You may round once, at the bottom of the invoice. Nowhere else.
Most accounting systems round as they go: each line to two decimals, each tax subtotal to two decimals, then a total. Under the UAE eInvoicing specification that produces a document that does not add up the way the specification expects. Chapter 12.2 of the Ministry's guidelines states the rule in one line — rounding off is applicable at the invoice level total up to 2 decimal places; rounding off is not applicable at the tax category level or line-item level — and it is the first of a set of constraints about money that decide whether your invoice validates or bounces.
Rounding: one place, two decimals
The rule has two halves and both matter. Rounding is applied at the invoice level total, to two decimal places. Rounding is not applied at the tax category level or at line-item level — the underlying values carry their full precision into the totals.
For a business selling round-numbered items this changes nothing. For anyone whose prices come out of a rate card, a per-hour calculation, a per-square-metre rate or a percentage commission, it is a genuine configuration change: a system that stores a rounded line amount has already lost the precision the totals are meant to be built from. The difference is usually fils. Validation does not care how small it is.
Separately, there is an optional Rounding Amount field. The guidelines describe it as optional, with the value supplied by the issuer where applicable — it records a rounding adjustment, it does not authorise one elsewhere in the document. And note what the VAT Executive Regulation already permitted and still does: under Article 61 of the Regulation, where tax on a supply comes to a fraction of a fils, the taxable person may round to the nearest fils on a mathematical rounding. That is a rule about fils, not about presentation.
A foreign-currency invoice still has to state AED — and the figure is yours to get right
This is the constraint that catches exporters, consultancies billing in dollars and anyone with a euro-denominated contract. The guidelines set out three requirements that operate together:
- The AED gross total is mandatory. A tax invoice must include the gross amount payable in AED. Where the document currency differs from AED and the tax accounting currency is AED, that figure goes in the Invoice Total Amount with VAT in Tax Accounting Currency field.
- The Tax Accounting Currency field becomes mandatory. "When the document currency is not in AED, the 'Tax Accounting Currency' field is mandatory."
- The conversion is at the Central Bank rate, and the supplier owns the number. The amount "shall be converted into the UAE Dirham according to the exchange rate approved by the Central Bank", and the guidelines say twice — for the AED gross total and for the amount payable — that the supplier is responsible for ensuring the correctness of the value provided.
Which day's rate? The guidelines say "the exchange rate approved by the Central Bank" without naming a date, and footnote Article 69 of the VAT Decree-Law. Article 69 supplies the missing half: where the supply is in a currency other than the dirham, the amount stated in the tax invoice "shall be converted into the UAE Dirham according to the exchange rate approved by the Central Bank of the State at the date of supply." Not the invoice date, and not the payment date. Where the two differ — an invoice raised after the supply, which is the ordinary case — the electronic invoice has a field for exactly that gap: VAT Point Date, used where the date of supply differs from the invoice issue date. If your system converts at the invoice date because that is when the document is created, the two fields on your own invoice will disagree with each other.
On top of the document-level AED total, the guidelines require the VAT amount and the total amount payable in AED for each service or item supplied — in the VAT Line Amount and Amount Payable fields — "regardless of whether the invoice is issued in AED or any other currency." The full mandatory field list is here.
A surcharge is not a negative discount
Money added to an invoice and money taken off it live in different sections of the document, and the specification does not let you net one against the other.
| What it is | Where it goes | Reason field |
|---|---|---|
| Discount on one line | Line Level Allowances | Invoice Line Allowance Reason (code list available) |
| Discount on the whole invoice | Document Level Allowances | Document Level Allowance Reason (code list available) |
| Surcharge on the whole invoice | Document Level Charges | — |
| Discount granted after invoicing | Not an allowance at all — an Electronic Credit Note, reason code "volume discount" where applicable | Credit Note Reason Code |
The examples the Ministry gives for Document Level Charges are the ones that matter most in practice in the UAE: the Dubai Municipality surcharge on construction projects and tourism levies. Contractors, fit-out companies, hotels and holiday-home operators all carry a statutory add-on that has historically been typed onto the invoice as a line, a footnote or a manual adjustment. In a structured invoice it has a home, and the home is not an invoice line.
The practical test is timing, not sign. A reduction agreed when the invoice is raised is an allowance. A reduction agreed afterwards is a credit note. An addition imposed by a municipality or an authority is a charge. Three different mechanisms, three different places on the document.
Import VAT paid by an agent: the one case where tax you cannot recover goes on your invoice as a charge
Where a person who is not registered for VAT imports goods using an agent who is registered, Article 50(4) of the VAT Executive Regulation makes the agent responsible for paying the tax, and Article 50(5) has it reported and paid through the agent's own tax return as though the agent were the importer. Article 50(6) then closes the obvious door: an agent who has paid tax on behalf of another person shall not recover it as input tax.
The agent therefore has to pass it on, and Article 50(7) prescribes a statement containing the agent's name, address and TRN, the date of the statement, the date of import, a description of the goods and the amount of tax paid. Article 50(8) gives that statement its status: it is treated as a tax invoice for the documentation requirement in Article 55(1)(a) of the Decree-Law — which is what lets the importer recover the tax.
Chapter 12.2 folds this into the electronic world in two sentences: an Electronic Invoice shall be issued by the agent, and the VAT paid by the agent can be mentioned under the "Document Level Charges" section. Freight forwarders, customs brokers and logistics companies handling imports for unregistered clients are the population affected, and the change is concrete — the recharge stops being a line on a statement and becomes a structured charge on an electronic invoice that the FTA receives.
The margin scheme shows a VAT amount of zero
Where VAT is calculated only on the supplier's margin under Article 43 of the VAT Decree-Law — a used-car dealer, a gallery reselling work bought from private collectors — the guidelines resolve a direct conflict between the tax law and the technical specification. PINT-AE mandates the inclusion of VAT information; the VAT Decree-Law and its Executive Regulation do not require the VAT amount to be displayed on a margin scheme transaction. The instruction is unambiguous: "The amount to be displayed should be '0'."
A zero here does not mean a zero-rated supply. Margin scheme is a tax category in its own right, one of the six, and the invoice carries that category — not the zero rate.
Four fields that solve problems businesses currently solve in free text
- Goods or services, per line. Where an invoice mixes both, the Item type field distinguishes them: G for Goods, S for Services, B for Both. A single invoice covering supply and installation no longer needs the distinction to live in the description.
- Batch numbers. Manufacturing and trading businesses that track goods by batch for inventory and traceability have a designated Batch Number field. It is not a workaround typed into the item description.
- Triangular sales. Where billing goes to one party and delivery to another, the TRN or TIN of the recipient of the goods can be provided in the Delivery to Party ID field within the Delivery Information section. This is distinct from the free zone beneficiary fields, which identify who ultimately uses or owns what is supplied — and which, where the beneficiary and the customer are the same, can simply mirror the customer details so the document is technically complete without implying a third party is involved.
- Exports. If the supplier wishes to declare the customs reference number alongside the applicable Incoterms, both have designated fields — Customs Reference Number and Incoterms. The guidelines present this as optional, which makes it one of the few places where the specification offers rather than requires. The export invoice itself is mandatory as an electronic invoice and may be provided to Customs.
There is no limit on how many lines an invoice may have — the guidelines state expressly that there are no constraints on the number of lines for the UAE. The constraint is on the fields, not the volume: you cannot add optional fields of your own into PINT-AE. An industry-specific classification or a customer-mandated reference is a conversation with your accredited service provider about how to accommodate it within the specification, not a licence to extend the document.
One sector gets an explicit answer: insurance
Reinsurance treaty portfolio statements are generated by insurance companies covering premiums, claims and commissions together, without separate documents for each. The guidelines address the arrangement directly: under the eInvoicing framework, any invoice or statement that has VAT implications must be issued as an Electronic Invoice in compliance with the VAT legislation — and it is for the insurance company and the broker to decide which of them issues it.
The second half is unusually permissive and worth reading as a template for similar arrangements: the Ministry is prescribing that a compliant document exists, not who in a commercial chain produces it. The same logic runs through disclosed agent billing and e-commerce platforms, where the guidelines allow another party to issue while keeping the responsibility with the supplier.
Frequently asked questions
Where is rounding allowed on a UAE electronic invoice?
At the invoice level total only, up to two decimal places. Chapter 12.2 of the UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines V1.1 states that rounding off is not applicable at the tax category level or at line-item level. There is also an optional "Rounding Amount" field whose value is supplied by the issuer where applicable, and Article 61 of the VAT Executive Regulation separately permits rounding tax to the nearest fils on a mathematical rounding where it comes to a fraction of a fils.
Can a UAE electronic invoice be issued in a foreign currency?
Yes, but it must still carry the AED figures. A tax invoice must include the gross amount payable in AED; where the document currency is not AED and the tax accounting currency is AED, that amount goes in the "Invoice Total Amount with VAT in Tax Accounting Currency" field, and the "Tax Accounting Currency" field becomes mandatory. The VAT amount and the total amount payable must also be given in AED for each item supplied, regardless of the invoice currency.
Which exchange rate applies to a UAE tax invoice in foreign currency?
The exchange rate approved by the Central Bank. Article 69 of the VAT Decree-Law specifies that the conversion is made at the Central Bank rate at the date of supply — not the invoice date and not the payment date. The Ministry's guidelines add that the supplier is responsible for ensuring the correctness of the converted value. Where the date of supply differs from the invoice issue date, the electronic invoice records it in the "VAT Point Date" field.
Where does the Dubai Municipality surcharge go on an electronic invoice?
In the "Document Level Charges" section. Chapter 12.2 of the guidelines gives the Dubai Municipality surcharge on construction projects and tourism levies as its examples of surcharges to be reported there. Surcharges are structurally separate from discounts, which go in Line Level Allowances or Document Level Allowances with a reason drawn from a code list.
What is the difference between an allowance and a charge on a UAE electronic invoice?
An allowance reduces the amount and a charge increases it, and they occupy different sections of the document. Item-level discounts go in Line Level Allowances and document-level discounts in Document Level Allowances, each with a reason field. Surcharges such as the Dubai Municipality construction surcharge or tourism levies go in Document Level Charges. A reduction agreed after the invoice was issued is neither — it requires an electronic credit note.
How does an agent invoice import VAT it paid on behalf of a client?
The agent issues an electronic invoice and the VAT paid can be reported under the "Document Level Charges" section. The underlying rule is Article 50 of the VAT Executive Regulation: where an unregistered person imports goods through a VAT-registered agent, the agent is responsible for paying the tax and reports it through its own tax return, cannot recover it as input tax, and must issue the importer a statement showing the agent's details, the date of import, a description of the goods and the tax paid. That statement is treated as a tax invoice for the documentation requirement in Article 55(1)(a) of the VAT Decree-Law.
What VAT amount is shown on a margin scheme electronic invoice?
Zero. The guidelines note that although PINT-AE mandates the inclusion of VAT information, the VAT amount is not required to be displayed for margin scheme transactions under the VAT Decree-Law and the VAT Executive Regulation, and state that the amount to be displayed should be "0". The invoice still carries "margin scheme" as its tax category, which is distinct from the zero rate.
How do you show goods and services on the same UAE electronic invoice?
With the "Item type" field, which takes the values G for Goods, S for Services and B for Both. The guidelines also confirm there are no constraints on the number of lines an electronic invoice may contain in the UAE.
Which field records the recipient in a triangular sale?
"Delivery to Party ID", within the Delivery Information section. Where billing is addressed to one party while delivery is directed to another, the TRN or TIN of the recipient of the goods can be provided there. That is separate from the beneficiary fields used in free zone scenarios, which identify the party that ultimately uses, consumes or owns what is supplied.
Can I add my own fields to a UAE electronic invoice?
No. The guidelines state that persons and government entities are not allowed to add additional optional fields of their own into PINT-AE, and that industry-specific field or classification requirements should be discussed with the accredited service provider to see how they can be accommodated within the specification.
Do insurance and reinsurance statements have to be electronic invoices?
Where they have VAT implications, yes. The guidelines address reinsurance treaty portfolio statements — which typically cover premiums, claims and commissions without separate documents — and state that any invoice or statement with VAT implications must be issued as an electronic invoice in compliance with the VAT legislation. Which party issues it is left to the insurance company and the broker to decide.
Sources
- Rounding levels, currency fields, allowances and charges, item type, batch number, triangular sales, customs reference and Incoterms, insurance statements, custom fields and line limits — UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines V1.1, chs. 10.4, 12.2 (PDF)
- The conversion rate and the date it is taken at — Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on VAT and its amendments, Arts. 43, 55, 69 (PDF)
- Import VAT paid by an agent, the prescribed statement, and rounding to the nearest fils — Executive Regulation of the VAT Decree-Law, Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017 and its amendments to September 2026, Arts. 50, 59, 61 (PDF)
- The obligation to issue and transmit, and the data fields of an electronic invoice — Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025, Arts. 6, 7 (PDF)
- Programme overview and document library — Ministry of Finance, eInvoicing
Verified 17 September 2026 against the Ministry of Finance's and the Federal Tax Authority's published PDFs, re-downloaded on the date of verification. Field names — Document Level Charges, Line Level Allowances, Invoice Total Amount with VAT in Tax Accounting Currency, VAT Point Date, Delivery to Party ID, Item type, Batch Number, Customs Reference Number, Incoterms — are the Ministry's, and their exact form is fixed by Peppol's PINT-AE specification rather than by us. The point that the Central Bank rate is taken at the date of supply comes from Article 69 of the VAT Decree-Law, which the guidelines footnote without restating; the observation that this can differ from the invoice date, and that the VAT Point Date field exists for that gap, is ours. We do not reproduce the rate of the Dubai Municipality surcharge or of tourism levies here: those are set by the relevant authority and belong on a page sourced to it.
Related
- The mandatory fields — 51 for a tax invoice, 49 for a commercial one, and the eight-flag scenario code.
- Electronic credit notes — where a discount granted after the invoice has to go.
- Self-billing and VAT groups — who may raise the document, and the 24-month intra-group grace period.
- The five-corner model — what validation actually checks, and what happens when it fails.
- Nine VAT rules change on 1 October 2026 — including a new block on input tax for large cash payments.
- VAT calculator — the 5%, the registration thresholds, and the eInvoicing timetable in short.