United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is introducing mandatory e-invoicing for B2B and B2G transactions as part of its wider digital tax strategy. The model is decentralised and built on the Peppol network, with a twist: as well as exchanging invoices between trading partners, it reports invoice data to the Federal Tax Authority (FTA).

This approach is known as the 5-corner model. The first four corners are the standard Peppol flow: supplier, supplier's service provider, buyer's service provider and buyer. The fifth corner is the FTA, which receives the tax data from the service providers. This gives the authority near real-time visibility without running a central clearance platform.

The rollout is phased, starting with large businesses. Because businesses must appoint an Accredited Service Provider (ASP) well before go-live, preparation needs to begin months before the first invoice is sent.

The mandate covers businesses carrying out B2B and B2G transactions in the UAE, phased by annual revenue. Large businesses form the first phase, and other businesses and government entities follow in later phases (verify the revenue thresholds and phase dates).

Some transactions and entities are excluded or have specific rules, and these are set out in the ministerial decisions (verify the list). Foreign groups with UAE entities should check which phase each entity falls into and plan their ASP appointment accordingly.

Each in-scope business must appoint an Accredited Service Provider, an approved provider that exchanges invoices on the business's behalf and reports the data to the FTA. Invoices must be issued as structured electronic documents that meet the UAE data dictionary, which defines the mandatory fields and business rules.

Businesses also need to receive inbound e-invoices through their ASP, process them in their ERP, and store invoices electronically for the required retention period. Master data, such as Tax Registration Numbers and Peppol identifiers, must be accurate so invoices can be routed and reported correctly.

The format is PINT AE, the UAE-specific Peppol International Invoice specification, based on UBL. It extends the international PINT model with the fields and rules needed for UAE tax reporting.

Invoices travel over the Peppol network between ASPs, and each ASP reports the required data to the FTA. Only accredited providers may act as service providers in the UAE model.

HubBroker connects your ERP to the UAE e-invoicing network. We take invoice data from your existing system, map it to PINT AE and the UAE data dictionary, and validate it before it is sent, so invoices meet the requirements from the first transaction.

Inbound invoices are returned to your ERP as structured data, ready to post, and HubBroker's IDP can convert any remaining PDF invoices into structured data. (Final wording depends on HubBroker's ASP accreditation status. Do not publish until it is confirmed.)

For international groups, the same Peppol-based setup used for UAE invoicing also supports e-invoicing requirements in Europe and other Peppol markets, which keeps your integration landscape simple.