UAE VAT Invoice Format

Article 59(1) of the VAT Executive Regulation is the whole answer to "FTA tax invoice format". It lists twelve particulars, and the word it uses is shall: an invoice missing one of them is not a tax invoice, which matters far more to the recipient than to the issuer, because input tax recovery depends on holding a valid one.

A simplified tax invoice under Article 59(2) carries five particulars: the words "Tax Invoice", the supplier's name, address and TRN, the date of issue, a description of what was supplied, and the total consideration with the tax amount, in AED. No recipient details, no line-level pricing, no invoice number.

You may only issue one in the two situations in Article 59(5), and never where the reverse charge under Article 48 of the Decree-Law applies:

• where the recipient is not a registrant; or
• where the recipient is a registrant and the consideration does not exceed AED 10,000.

Article 59(15) reserves the Authority's right to specify cases where a full invoice is required even though one of those situations applies.

Two further carve-outs sit nearby. Article 59(3) removes the obligation to issue a tax invoice at all for a wholly zero-rated supply, provided sufficient records exist to establish its particulars. Article 59(7) lets the Authority dispense with particulars, or with the invoice altogether, for a supply or class of supplies where issuing one would be impractical — an approval it may withdraw at any time under Article 59(14).

Article 59(13) sets the timing, and it is not a single rule.

The general position is 14 days from the date of supply determined under Article 25 or 26 of the Decree-Law. But a simplified tax invoice must be issued on the date of supply itself — clause 13(a) — which is the point at which a retail till receipt has to be right first time rather than corrected later. And where a summary tax invoice is used under Article 59(6) for several supplies to the same person, the summary must be issued and delivered within 14 days of the end of the calendar month in which the date of supply falls.

Article 59(6) also carries a prohibition worth reading twice: a registrant shall not issue separate tax invoices for supplies that are already included on a summary tax invoice delivered to the recipient. Duplicating them is not a harmless belt-and-braces measure.

Clause (k) requires the tax amount in AED and the exchange rate applied where the currency was converted. That is a formatting requirement with a substantive rule behind it: Article 69 of the Decree-Law requires a supply in a currency other than the dirham to be converted at the Central Bank rate at the date of supply.

The FTA's public clarification VATP004 sets out how precisely: the exact published rate, to the same number of decimal places as published — its own worked example uses 3.672500 and states that 3.7 is not permitted — with rates updated each day on or after 6pm, so an invoice raised before 6pm may use the rate then showing. Imported services convert at the date of supply, and the foreign supplier's invoice date is accepted as that date; imported goods may use the customs exchange rate where it differs.

Rounding is Article 61 of the Executive Regulation, under the delegation in Article 68 of the Decree-Law: tax computed to a fraction of a fils may be rounded to the nearest fils on a mathematical rounding.

Two cautions. VATP004 is procedurally stale — it cites Federal Law No. 7 of 2017 on Tax Procedures, repealed from 1 March 2023, and refers to old portal box numbers — although the currency rules in it are unaffected. And the Central Bank's own website could not be read at source for this page, so no rate, provider or currency count is quoted from it here.

Four variants change the format.

Reverse charge. Where the recipient must account for the tax, clause (l) requires a statement saying so and a reference to the relevant provision of the Decree-Law. A blank tax line with no statement is not compliant.

Self-billing. Article 59(9) allows a recipient to raise the invoice on the supplier's behalf, treated as if the supplier issued it, on four conditions: the recipient is a registrant; supplier and recipient agree in writing that the supplier will not issue an invoice; the document carries the full Article 59(1) particulars; and the words "Tax Invoice raised by buyer" are clearly displayed. Article 59(10) then deems any invoice the supplier does issue for that supply not to be a tax invoice.

Agents. Article 59(11) lets a registrant agent supplying for and on behalf of a principal issue the invoice as if it made the supply, provided the principal issues none and both sides retain records identifying the other's name, address and TRN.

Implementing States. Article 59(12) adds three particulars where the supply is treated as made in an Implementing State: the recipient's tax registration number issued by that state's competent authority, a statement identifying the supply as between a UAE supplier and a recipient in an Implementing State, and anything further the Authority specifies.

A tax credit note is not a negative invoice, and Article 60(1) gives it seven particulars of its own: the words "Tax Credit Note" clearly displayed; the supplier's name, address and TRN; the recipient's name, address and TRN where the recipient is a registrant; the date of issue; the value of the supply shown on the original tax invoice, the correct value, the difference between them, and the tax relating to that difference, in AED; a brief explanation of the circumstances giving rise to it; and information sufficient to identify the supply it relates to.

One detail catches people out. Where more than one credit note is issued against the same invoice, the "value shown on the tax invoice" in the later note is the adjusted value after the earlier note, not the original figure. Article 60 was amended by both Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2024 and Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2025, so quote it from the consolidation published 18 September 2025 rather than from an older copy.

The searches that reach this page split between people who want the paper format and people who want to know what electronic invoicing does to it. The second question now has a clear answer in the Regulation itself.

Article 59(16), added by Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2025, says that where a registrant must issue a tax invoice as an Electronic Invoice under Article 65(5) of the Decree-Law — or does so voluntarily — clauses 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 15 of Article 59 do not apply, along with anything else the Minister decides. Read that list carefully: clause 2 is the simplified invoice, clause 5 is the permission to use one, clause 3 is the zero-rated exemption from issuing at all, and clause 7 is the Authority's power to dispense with particulars. Under e-invoicing there is no simplified tax invoice.

The structure comes from the Ministry of Finance, not the FTA: Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025 sets up the system, Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025 sets the implementation timetable, and the exchange standard is PINT AE, XML over the OpenPeppol network, described in the UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines v1.1 of 1 June 2026. Each invoice must be transmitted within 14 days of the business transaction under Article 6(5) of Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025.

The other format question that arrives on this page is about the Tax Registration Number itself: how many digits it has, and whether a checksum can validate it.

The FTA publishes no TRN digit-count rule and no checksum specification, so this page states neither. Numbers circulating in blog posts are inferred from samples, and a business that rejects a supplier's invoice on the strength of an inferred rule will eventually reject a valid one.

The published mechanism is verification, not pattern-matching: the FTA's TRN verification tool on tax.gov.ae returns the registered name against a number you enter. That is the check to run before you recover input tax on a large invoice from a new supplier — clause (b) of Article 59(1) requires the supplier's TRN on the invoice precisely so that it can be checked.

What the Regulation does prescribe about identity on an invoice is narrow and worth sticking to: supplier name, address and TRN always; recipient name, address and TRN only where the recipient is a registrant; and, for supplies treated as made in an Implementing State, the recipient's registration number issued by that state.