What has to be on a UAE tax invoice — and what happens when it is not

A tax invoice is not a sales document that happens to show VAT. It is the instrument the law uses to move a tax liability from you to your customer's return: your output tax becomes their input tax because of this piece of paper, and if the paper is defective the transfer does not work. That is why the content requirements are set out particular by particular in the Executive Regulation rather than left to convention.

There are two documents and two articles. Article 59 governs the tax invoice; Article 60 governs the tax credit note, which is the only lawful way to reduce a supply you have already invoiced. Both were amended by Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2025 to accommodate electronic invoicing, and one of those amendments removes an option most retailers rely on today.

checklist The fourteen particulars of a full tax invoice

1. The words "Tax Invoice" clearly displayed. Not "Invoice". This is particular (a), it is the one most systems fail, and it is the easiest to fix.
2. Your name, address and Tax Registration Number.
3. The recipient's name, address and TRN — where the recipient is registered.
4. A sequential or otherwise unique number identifying the document.
5. The date of issue.
6. The date of supply, where it differs from the date of issue.
7. A description of the goods or services supplied.
8. For each line: the unit price, the quantity or volume, the rate of tax and the amount payable, expressed in AED.
9. The amount of any discount offered.
10. The gross amount payable, in AED.
11. The tax amount payable, in AED.
12. Where the recipient must account for the tax: a statement saying so, and a reference to Article 48 of the Decree-Law.
13. Where the invoice is in a currency other than the dirham: the tax amount in AED and the exchange rate used.
14. Where the profit margin scheme applies: a statement that tax was charged on the margin — and the tax must not be shown separately.

receipt_long When a simplified tax invoice is allowed

Article 59(5) allows a shorter document where the recipient is not registered for VAT, or is registered and the consideration does not exceed AED 10,000. It needs only the words "Tax Invoice", your details, the date, a description of what was supplied, and the total consideration and the tax charged. This is what a supermarket till receipt is.

undo Article 60: the tax credit note

A credit note is not a courtesy. It is the document that obliges your customer to reverse input tax they have already claimed, and the FTA's expectations of it are correspondingly specific.

1. The words "Tax Credit Note" clearly displayed.
2. Your name, address and TRN.
3. The recipient's name, address and TRN, where they are registered.
4. The date of issue.
5. The value shown on the original tax invoice, the corrected value, the difference between them, and the tax on that difference — in AED.
6. A brief explanation of the circumstances that gave rise to it.
7. Information sufficient to identify the supply it relates to.

Particular (f) — the explanation — is the one that gets left blank, and it is the one an auditor reads first. "Adjustment" is not an explanation. "Two units returned undamaged on 14 March, credited in full" is.

schedule Fourteen days, and why the clock matters

A tax invoice must be issued within fourteen days of the date of supply. The date of supply is not the date you got around to invoicing — it is set by the Decree-Law, typically the earliest of goods being transferred, services being completed, payment being received, or an invoice being issued. Issuing late does not move the supply into a later period; the tax was always due in the period the supply happened, so a late invoice is usually a late return waiting to be found.

quiz Questions people actually ask

verified Where these facts come from

Checked against the following on 31 August 2026. Rules and dates change — if you are reading this long after that date, verify before you act on it.

• description Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017 — Executive Regulation, Articles 59 and 60 open_in_new
• description Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2025 — amendments for electronic invoicing open_in_new
• description UAE Ministry of Finance — E-Invoicing open_in_new

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