On 23 February 2026, The UAE Ministry of Finance has released a new e-invoicing guidance package that gives businesses much more clarity on how the mandate will work in practice. The package includes three documents that should be read together: 

• the main implementation guideline, 

• the ASP selection guide, 

• and the mandatory fields guide. 

Together, they explain who is in scope, what is excluded, when businesses must comply, how onboarding works, and what invoice data must be prepared in systems. 

What the 3 UAE e-Invoicing guidelines cover 

The three documents play different roles: 

• Main guideline: explains the overall framework, scope, exclusions, rollout, onboarding, invoice categories, special scenarios, tax categories, retention, and penalties. 

• ASP selection guide: helps businesses evaluate Accredited Service Providers using practical criteria such as integration, support, security, pricing, and scalability. 

• Mandatory fields guide: defines the invoice data fields required for electronic tax invoices and commercial e-invoices. 

UAE e-Invoicing model: decentralized + Peppol-based 

The UAE adopts a decentralized model using ASPs and Peppol interoperability (often described via “corners”). In practice: 

• Supplier sends invoice data to its ASP 

• Supplier ASP validates/converts to UAE standard XML 

• Supplier ASP sends to buyer ASP 

• Supplier ASP reports tax data to the authority-side corner in parallel 

• Buyer ASP validates, forwards to buyer, and also reports tax data (if validation succeeds) 

• Electronic confirmations flow back through the chain to supplier and buyer  

Roles and responsibilities  

The guideline makes an important distinction: 

• Compliance responsibility remains with the in-scope person (supplier, or buyer for self-billing) 

• ASPs are operationally involved (and often perform transmission tasks in practice), but this does not shift legal compliance responsibility away from the person in scope  

Scope: who and what is in scope 

The main guideline’s scope section is one of the most important parts of the entire package. 

A key point is that e-invoicing applies to persons conducting business in the UAE for in-scope business transactions, and the obligation is not limited only to VAT-registered businesses (unless a specific exclusion applies). 

This means businesses should not assume they are outside scope simply because they are not VAT registered. 

The guideline also states that: 

• A person in scope should appoint one ASP for both sending and receiving e-invoices 

• A customer’s onboarding status or tax registration status does not remove the supplier’s obligation for in-scope transactions  

Which transaction types are covered 

The guideline confirms that the mandate applies to business and government transaction flows, including: 

• B2B 

• B2G 

• G2B 

• G2G 

Transactions involving consumers are outside scope, such as B2C-type transactions. 

Important special scope clarifications 

The guideline includes useful clarifications that many businesses will need to know about: 

• Investment holding companies: if revenue is purely passive and there are no business transactions, they may be out of scope; but recharges (e.g., management cost recharges) can bring them into scope.  

• VAT groups: intra-group transactions are still in scope. 

• VAT group grace period: there is a 24-month grace period for intra-group transactions, starting 1 Jan 2027, for implementation timing only.  

• Non-UAE established persons: if they are required to issue tax invoices under UAE VAT rules, those tax invoices should be issued as e-invoices.  

Getting ready: what the guideline tells businesses to be prepared for 

The onboarding process is a clear 4-step sequence, and the guideline notes that onboarding is initiated by the person/government entity via EmaraTax, not by the ASP.  

Core steps: 

1. Understand legal/technical requirements and assess ERP/accounting changes 

2. Select ASP, onboard via EmaraTax, obtain Peppol participant identifier 

3. Test end-to-end exchange and reporting 

4. Go-live and define error handling 

5. Ongoing change management and offboarding as needed  

Invoice categories and transition practicalities 

The guideline lists 6 e-invoice categories across standard billing and self-billing. It also says there is no separate provisional invoice category, adjustments should be handled by an additional invoice or credit note.  

A very practical transition point: 

• If the buyer has not yet implemented e-invoicing, a supplier may still need to issue a regular invoice (e.g., PDF) in addition to the electronic tax invoice for compliance needs. 

• In that case, a predefined endpoint 0235:9900000098 must be used on the electronic invoice.  

Special invoice scenarios (8 scenarios) 

The guideline defines 8 scenarios with specific field/issuance implications, including: Free Zone, Deemed Supply, Margin Scheme, Summary Invoice, Continuous Supply, Agent Billing, e-Commerce, and Exports.  

Tax categories and reverse charge handling 

The guideline lists 6 tax categories for invoice lines/supplies: 

• Standard rate 

• Exempt 

• Outside scope 

• Reverse charge 

• Zero-rated 

• Margin scheme  

Important reverse-charge clarification: 

• Imports of “concerned goods/services” for VAT reporting are not subject to e-invoicing requirements 

• Domestic reverse charge category is for specified UAE domestic goods transactions between VAT registrants 

• When using domestic reverse charge category, the supplier issues an e-invoice without VAT and includes a narrative explaining the reason; the type of goods must be referenced.  

Data retention periods 

The guideline gives detailed retention and storage expectations: 

• 5 years for taxable persons (from relevant tax period) 

• 5 years for others (from end of calendar year of document creation) 

• 7 years for real estate records 

• extra retention in audit/dispute situations and certain voluntary disclosure cases  

And a key interpretation: 

• Article 11’s “store within the State” is explained in a functional way, records must be accessible, reproducible, and retrievable for FTA when requested, regardless of where servers or cloud infrastructure are physically located, as long as integrity, security and accessibility conditions are met.  

Final takeaway 

The UAE’s new e-invoicing guidance package gives businesses clarity on scope, timelines, implementation steps, and data requirements. 

In practical terms, the priority should be to assess scope first, followed by timely ASP selection and data readiness preparation. 

Official guideline links 

1. UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines (Main Guide) 
   https://mof.gov.ae/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/UAE-Electronic-Invoicing-Guidelines_V-1.0-23Feb2026.pdf 

2. Considerations for Selecting an Accredited Service Provider 
   https://mof.gov.ae/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Considerations-for-selecting-an-Accredited-Service-Provider_V-1.0-23Feb2024.pdf 

3. UAE Electronic Invoice Mandatory Fields 
   https://mof.gov.ae/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/UAE-Electronic-Invoice-mandatory-fields_V-1.0-23Feb2026.pdf 

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