Insights

Notes on UAE e-invoicing, VAT and corporate tax — written from primary sources and checked against them before publication.

E-invoicing

Fifty-one fields, ninety-five rules: what UAE e-invoicing validation actually enforces

The field list is not what invoices are validated against. We extracted the 95 UAE-specific rules from release 1.0.4 of the official specification, and found two places where it contradicts itself.

VAT

VAT falls due before your customer pays — and electronic invoicing removes the discretion

Output VAT follows the date of supply, not the date of collection. Once invoices are transmitted at issue, the timing stops being a matter of internal practice.

Corporate tax

Small Business Relief: the election that can cost more than it saves

Relief is available below AED 3 million of revenue, but the election forfeits the losses and disallowed interest of the elected period. The arithmetic is not always in your favour.

Corporate tax

Qualifying Free Zone Person: the de minimis test and what breaching it costs

Non-qualifying revenue above the lower of 5% or AED 5 million removes the 0% rate — for the current period and the four that follow.

Corporate tax

Deductible expenditure under UAE corporate tax: where the disallowances sit

Entertainment, interest, related-party charges and expenditure attributable to exempt income each follow their own rule. A single policy document resolves most of the recurring questions.

Corporate tax

Withholding tax on payments from the UAE: a domestic rate of zero is not the end of the analysis

The domestic rate is 0%, but the counterparty's jurisdiction may still tax the same income. Treaty relief depends on documentation obtained before payment.