Four things change for UAE businesses before the end of October 2026, and they arrive within a month of each other. From 1 October 2026, suppliers have to be verified before input VAT is deducted — and, from the same day, the VAT Executive Regulation is amended: input VAT is lost on purchases paid in cash above a threshold the Minister is to set, and staff accommodation comes out of the recoverable-benefits rule. By 30 October, larger businesses must have appointed an e-invoicing service provider. And a new standard for how accounting records are kept has already applied since 30 July. Around them sit the routine Corporate Tax and VAT dates that fall in the same weeks. This page puts all of it on one line, in order, with a link to the detail on each.
The dates, in order
| Date | What | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Jul 2026 | FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 takes effect — rules for keeping accounting records as scans and copies. Already in force. | Every person keeping records for tax |
| 30 Sep 2026 | Corporate Tax return and payment due, nine months after year-end | Businesses with a 31 December 2025 year-end |
| 1 Oct 2026 | FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026 takes effect — supplier and supply verification before deducting input VAT | Every VAT-registered business that deducts input tax |
| 1 Oct 2026 | Cabinet Decision No. 149 of 2026 takes effect — VAT Executive Regulation amended: no input VAT on cash-paid purchases above a threshold the Minister is to set, staff accommodation out of the recoverable-benefits rule, composite supplies, medical products, the Capital Assets Scheme. The new apportionment ratio waits for the first tax year after 1 October 2027 | Every VAT registrant; employers housing staff; partially exempt businesses from 2028 |
| 28 Oct 2026 | VAT return and payment due for the quarter ending 30 September | Quarterly filers on a Jul–Sep period |
| 30 Oct 2026 | Deadline to appoint an Accredited Service Provider for e-invoicing, Phase 1 | Revenue of AED 50 million or more |
| 1 Jan 2027 | E-invoicing goes live, Phase 1 | Revenue of AED 50 million or more |
Businesses under AED 50 million follow in 2027: an ASP by 31 March and go-live on 1 July. Government entities appoint by 31 March and go live on 1 October 2027. The phase table is in our e-invoicing deadlines note.
1 October — supplier checks before input VAT
FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026 gives content to Article 54 bis of the VAT Law. It does not make input VAT conditional on checking your suppliers; both limbs of that article require tax evasion somewhere in the chain of supplies. What it does is define what “should have known” means — so where evasion is later found and the checks were not done, the defence that you had no way of knowing is gone.
Three numbers decide how much of it applies to a purchase. A supply under AED 10,000 can be disregarded entirely — unless your rolling 12-month spend with that supplier exceeds AED 100,000, which switches the exception off. Above AED 375,000 with one supplier, a UAE bank confirmation and a documented reputation review are added. The look-back windows run 12 months, so on 1 October they already reach to October 2025.
One obligation does not depend on any open question: Article 5(4) requires a documented policy naming who implements, reviews and supervises the checks. That has to exist by 1 October. The full note, with a calculator that checks one supplier in seconds →
1 October — the VAT Executive Regulation is amended
Cabinet Decision No. 149 of 2026, issued on 1 September, amends twelve points in the Executive Regulation from the same day Decision 13 starts. Two reach almost every business. New Article 54(3) bars input tax on any supply above an amount the Minister of Finance is to set where the consideration is paid or intended to be paid in cash — the threshold decision had not been published when this was updated. And Article 53 now takes employee accommodation out of the exception that keeps input tax on mandatory staff benefits recoverable, unless a MoHRE decision or directive makes the housing mandatory. The rest: a bar on splitting a single composite supply into parts, zero-rating for “medical products” as a Cabinet decision specifies, a Capital Asset defined by the asset’s cost rather than a single item of expenditure, and three smaller wording changes.
The largest change is the one that waits. From the first tax year commencing after 1 October 2027 — 1 January 2028 for a monthly filer — the standard partial-exemption ratio runs on the value of supplies instead of on input tax. Every amendment, article by article, with a worked example of the 2027 switch →
Already in force — how records have to be kept
FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 has applied since 30 July. If your accounting records exist as scans, photographs or electronic copies, they have to pass three gates: identical to the original, every page in order, with partial scanning expressly not accepted; legible, including ink and paper that will not fade over the retention period; and accessible to the Authority on request, including the system they sit in and any passwords or encryption keys.
A third party may hold the records, but the taxable person remains legally responsible for them. This is not a deadline to prepare for — it applies to the records you hold today. The full note →
30 October — appoint an e-invoicing provider
Phase 1 of UAE e-invoicing covers businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more. The deadline to appoint an Accredited Service Provider is 30 October 2026, and structured e-invoicing goes live for that phase on 1 January 2027. The provider validates invoice structure against the FTA’s data dictionary; it does not verify who your supplier is, which is why this and Decision 13 are separate obligations rather than one. Who must act by 30 October → · Choosing a provider → · Getting your ERP ready →
The routine dates that fall in the same weeks
- Corporate Tax: nine months after year-end. A 31 December 2025 year-end files and pays by 30 September 2026 — the day before Decision 13 starts. Small Business Relief, where it applies, is still elected on that return, and it now runs to periods ending 31 December 2029. What you have to be able to prove →
- VAT: 28 days after the period ends. A quarter ending 30 September is due on 28 October. Monthly filers have the same 28-day rule each month.
- Retention. Five years under the Tax Procedures rules and seven for Corporate Tax, either extended by four years in dispute or under audit — and, per Cabinet Decision No. 17 of 2026 as reported by advisers, a further two years where a refund application is undecided. Decision 4 governs the form those records take for all of it.
What to do in September
- Run a rolling 12-month purchase report by supplier and sort it at AED 100,000 and AED 375,000. The data is historic, so this can be done today.
- Write the Article 5(4) policy and name the three roles. It is the one Decision 13 item that does not wait on anything.
- Decide your cash position and tag cash-settled purchase invoices in the ledger, so that the claim above the Minister’s threshold is excluded from 1 October rather than corrected later.
- List every case where you recover VAT on staff accommodation and establish whether the housing is mandatory under a MoHRE decision or directive. Only that case keeps the recovery without further conditions.
- Spot-check your scans against Decision 4: full documents, every page, readable, and someone who knows the passwords.
- If you are over AED 50 million, the ASP appointment is a procurement decision with under eight weeks left in it.
- Confirm your CT filing date from your own year-end rather than the calendar, and your VAT period from your registration.
Written on 6 September 2026 from the FTA’s published texts of Decision No. 13 of 2026 and Decision No. 4 of 2026, the consolidated VAT Law published by the Ministry of Finance, Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on Corporate Tax, Federal Decree-Law No. 28 of 2022 on Tax Procedures and its Executive Regulation, and the Ministry of Finance e-invoicing timeline. Updated 11 September 2026 to add Cabinet Decision No. 149 of 2026, read in the Ministry of Finance’s consolidated text of the VAT Executive Regulation. The additional two-year retention period is per Cabinet Decision No. 17 of 2026 as reported by advisers; we have not read that amendment in primary text. Dates will be kept current on this page as guidance is published. The English texts are unofficial translations; the Arabic governs. General information on published law, not advice on your own position.