From 2027, invoices between businesses in the UAE must travel as e-invoices through an accredited provider. Receipts for walk-in customers are not part of it. Here are the dates, what changes at the counter, and how CreekPOS sends your invoices to companies through Flick (coming soon).
against the Ministry of Finance decisions and guidelines. Rules and dates can change; the official texts always win.
E-invoicing is not a PDF by e-mail. It is a national system for exchanging invoices as data.
An e-invoice is a structured XML file in the national format, PINT-AE (based on the international Peppol standard), that the buyer's software reads without retyping.
You send it to your Accredited Service Provider (ASP), a company accredited by the Ministry of Finance, which checks it and delivers it to your customer's provider.
At the same time the providers report the invoice's tax data to the Federal Tax Authority: the "five-corner" model of supplier, two providers, buyer and FTA.
A printed invoice, a PDF or a photo of one is not an e-invoice in this sense. Credit notes go the same way as invoices.
Three questions. Most small shops in the UAE have one date that matters: 1 July 2027, and only for their invoices to companies.
As published by the Ministry of Finance. The row in green is the one for most small businesses.
A pilot with invited businesses begins, and any business may start e-invoicing voluntarily.
Moved from 31 July 2026 by Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026.
Invoices to businesses and government go out as e-invoices.
The deadline to sign with an Accredited Service Provider. Government entities have the same date.
From this day your invoices to companies and government are e-invoices.
Ministries and other government entities join.
Dates from Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025 as amended by No. 66 of 2026, as published on 5 October 2026; they have moved once and may change again. "Revenue" is the gross income in your most recent financial statements. A business that starts after these phases must appoint a provider and join too.
For a typical shop the till keeps working as it does. The change is in the invoices you give to companies.
CreekPOS prints UAE VAT documents today. Books, its accounting module, sends your tax invoices and credit notes to companies as e-invoices through Flick (coming soon).
Online Restaurant and Chain, with Books. Flick charges for its service separately and publishes no price: ask us on WhatsApp. We will announce on this page and on the blog when it is switched on.
Coming soon
Flick is the e-invoicing service provider CreekPOS connects to. It turns each invoice into a UAE e-invoice, delivers it to your customer's provider and reports it to the FTA. Before you appoint any provider, check that it is on the Ministry of Finance's list of accredited providers.
From 2027 your invoices to companies must travel as e-invoices through an accredited provider. CreekPOS Online's Books sends them through Flick, shows each one's status on the invoice, and turns suppliers' e-invoices into draft bills. Till receipts to consumers stay as they are.
The UAE is introducing mandatory electronic invoicing in phases from 2027. Most shop receipts are not in the first phase, but invoices to companies are. Here is the announced timeline and what to prepare.
Most small shops keep their sales in the till and their accounts in a spreadsheet, and someone retypes one into the other every month. Books puts the accounting in the same app as the till, so the sales arrive by themselves and your accountant works from the same figures.
No. Sales to consumers are not part of the e-invoicing system until the Minister decides otherwise (Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025, Article 5). Keep issuing your receipts and simplified tax invoices as today.
Yes, for those invoices. The system covers sales between businesses and to government. If you also sell to consumers, only the company and government invoices go through it.
Yes, for your sales to businesses: the Ministry of Finance guidelines say e-invoicing applies whether or not a business is registered for VAT. If you have no tax identification number, you register with the FTA to get one.
A company accredited by the Ministry of Finance to send and receive e-invoices and report them to the FTA. You appoint one; it handles both your outgoing and incoming e-invoices. The Ministry publishes the list on its website. Compare prices and ask how it connects to your software.
Cabinet Decision No. 106 of 2025 sets them: AED 5,000 for each month you have not implemented the system (including not appointing a provider on time); AED 100 for each e-invoice or e-credit note not issued or sent on time, up to AED 5,000 a month; AED 1,000 a day for not reporting a system failure on time or not telling your provider about changes to your details. Businesses that join voluntarily are not fined before their own deadline.
Not for invoices in scope. An e-invoice is structured data in the PINT-AE format, exchanged through accredited providers.
No. Your receipt printer, drawer and scanner stay. E-invoices are sent by software through your provider.
Through Flick (coming soon). Books sends your tax invoices and credit notes to companies with a TRN as PINT AE e-invoices through Flick and shows their status on the invoice. Till receipts to consumers are not sent: they are outside the programme. CreekPOS itself is not an Accredited Service Provider and is not seeking accreditation.
No. You may appoint any accredited provider. CreekPOS's e-invoicing connection works with Flick; with another provider, you send your e-invoices from that provider's own tools.
Check whether you invoice companies or government, and which revenue band you are in. Keep your company customers' legal names, TRNs and full addresses complete, and invoice them from Books rather than from the till. If your revenue is under AED 50 million, appoint a provider by 31 March 2027. Ask your accountant about your own case.
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. The Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Authority publish the binding rules; for your own case, check with the FTA or ask your accountant.
Try CreekPOS free: receipts with your TRN, A4 tax invoices for companies and credit notes from the first day. A question about e-invoicing? Ask us on WhatsApp.
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