not enough
- The manual portal versus a POS connected to JoFotara
- Is a connected till 'more compliant' than the portal?
- A simple test: time it
- A third way: start on the portal, switch when you grow
- How Ghalleh works with JoFotara
The free JoFotara portal is the official way to issue e-invoices in Jordan with no software and no subscription: you open it in a browser and type in each invoice by hand. Many people call it 'the government app' and search for it as JoFotara or JoFotarah. Every small shop owner asks the same thing: is that enough, or do I need a connected cashier app? The answer is that it is plenty for some shops and not for others. This page helps you work out which side you are on, without selling you something you do not need.
What the free portal gives you
The JoFotara portal lives at portal.jofotara.gov.jo. Once your business is registered, you sign in with your tax number, username and password, and issue an invoice by typing in its details: the buyer if needed, items, quantities, prices and tax. The invoice is in the system immediately, because you issued it from inside the system.
According to the Jordan News Agency (Petra) on 27 January 2025, quoting the Director General of the Income and Sales Tax Department, taxpayers bear no costs for joining, connecting to or using the system, and a business without invoicing software, or that prefers not to connect one, can issue its invoices on the portal free of charge.
Our guide to issuing an invoice in JoFotara walks through the portal steps in detail.
JoFotarah on your phone: check where the app comes from
Search Google Play or the App Store for JoFotara and you will see apps named JoFotarah or JoFotara, alongside apps from private companies with similar names. Before you install any app and type your JoFotara sign-in details into it, open its store page and check the publisher's name, and start from the official portal at portal.jofotara.gov.jo or the Income and Sales Tax Department's website.
Any cashier app you connect to JoFotara needs your business's connection details, not your portal password. If an app asks for the portal password itself, ask why before you give it.
What the portal has going for it
The portal is free, official, and does not depend on a company that might raise its price or change its terms. Your invoices are issued in the system itself, with no intermediary between you and the department. You install nothing: a browser on a PC or phone is enough. It is also a good place to learn what an e-invoice and its types look like before you pick any software or hear any vendor's pitch.
So if the cases below describe you, start with the portal and do not pay for software you do not need. A cashier app earns its price when it saves you more time and money than it costs, not before.
When the free portal is enough
Be fair with yourself. The portal is a genuinely good choice when:
- You issue few invoices: a handful a day or a week, not dozens.
- You sell services or projects, not items off a shelf: a contractor, a consultancy, a repair workshop that invoices when the job is delivered.
- Nobody is waiting at a counter, so a few minutes per invoice is fine.
- You do not need stock tracking, customer credit, or staff selling on your behalf.
- You want to start today at zero cost and decide later, once your needs are clear.
When it is not enough
The problem does not show on the first invoice. It shows on the fiftieth. The portal issues invoices; it does not run a shop. You need a connected till when:
- Every sale at the counter has to be an invoice and the customer is standing there waiting. Typing items in by hand for each customer does not work in a grocery, bakery or café.
- You want the customer to leave with a thermal receipt that carries the QR, right away.
- You want stock to drop with every sale and to know what is running low before a customer asks.
- Staff sell for you and you want to know who sold what, who gave a discount, and what should be in the drawer at shift close.
- You sell on credit and want every debt tied to its invoice.
- Your internet drops now and then. The portal needs a connection for every invoice; a till that works offline keeps selling and sends invoices when the connection returns.
- You want your day's numbers on your phone: how much you sold, what you made, what sold best.
The manual portal versus a POS connected to JoFotara
The table shows how the two differ in daily work, not in compliance. An invoice from the portal and one from connected software are both JoFotara invoices.
| The manual portal | A connected POS like Ghalleh | |
|---|---|---|
| Who types the invoice | You, item by item, in the browser | It is issued with the sale itself |
| Cost | Free, according to the department | From 5 JOD a month in Ghalleh, after 14 days free |
| Offline | No, every invoice needs a connection | Selling continues, invoices go out when the line is back |
| The customer's receipt | You print or send it yourself | A thermal receipt with the QR code, right away |
| Stock, debts and staff | No | Yes, with every sale |
| Best for | A few invoices, services and projects | A shop selling at the counter all day |
We checked the portal and its sources in October 2026. For anything about JoFotara, the Income and Sales Tax Department's website is the reference.
Is a connected till 'more compliant' than the portal?
No. An invoice issued on the portal is a JoFotara invoice exactly like one sent by connected software, and paying for an app does not make your shop more compliant. Be wary of any ad suggesting the portal is 'the bare minimum' and software is real compliance, or that uses fines to frighten you into buying.
The difference between the two is not compliance but work: who enters the invoice, when, how much of your day it takes, and what happens to stock, the drawer and staff at the same moment. Framed that way, the decision becomes simple arithmetic, not fear.
A simple test: time it
Before deciding, try it. Pick an ordinary day and count the sales. Then issue a sample invoice with three items on the portal and time it. Multiply the two.
Example: 80 sales a day at two minutes per invoice is more than two and a half hours of data entry every day. If your result is a few minutes, the portal is probably enough. If it is hours, someone pays for them: you, an employee, or a customer waiting in line. Then compare the cost of software that issues the invoice with the sale against the cost of those hours.
A third way: start on the portal, switch when you grow
This is not a once-and-for-all decision. Many shops start on the portal while invoices are few, then move to a connected till as sales grow. Invoices you issued on the portal stay in JoFotara, and the app carries on from the next invoice.
When you switch, you get your business's connection details from the portal and enter them in the cashier app once; from then on the app sends every invoice itself. Our JoFotara login guide shows where to find those details.
How Ghalleh works with JoFotara
Ghalleh is connected to JoFotara. You enter the connection details once, then Ghalleh sends every invoice to the system at the moment of sale and the QR prints on the receipt. If the internet drops you keep selling, and Ghalleh resends invoices automatically when the connection is back, as it does for any invoice that failed for another reason.
Along with the invoice, everything else happens: stock goes down, a credit sale is recorded as debt, profit is calculated, and the sale reaches your phone. Get Ghalleh on Google Play, or the Windows version from the download page, with a 14-day free trial of every feature and no card, so you can compare a day on the portal with a day on Ghalleh yourself, and choose.
Everything about JoFotara on one page: the JoFotara e-invoicing guide.
Common questions
Is issuing invoices on the JoFotara portal free?
Yes. According to Petra, quoting the Director General of the Income and Sales Tax Department in January 2025, a business without invoicing software can issue its invoices on the portal at no cost.
What is the difference between JoFotara and the manual portal?
JoFotara is the name of the national e-invoicing system itself. The manual portal is one of two ways to send invoices to it: you type the invoice in a browser. The other is software connected to the system, such as a till that sends the invoice on its own with every sale. Either way the invoice sits in the same system.
Are Excel invoices enough?
An invoice you type in Excel and print does not reach JoFotara and carries no QR code from it. If your invoices go through JoFotara, issue them on the portal or from connected software, and keep Excel for bookkeeping and planning.
Can I use JoFotara without any software?
Yes, directly on the portal, typing in each invoice by hand. That suits businesses issuing few invoices. If you sell dozens of times a day, a connected cashier app saves a lot of time.
Do I lose my invoices if I move from the portal to a cashier app?
No. Invoices issued on the portal stay in JoFotara, and the app starts from the next invoice once you enter the connection details.
Does the portal work offline?
No. It is a website and needs a connection for every invoice. Some cashier apps, Ghalleh included, let you keep selling during an outage and send the invoices when the connection returns.
When should I move from the portal to a cashier app?
When typing in invoices takes a noticeable part of your day, or when you need stock, staff and offline selling. Multiply your daily sales by the time one invoice takes on the portal; the number answers the question.