United Arab Emirates
AEThe UAE is introducing a decentralised five-corner e-invoicing system in which Accredited Service Providers exchange PINT AE invoices over Peppol and report tax data to the Federal Tax Authority, with the Ministry of Finance as Peppol Authority.
Guide reviewed .
Invoicing and electronic documents
UAE Electronic Invoicing System (DCTCE)
A Decentralised Continuous Transaction Control and Exchange model with five corners. The supplier's ASP (corner 2) validates the invoice and sends it to the buyer's ASP (corner 3); corner 2 reports a Tax Data Document to corner 5, and corner 3 does so after validating the invoice successfully. Status messages are relayed back to supplier and buyer.
Structured XML; PDF, Word, image and scanned files are not e-invoices · Official source: Ministry of Finance · UAE eInvoicing programme
Peppol and PINT AE
The Guidelines define a Service Provider as an organisation authorised by OpenPeppol, identify participants by scheme 0235 followed by the 10-digit TIN, and set invoice content through Peppol's PINT AE billing specifications. E-invoices carry no QR code or barcode.
PINT AE (Peppol International, UAE) · Official source: Ministry of Finance · UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines, version 2.0 (26 October 2026)
Accredited Service Providers (ASPs)
Providers accredited by the Ministry of Finance to send, receive, exchange and report e-invoices for taxpayers. The Ministry publishes the list, which named 82 providers on 30 October 2026.
PINT AE and the UAE standard XML · Official source: Ministry of Finance · list of eInvoicing Accredited Service Providers
Federal Tax Authority (corner 5)
Receives the tax data reported from e-invoices and calls on persons in scope to meet the legal deadlines. The FTA points to the Ministry of Finance portal as the only official source of e-invoicing information.
Tax Data Document reported by ASPs · Official source: Federal Tax Authority · UAE E-Invoicing
The obligation is broad. It covers every person conducting business in the UAE, whether or not they are registered for VAT, and both sides of a B2B or B2G transaction must work through an Accredited Service Provider. A person in scope that has no tax registration must register with the FTA to obtain a TIN, because the Peppol participant identifier is built from it (scheme 0235 plus the first 10 digits of the TRN). Members of a Tax Group each use their own TIN. See the UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines.
An e-invoice does not replace the VAT tax invoice. Once a person is in the system, its tax invoices and credit notes take the form of e-invoices. During the rollout, a buyer that has not yet onboarded may still need a separate non-XML invoice. Treat the Ministry of Finance's eInvoicing programme page as the authoritative source for amendments, since several decisions were amended during 2026.
Legal guide
B2B · business transactions
Mandatory in phases from 1 January 2027Any person conducting business in the UAE must issue and transmit an electronic invoice for every business transaction, and an electronic credit note on cancellation, price reduction, refund or error, unless excluded. Recipients must process them through the system. Registrants follow the VAT invoicing deadlines; otherwise the deadline is 14 days from the date of the business transaction. Both parties act through an appointed ASP.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025 on the Electronic Invoicing SystemPhasing and Accredited Service Provider deadlines
Set by Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025, as amendedRevenue means gross income in the most recent accounting period. Revenue of AED 50,000,000 or more requires an ASP by 30 October 2026 and implementation by 1 January 2027; this ASP deadline was moved from 31 July 2026 by Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026. Revenue below that requires an ASP by 31 March 2027 and implementation by 1 July 2027.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026 amending Decision No. 244 of 2025B2G and G2B · Government Entities
Mandatory from 1 October 2027Government Entities must appoint an ASP by 31 March 2027 and implement by 1 October 2027. The Guidelines state that supplies to Government Entities, including contracts tendered on the government procurement portals, are in scope. Sovereign activities of Government Entities that do not compete with the private sector are excluded.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines, version 2.0 (26 October 2026)B2C · consumer transactions
Out of scope until a further Ministerial decisionTransactions with natural persons not carrying on business are not subject to the system, and a person engaged only in such transactions is not subject to it, until the Minister decides otherwise.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025 on the Implementation of the Electronic Invoicing SystemExcluded transactions
Exclusions in Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025International passenger air transport with an electronic ticket and ancillary services with an Electronic Miscellaneous Document are excluded. International air cargo with an airway bill is excluded for 24 months from the system's effective date. VAT-exempt or zero-rated financial services under Article 42 of the VAT Executive Regulation are also excluded. Excluded persons may join voluntarily.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025 on the Electronic Invoicing SystemTax Group transactions and storage
24-month grace period from 1 January 2027Ministerial Decision No. 197 of 2026, effective 1 October 2026, treats transactions between members of the same Tax Group as excluded for 24 months from 1 January 2027. It also removed the requirement to store e-invoice data inside the UAE and the duty to notify the FTA of a system failure.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · news on Ministerial Decision No. 197 of 2026Penalties and voluntary adoption
Penalties apply from each person's mandatory dateCabinet Decision No. 106 of 2025 sets violations and administrative penalties. The Guidelines state that persons who implement voluntarily must meet all technical requirements, but penalties apply only from their mandatory implementation date.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines, version 2.0 (26 October 2026)
Timeline
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Pilot programme and voluntary implementation
The pilot with a Taxpayer Working Group began, and any person could implement the system voluntarily from this date.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025 on the Implementation of the Electronic Invoicing System -
Ministerial Decision No. 197 of 2026 in effect
Amended Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025 with the Tax Group grace period and the storage and system-failure changes.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · news on Ministerial Decision No. 197 of 2026 -
ASP deadline for the largest businesses
Persons with Revenue of AED 50,000,000 or more must have appointed an Accredited Service Provider.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026 amending Decision No. 244 of 2025 - Upcoming at review
Mandatory phase 1 (upcoming)
Persons with Revenue of AED 50,000,000 or more must implement the system. The 24-month Tax Group grace period starts.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines, version 2.0 (26 October 2026) - Upcoming at review
ASP deadline for other businesses and Government Entities (upcoming)
Persons with Revenue below AED 50,000,000 and Government Entities must appoint an Accredited Service Provider.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025 on the Implementation of the Electronic Invoicing System - Upcoming at review
Mandatory phase 2 (upcoming)
Persons with Revenue below AED 50,000,000 must implement the system.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025 on the Implementation of the Electronic Invoicing System - Upcoming at review
Government Entities (upcoming)
Government Entities must implement the system.
Official source: Ministry of Finance · Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025 on the Implementation of the Electronic Invoicing System
Peppol in United Arab Emirates
- Directory participants
- 14,096
- Document families
- 15
Peppol Authority: Ministry of Finance.
65 certified service providers based in United Arab Emirates.
Peppol Directory data as of .
How to read these numbersDocuments on Peppol
- 8,939 participants
- 8,769 participants
- ApplicationResponse2,419 participants
- TaxData1,586 participants
- TaxDataStatus407 participants
- 69 participants
- EndUserStatisticsReport68 participants
- TransactionStatisticsReport68 participants
- 13 participants
- 5 participants
- CrossIndustryInvoice3 participants
- 3 participants
- 3 participants
- 2 participants
- CrossDomainAcknowledgementAndResponse1 participant
Registrations over time
Peppol Directory data as of .
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| 13 | |
| 35 | |
| 206 | |
| 683 | |
| 953 | |
| 2,253 | |
| 3,064 |
Registration dates in the current Directory snapshot.