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VAT registration threshold checker

A UAE business must register for VAT when its taxable supplies and imports exceeded AED 375,000 over the previous 12 months, or are expected to exceed it in the next 30 days, and must apply within 30 days. Above AED 187,500 of supplies or taxable expenses it may register voluntarily. Enter your totals to see which applies and when.

By UAE Business Explained Editorial Team. Updated . Free to use; the figures you enter stay in your browser and are not sent or stored.

Your business

Is the business resident in the UAE?

In the FTA's guidance: legally established in the UAE, managed from the UAE, or with a fixed place of business here.

The value of the taxable goods and services the business supplied, plus its imports.

Optional. For example a signed contract for a large sale.

Taxable expenses (optional)

Standard-rated expenses incurred in the UAE. They count towards voluntary registration only.

Optional. The day the 12-month total went over the threshold, or the day you learned the next 30 days would. It gives the deadline.

The example figures are filled in. Replace them with your own: the result updates as you type, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.

Full result

Result

VAT registration

Mandatory

Your taxable supplies and imports over the previous 12 months exceed AED 375,000, so the business must register.

AED 25,000 over the mandatory threshold

Apply to the FTA within 30 days of the day the obligation arose. Enter that date to see the deadline.

Thresholds: AED 375,000 to register by law, AED 187,500 to register voluntarily. A total exactly at a threshold does not exceed it.

How to use the checker

  1. Say whether the business is resident in the UAE. For a non-resident business the threshold does not apply.
  2. Enter the value of taxable supplies and imports over the previous 12 months, and any you expect in the next 30 days.
  3. If the business may want to register voluntarily, add its taxable expenses.
  4. If registration is mandatory, enter the day the threshold was crossed to see the date to apply by and the date registration takes effect.

How it is worked out

Mandatory: supplies and imports, previous 12 months > AED 375,000, or expected in the next 30 days > AED 375,000

Voluntary: supplies and imports, or taxable expenses, previous 12 months or next 30 days > AED 187,500

Apply by: the day the obligation arises + 29 days (that day counts as day 1)

Each test compares one total with the threshold: the checker does not add supplies and expenses together. Both thresholds are crossed only when a total exceeds them, so a total exactly at a threshold does not count.

The thresholds and the deadlines

Mandatory registration threshold

AED 375,000

A business must register for VAT if the value of its taxable supplies and imports exceeded AED 375,000 over the previous 12 months, or is expected to exceed AED 375,000 in the next 30 days.

Applies to
Resident businesses; the FTA states the threshold does not apply to foreign businesses
Source
Registration For VAT, Federal Tax Authority
Checked

Voluntary registration threshold

AED 187,500

A business that is not required to register may apply for voluntary VAT registration if its taxable supplies and imports, or its taxable expenses, exceeded AED 187,500 in the previous 12 months or are expected to exceed it in the next 30 days.

Applies to
Businesses below the mandatory threshold
Source
Registration For VAT, Federal Tax Authority
Checked

Time to apply

30 days

A person required to register for VAT must file the registration application with the FTA within 30 days of becoming required to register; if it does not, the FTA registers it from the date it first became liable and the business owes VAT on all supplies made before registering.

Applies to
Persons crossing the mandatory registration threshold
Checked

The Executive Regulation says only that the application is due within 30 days of being required to register. The FTA's guide counts the day the obligation arises as the first of those days, and the checker follows its examples:

How the FTA counts the days

30 days, counting the day the obligation arises

The FTA's Taxable Person Guide counts the 30 days from the day the registration obligation arises: a person that exceeds the Mandatory Registration Threshold for the previous 12 months on 1 June must notify the FTA by 30 June, with registration effective from 1 July; a person that agrees on 15 August a supply that will take it over the threshold must notify the FTA by 13 September, with registration effective from 15 August.

Applies to
Persons required to register for VAT
Checked

Recomputed by the checker: a threshold crossed on 1 June 2026 gives an application deadline of 30 June 2026 and registration from 1 July 2026; an expectation that arose on 15 August 2026 gives 13 September 2026 and registration from 15 August 2026.

When registration takes effect

First day of the next month (12-month test); the day the expectation arose (30-day test)

Where taxable supplies exceeded the Mandatory Registration Threshold over the previous 12 months, the FTA registers the person from the first day of the month after the month in which it became required to register; where they are expected to exceed it in the next 30 days, from the date on which there were reasonable grounds to believe it would have to register. In both cases the FTA and the person may agree an earlier date.

Applies to
Mandatory VAT registration of persons resident in the UAE
Checked

Penalty for registering late

AED 10,000

Failing to submit a VAT or Excise Tax registration application within the legal timeframe carries an administrative penalty of AED 10,000.

Applies to
VAT and Excise Tax registration
Checked

Businesses outside the UAE

No registration threshold

A business that is not resident in the UAE must register for VAT if it makes taxable supplies in the UAE, even if their value does not exceed the registration threshold, unless another party in the UAE is responsible for settling the VAT on those supplies.

Applies to
Non-resident businesses making taxable supplies in the UAE
Checked

Worked examples

Worked example

AED 380,000 of sales, threshold crossed on 14 March 2026

The sales figure and the date are illustrations. The business is resident in the UAE.

  1. AED 380,000 is more than AED 375,000, so registration is mandatory.
  2. The obligation arose on 14 March 2026. Counting that day as day 1, day 30 is 12 April 2026.
  3. On the 12-month test, registration takes effect on the first day of the next month: 1 April 2026.

Apply by 12 April 2026; VAT is charged from 1 April 2026.

Worked example

AED 150,000 of sales and AED 200,000 of taxable expenses

Both figures are illustrations, for the previous 12 months.

  1. Sales of AED 150,000 are below both thresholds on their own.
  2. Taxable expenses of AED 200,000 exceed AED 187,500.

Registration is voluntary: the business may register, but does not have to.

Assumptions and what the checker leaves out

  • What counts. The law adds up taxable supplies, imports, goods and services received under the reverse charge, the supplies of a business taken over and, in some cases, those of related parties. The checker takes the total you enter.
  • The date. The 12-month total is a rolling look-back, so it changes as each month passes. The checker uses the date you enter and does not work out when the total crossed the threshold.
  • Zero-rated businesses. The FTA's guide says a business whose supplies are all zero-rated can ask to be excepted from registering; the FTA decides. The checker does not cover that request.
  • Tax groups and deregistration. Registering as a group, and the rules for leaving VAT when supplies fall, are not covered. Deregistration has its own thresholds:

Deregistration

Must deregister below AED 187,500; may deregister below AED 375,000

A VAT registrant must apply to deregister if it stops making taxable supplies, or if its taxable supplies over 12 consecutive months are less than the voluntary threshold of AED 187,500 and its taxable supplies or taxable expenses are not expected to exceed that threshold in the next 30 days; it may apply if its taxable supplies over the past 12 months were less than the mandatory threshold of AED 375,000.

Applies to
VAT registrants
Checked

Note

The steps of registering on EmaraTax, the documents the FTA asks for and what changes after registration are covered in VAT registration in the UAE. Once registered, a business charges VAT on its sales: the VAT calculator adds or removes it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the VAT registration threshold in the UAE?

Registration is mandatory when taxable supplies and imports exceeded AED 375,000 over the previous 12 months or are expected to exceed it in the next 30 days. A business may register voluntarily when its supplies and imports, or its taxable expenses, exceed AED 187,500.

Do I have to register if my sales are exactly AED 375,000?

No. The law requires registration when supplies exceed the threshold, so a total of exactly AED 375,000 does not trigger it; one fils more does. At that level the business can still register voluntarily.

How long do I have to apply for VAT registration?

30 days from the day the obligation arises. In the FTA's own example, a business that crosses the threshold on 1 June must apply by 30 June. Missing the deadline carries a penalty of AED 10,000, and the business owes VAT on its supplies from the date it should have registered.

When does VAT registration take effect?

On the 12-month test, from the first day of the month after the month in which registration became required. On the 30-day test, from the day there were reasonable grounds to expect the threshold to be exceeded.

Does the threshold apply to a business outside the UAE?

No. A non-resident business must register if it makes taxable supplies in the UAE, whatever their value, unless someone in the UAE is responsible for the VAT on them.

Do expenses count towards the threshold?

Only for voluntary registration. Standard-rated expenses incurred in the UAE over AED 187,500 allow a business to register voluntarily; they never make registration mandatory.

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Sources

Official and primary sources we used for this page, with the date we last opened each one.

  1. Registration For VAT Federal Tax Authority. Accessed .
  2. The Executive Regulation of the Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value Added Tax (Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017 and its amendments, consolidated to Cabinet Decision No. 149 of 2026, unofficial translation), Article 7 Federal Tax Authority. Accessed .
  3. VAT Guide: Taxable Person (VATG001), Issue 2, June 2018, section 4.3.2, Examples 4 and 5 Federal Tax Authority. Accessed .
  4. Value Added Tax (VAT) Registration (service card, FAQ 1) Federal Tax Authority. Accessed .
  5. The Administrative Penalties for Violation of Tax Laws in the UAE: Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017 and its amendments (consolidated to Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, unofficial translation), table 1, item 3 Ministry of Finance. Accessed .
  6. Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value Added Tax and its amendments (unofficial translation), Articles 21 to 23 Federal Tax Authority. Accessed .