What your till receipt shows in the UAE: a field-by-field check

Our article on simplified and full tax invoices explains the two documents a VAT-registered shop issues. This one is practical: take a receipt from today's roll, put it next to this page, and check it line by line. It takes five minutes and catches the problems that only show up when an accountant or an inspector reads your paperwork.

This is general information as of the date above, not tax advice. Your accountant or tax agent decides what applies to your business; the till's job is to print it correctly every time.

The top of the receipt

1. The heading. A registered shop's receipt is a tax invoice, and the words "Tax Invoice" should be clearly displayed at the top. Check that it is not hidden in small print under the logo.
2. Your name and address. The trading name the customer knows, and an address someone can find. Many shops add the phone number here; that is fine.
3. Your TRN. The 15-digit tax registration number, exactly as on your certificate. A missing or mistyped digit is the most common error we see on receipts.
4. Date (and time). The date of issue. The time helps you find a receipt when a customer comes back.
5. A receipt number. Not required on the simplified form, but every till prints one and you need it for returns and for your own records.

The lines

1. One line per item with a description a person can understand. ITEM 4471 is not a description; "Full fat milk 1 L" is.
2. Quantity and price, including weighed items ("0.750 kg × 6.50").
3. Discounts shown as discounts, not hidden in a lower price, so the receipt and your reports agree.

If your products have two names, a bilingual receipt (English and Arabic) is a courtesy to the customer and costs nothing.

The bottom

1. The total the customer pays, in AED.
2. The VAT amount, on its own line. "Prices include VAT" alone is not enough on a tax invoice: print the amount. If some products are zero-rated or exempt, the VAT line should still add up.
3. How it was paid, cash given and change, card, or on account. Not a tax requirement, but it is how you reconcile the drawer.

When a company asks for an invoice

A company customer often needs its own name, address and TRN on the document, and a full tax invoice adds more per line (unit price, quantity, tax rate, amount). A thermal receipt is the wrong place for that. Your till should print an A4 tax invoice from the same sale, with the customer picked from your customer list, so the numbers on both documents can never differ.

Returns

A return is not a negative sale typed by hand. It should reference the original receipt, put the stock back, and print its own document showing what was returned and the VAT reversed. Check that your returns print, and that the Z report shows them separately.

Deposits and advances

Tailors, repair shops and appliance shops take money before the goods are delivered. Whether VAT is due when the deposit is taken is a question for your accountant. What matters at the till is that it can do either: treat a deposit as an advance payment with its own tax invoice, and deduct it on the final receipt, or hold it as customer money until the sale. See instalments and deposits.

E-invoicing is coming

From 2027 the UAE is introducing e-invoicing for business-to-business invoices, in phases. Most retail receipts to shoppers are not the first target, but your company invoices may be. Our e-invoicing page tracks the published dates and what CreekPOS plans.

A five-minute routine

Once a month, pick three receipts: a cash sale, a weighed sale and a return. Check the eleven points above. Check one A4 invoice against the customer's TRN. If anything is wrong, fix it in the settings, not with a pen.

In CreekPOS

Your name, address and TRN for the receipt are set once with the shop's details; Settings → Selling holds VAT included or added and whether product names print in two languages. Every sale can also print an A4 tax invoice for a customer with their TRN, returns refer to the original receipt, and the VAT report sums what you collected. Deposits can be invoiced as advance payments. Details are in the manual and on the features page.