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FTA-format tax invoices
Full and simplified tax invoices with TRN, per-line VAT, AED totals and a bilingual layout, printed as branded PDFs offline.
UAE VAT and 2027 e-invoicing, handled on your own PC
Zeyto issues FTA-compliant tax invoices and prepares your VAT returns today, and is engineered for the UAE's Peppol-based 2027 e-invoicing mandate. Your business data stays on your own machine the whole time.
The 5% you already know
UAE VAT in plain terms
A short, accurate reference for how Value Added Tax works in the UAE, and what it asks of your invoices and returns.
The UAE has charged Value Added Tax at a standard rate of 5% since 1 January 2018, administered by the Federal Tax Authority (FTA). Most goods and services are standard-rated. Some supplies are zero-rated, such as certain exports, international transport and specific healthcare and education services, and a small set are exempt, such as some financial services and bare land. A business must register for VAT once its taxable supplies and imports pass AED 375,000 over a twelve-month period, and may register voluntarily from AED 187,500. Once registered, you receive a Tax Registration Number (TRN) that has to appear on every tax invoice you issue.
VAT is collected on what you sell (output tax) and reclaimed on what you buy for the business (input tax). Each tax period you file a return, known as the VAT 201, declaring both figures, then pay the difference to the FTA or carry a refund position forward. Imports are handled under the reverse-charge mechanism. The records behind every figure must be kept for at least five years.
Get the invoice right
What a compliant UAE tax invoice must show
A full tax invoice under FTA rules carries a defined set of fields. Zeyto prints all of them, in Arabic and English, offline.
- The words "Tax Invoice" clearly displayed on the document
- Your name, address and TRN as the supplier
- The customer's name and address, plus their TRN where they are registered
- A unique, sequential invoice number and the date of issue, and the date of supply where it differs
- A clear description of the goods or services supplied
- Unit price, quantity, the rate of VAT and the amount payable for each line, shown in AED
- The total amount payable and the total VAT charged, in AED
- Where another currency is used, the exchange rate applied and the AED equivalent
From ledger to filing
Filing an FTA VAT return with Zeyto
Because every invoice and bill is already posted to a real double-entry ledger, the return builds itself from documents you have already entered.
1
Reconcile the period
Zeyto totals your standard-rated, zero-rated and exempt sales, and your recoverable input tax, straight from posted invoices and purchase bills.
2
Review the return figures
Output tax, input tax, reverse-charge on imports and the net payable are laid out box by box, mapped to the VAT 201 return.
3
File on EmaraTax
Transfer the figures into the FTA's EmaraTax portal for your quarterly, or in some cases monthly, tax period.
4
Pay or carry forward
Settle the net VAT due to the FTA, or carry a refund position forward to the next period.
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Keep the evidence
The invoices, bills and ledgers behind every figure stay on your own PC for the five-year retention rule, backed up locally and optionally encrypted to the cloud.
What is changing
The UAE 2027 e-invoicing mandate, explained
The UAE is moving business invoices away from PDFs and paper toward structured digital documents exchanged over a shared network.
The UAE is introducing mandatory electronic invoicing for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) transactions. Instead of a PDF or a printout, an invoice becomes a structured digital document that systems can read directly. The programme follows a Peppol-based, five-corner design, sometimes called Decentralised Continuous Transaction Control and Exchange (DCTCE), and uses a UAE-specific data dictionary.
In plain terms: your accounting system creates a structured invoice, an Accredited Service Provider (ASP) validates and delivers it to your customer's provider, and the tax data is reported to the Federal Tax Authority in near real time. The change is widely referred to as the UAE's 2027 e-invoicing requirement, with earlier phases preparing accredited providers and larger taxpayers first. The rollout is phased and the timetable is set by the Ministry of Finance, so confirm the exact dates for your business directly with the Ministry of Finance and the FTA rather than relying on any single published date.
The five corners
How UAE e-invoicing will work
The Peppol-based model routes a structured invoice between accredited providers and reports the tax data to the FTA.
1
You, the supplier
You create the invoice in your own system, much as you do today, and Zeyto renders it as a structured document.
2
Your Accredited Service Provider
Your ASP converts the invoice to the required format, validates it and reports the tax data to the authority.
3
The buyer's Accredited Service Provider
The customer's provider receives and validates the document on their side of the network.
4
Your customer, the buyer
The buyer receives a structured invoice straight into their system, ready to record and reconcile.
5
The Federal Tax Authority
The FTA receives the reported tax data for oversight, in near real time.
Compliance without compromise
Compliant, without shipping your ledger to a foreign cloud
E-invoicing is a legal exchange of a single document. It is not a reason to host your entire business abroad.
| What matters | Zeyto on your PC | Typical foreign cloud SaaS |
|---|---|---|
| Where your invoices and ledgers live | On your own PC, via Zeyto Edge and PostgreSQL, on your premises | On the vendor's servers, often outside the UAE |
| Creating a VAT invoice when the internet is down | Works fully offline, indefinitely | Usually blocked, as no connection means no invoice |
| VAT return preparation | Calculated locally from your posted documents | Depends on the vendor's uptime and region |
| What leaves your premises for e-invoicing | Only the required structured invoice, through an Accredited Service Provider | Often your whole book of business, continuously |
| If the vendor or its cloud goes offline | You keep billing and printing from your own machine | Billing can stop until service returns |
| Data residency | Your business data stays in the UAE, on hardware you control | Governed by the vendor's data-centre locations and terms |
Offline-first, even under e-invoicing
E-invoicing does require one thing to leave your premises: the specific structured invoice, sent through an Accredited Service Provider so the FTA can receive the reported tax data. That is the exchange of a single legal document, not a reason to host your entire business in a foreign cloud. Zeyto keeps the offline-first rule intact. You create and print the invoice on your own machine even with no connection, and the accredited exchange runs as a separate step that queues and sends once you are back online. Your ledgers, prices, salaries and customers never leave the shop.
Compliant today, ready for 2027
How Zeyto keeps you compliant
The VAT you need now and the e-invoicing you will need soon, built into one binary that runs on your own PC.
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5% VAT engine
Standard-rated, zero-rated and exempt handling, input and output tax, and reverse-charge on imports, all calculated with correct rounding.
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VAT 201 preparation
Period totals mapped to the FTA return boxes, so filing on EmaraTax is a matter of transferring figures, not rebuilding them.
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Structured invoice output
Engineered to produce the structured invoice the Peppol-based model needs and to connect to an Accredited Service Provider when your phase begins.
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Arabic and English
Fully bilingual, right-to-left invoices and reports that satisfy customers, auditors and the FTA alike.
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Records you keep
Every invoice, bill and ledger entry stays on your own PC for the five-year retention rule, backed up locally and optionally encrypted to the cloud.
FAQ
Straight answers
What is the VAT rate in the UAE?
The UAE charges Value Added Tax at a standard rate of 5%, in force since 1 January 2018 and administered by the Federal Tax Authority. Some supplies are zero-rated, such as certain exports and international transport, and a few are exempt, such as some financial services and bare land.
Who has to register for VAT in the UAE?
Registration is mandatory once a business's taxable supplies and imports exceed AED 375,000 over a twelve-month period, and voluntary registration is available from AED 187,500. Once registered, you receive a Tax Registration Number (TRN) that must appear on every tax invoice you issue.
What must a UAE tax invoice include?
A full tax invoice must show the words "Tax Invoice", your name, address and TRN, the customer's details, a unique sequential number and date, a description of what was supplied, and the unit price, VAT rate, VAT amount and totals in AED. For supplies under AED 10,000, or to customers who are not VAT-registered, a shorter simplified tax invoice is allowed.
How often are VAT returns filed in the UAE?
Most businesses file quarterly on the FTA's EmaraTax portal, while some larger businesses file monthly. The return, known as the VAT 201, declares your output tax, input tax and reverse-charge amounts, and you pay the net VAT due or carry a refund forward. Supporting records must be kept for at least five years.
What is the UAE 2027 e-invoicing mandate?
It is the UAE's move to mandatory structured electronic invoicing for business-to-business and business-to-government transactions. The model is Peppol-based and uses a five-corner design, where Accredited Service Providers exchange the invoice and report the tax data to the Federal Tax Authority in near real time. The rollout is phased, so confirm the exact dates for your business with the Ministry of Finance and the FTA.
Does UAE e-invoicing mean my data moves to a foreign or government cloud?
No. E-invoicing requires one specific structured invoice to be exchanged through an Accredited Service Provider so the FTA can receive the reported tax data. Your wider business data, including ledgers, prices, salaries and customers, does not need to leave your premises. With Zeyto it stays on your own PC, and only the required invoice is transmitted.
Is Zeyto ready for UAE e-invoicing?
Zeyto is FTA VAT compliant today and engineered for the UAE 2027 e-invoicing mandate. It already produces compliant tax invoices and VAT returns offline, and it is built to generate the structured invoice the Peppol-based model requires and to connect to an Accredited Service Provider when your phase of the rollout begins.
Can I create VAT invoices and file returns without an internet connection?
Yes. Zeyto is offline-first, so issuing tax invoices, calculating 5% VAT and preparing your VAT return all work on your own PC with zero internet. When e-invoicing is live, the accredited exchange runs as a separate step that queues and sends once you are back online, so a dropped connection never stops you billing.
See it running on your own numbers
Book a walkthrough, or start a 14-day trial on your own PC with your own data. No cloud lock-in, no data leaving your premises.