VAT refunds for tourists in the UAE: how the scheme works

Tourists can reclaim VAT in the UAE. Under the Federal Tax Authority’s scheme, visitors aged 18 or over who are not UAE residents and entered on a tourist visa can reclaim the 5% VAT on eligible goods from registered retailers, spending at least AED 250, excluding VAT, per transaction. Purchases are validated on departure within 90 days, and the refund is the VAT less 13% and AED 3.60 per transaction.

Key takeaways

• Tourists aged 18 or over who are not UAE residents and entered on a tourist visa can claim back VAT on eligible goods.
• Each tax-free transaction needs a spend of at least AED 250, excluding VAT, at a retailer registered in the scheme.
• Purchases must be validated at departure within 90 days of the invoice date, and the tourist must leave within 6 hours of validating.
• The refund is the VAT less 13% and AED 3.60 per transaction; cash refunds are capped at AED 35,000.
• Retailers join through the FTA scheme operator, Planet, and must be VAT-registered with an up-to-date filing record.

On this page 10 sections

How the tourist refund scheme works

The scheme refunds most of the VAT a visitor paid on goods that leave the UAE with them. The shop charges VAT in the usual way, and the tourist claims it back on departure once the purchases have been validated.

Standard VAT rate

5%

UAE VAT is charged at a standard rate of 5% on taxable supplies and imports of goods and services, unless a supply is zero-rated or exempt.

Article 68 of the VAT Executive Regulation provides for the scheme: it requires a Cabinet decision to set it up and lays down the core conditions, which are that the tourist is in the UAE when buying and takes the goods out of the country. The FTA runs the scheme with Planet, its authorised operator. Registered retailers issue tax-free transactions through Planet’s system, and Planet runs the validation desks and kiosks and processes the refunds.

The scheme is federal, so it works the same in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and every other emirate. How VAT applies to other goods and services is covered in how UAE VAT works.

Who can claim

The scheme is for adult visitors from abroad, not for people who live in the UAE.

Who can claim

18 or over, not resident, entered on a tourist visa

To claim a VAT refund under the scheme, a tourist must have entered the UAE on a tourist visa, be 18 years or older and not be resident in the UAE, and must shop at retailers registered in the scheme.

The Executive Regulation adds one more exclusion: crew members of a flight or aircraft leaving the UAE are not overseas tourists. The claim is personal. Validation needs the original passport or GCC national ID card the tourist entered the UAE with; copies are not accepted, and nobody else can validate on the holder’s behalf.

UAE residents and GCC nationals

Residents of the UAE cannot use the scheme, whatever their nationality. The FTA’s Guide to Tax Free Shopping says that GCC nationals who do not live in the UAE are eligible, and that there may be restrictions for UAE nationals who live abroad to study. A resident who runs a VAT-registered business recovers VAT on business purchases in a different way, described under other VAT refunds.

What you can claim on

The refund covers goods, not services, and each tax-free transaction has a minimum value.

Minimum spend

AED 250 (excluding VAT) per transaction

The minimum eligible spend per VAT refund transaction under the tourist refund scheme is AED 250, excluding VAT.

The minimum applies to each transaction separately, so two purchases of AED 150 in separate transactions do not qualify.

Goods outside the scheme

Goods only; consumed goods, vehicles, boats and aircraft excluded

Tax-free shopping covers certain taxable goods, but not goods consumed fully or partly in the UAE, motor vehicles, boats and aircraft, goods that do not leave the UAE with the tourist, or services.

The Executive Regulation lets the FTA publish a list of goods outside the scheme; the exclusions above come from the FTA’s tax-free shopping guide.

Online shopping can qualify. The service card covers purchases from websites registered in the scheme for e-commerce tax-free transactions, and the FTA’s October 2026 release describes the e-commerce refund as covering purchases made during the tourist’s stay in the UAE. The other conditions, including the minimum spend and taking the goods out of the UAE, are the same.

How much you get back

The refund is the VAT paid, less a percentage deduction and a fixed fee for each tax-free transaction.

Deduction from the refund

13% of the VAT + AED 3.60 per tax-free transaction

The tourist refund service deducts 13% from the VAT amount requested, plus AED 3.60 for each tax-free transaction.

Older figures found online may differ. The FTA’s Guide to Tax Free Shopping, a 2024 document still linked from the service card, gives the fee as AED 4.80 per tax-free tag; the service card, updated on 25 August 2026, gives AED 3.60 per transaction.

Worked example

Refund on a single purchase

The purchase is an illustration.

1. Goods priced at AED 2,000 before VAT are bought in one tax-free transaction.
2. VAT at 5%: AED 2,000 × 5% = AED 100, so the tourist pays AED 2,100.
3. Deduction of 13% of the VAT: AED 100 × 13% = AED 13.
4. Fee for one tax-free transaction: AED 3.60.
5. Refund: AED 100 minus AED 13 minus AED 3.60 = AED 83.40.

Refund: AED 83.40.

The same arithmetic at other prices, each row being one tax-free transaction (the prices are illustrations):

Because the fee is charged per transaction, it weighs more on small purchases. AED 2,000 of goods bought in two transactions of AED 1,000 returns 2 × AED 39.90 = AED 79.80, against AED 83.40 for one transaction.

Under Article 38 of the VAT Decree-Law, advertised prices include VAT, apart from exceptions set by the Executive Regulation. The VAT inside a VAT-inclusive price is 5/105 of it: a price of AED 2,100 contains AED 100 of VAT.

How to claim, step by step

A claim has three stages: a tax-free transaction when buying, validation when leaving the UAE, and the choice of how the refund is paid.

When you buy

1. Buy from a retailer registered in the scheme, or from a website registered for e-commerce tax-free transactions.
2. The shop records the purchase against the passport or GCC national ID and issues a tax-free transaction in one of two ways. With a paper tax invoice, the shop uploads a photo of the invoice to the operator’s system for verification. With a digital tax invoice, the tourist receives an SMS link to the operator’s shopper portal.
3. If the check on a paper invoice fails, the tourist has to get the shop to correct it before leaving the UAE; otherwise no refund can be claimed on that purchase.

Transactions can be tracked in the operator’s mobile app or shopper portal. What a valid invoice contains is set out in tax invoice requirements.

Before you leave the UAE

Validation happens when the tourist leaves the UAE. The goods may have to be shown, so the FTA asks travellers to take them to Planet’s validation desk before checking in their luggage.

1. Go to a validation point. Self-service kiosks are at the exit points; manned desks at airports, land borders and seaports serve travellers leaving within 6 hours; kiosks at shopping malls and hotels need an online boarding pass for a flight within 24 hours.
2. Scan the original passport or GCC national ID card.
3. Show the goods to the operator’s staff if inspection is requested.

Validation window

90 days from the invoice; leave within 6 hours of validation

Tax-free transactions must be export validated within 90 days of the tax invoice date, at departure from the UAE, and the tourist must leave the UAE within 6 hours of completing validation or the validation is cancelled.

Zayed International, Dubai International and Sharjah International airports also offer an app-based route, which the FTA announced on 20 October 2026. The tourist registers in the operator’s app with a face scan and images of the passport and bank card, then scans a QR code shown on screens at the airport’s refund points. When no purchase needs inspection, the refund is completed in the app; when one does, the app directs the tourist through gates with facial recognition to a self-service kiosk.

Choosing cash, card or a digital wallet

After validation, the tourist chooses cash, a bank card, or a WeChat or Alipay wallet.

Cash refund limit

AED 35,000 in cash; no limit by card

The maximum VAT refund a tourist can claim in cash is AED 35,000; there is no limit on refunds paid to a credit or debit card.

Cash is paid by participating exchange houses located after the immigration desk, so it can only be collected once through passport control. Card refunds are normally paid in the card’s original currency, and the card issuer, not the operator, sets the exchange rate.

Time limits

Five time limits apply between the shop and the refund.

The 90 days rest on Article 68 of the Executive Regulation, which requires the tourist to export the goods within 90 days of the date of supply. A tourist who misses the 6-hour window has to validate again, presenting all the goods and invoices to the operator’s staff.

Deadline to request the refund

1 year from export validation

Tourists may request a VAT refund within one year from the date of export validating their tax-free transactions.

Refund time, October 2026

1 business day (previously about 9 days)

As of October 2026, the total time for tourists to receive VAT refunds has been reduced to one business day, compared with about nine days before, and a new app-based refund platform with facial recognition operates at Zayed International, Dubai International and Sharjah International airports.

The two payment times come from different FTA pages. The service card of 25 August 2026 gives 9 calendar days for bank card refunds, after which the card issuer is the one to contact; it had not been updated to the one business day of the October release when this guide was checked on 21 October 2026.

For retailers: joining the scheme

A retailer can offer tax-free shopping only after it registers with the scheme through Planet’s website and meets the FTA’s conditions.

Conditions for retailers

VAT-registered, at least one return filed, no overdue tax, good credit report

To join the VAT Refund Scheme for Tourists, a retailer must be registered for VAT with a valid TRN and have filed at least one VAT return, must file its returns regularly and on time with no outstanding tax or penalties, and must have a good credit rating on its credit report.

A business that is not yet registered for VAT starts with VAT registration, and a newly registered business can apply only after its first VAT return has been filed. The FTA’s retailer service card sets out the steps: register on Planet’s website, sign the online contract and the credit check consent form, submit the documents and the collateral, complete the registration and, once approved, complete Planet’s online training.

The documents are the tax registration certificate, the trade licence, a power of attorney or memorandum of association where the authorised signatory is not named on the licence, the signed services agreement and the signatory’s Emirates ID. The collateral is a security cheque or bank guarantee in favour of Planet, which sets the amount and can revise it.

The FTA charges no fee for the service and estimates 11 business days to complete an application once it has everything. More stores under the same tax registration number (TRN) can be added later. A retailer that deregisters from the scheme cannot register the same TRN again.

Other VAT refunds in the UAE

The tourist scheme is not the only way VAT comes back: businesses and UAE nationals have their own routes.

A UAE business registered for VAT recovers the VAT on its business costs, its input tax, through its VAT returns, not through the tourist scheme. The process is explained in how businesses recover VAT through returns.

A foreign business with no establishment in the UAE can use the business visitors scheme.

Refunds for foreign businesses

Minimum claim AED 2,000; 12-month claim period

A foreign business with no place of establishment or fixed establishment in the UAE or an Implementing State, and not a Taxable Person, can claim back VAT incurred in the UAE under the Business Visitors refund scheme for a claim period of 12 calendar months, with a minimum claim of AED 2,000, if its country gives UAE businesses similar refunds.

Claims are made on the FTA’s e-Services platform with an original tax compliance certificate from the business’s home tax authority, attested by the UAE embassy, and the FTA processes them within 4 months of receiving all the original documents. Foreign tour operators cannot claim for their tour operator activities.

UAE nationals who build a new home in the UAE can claim back the VAT on the construction services and building materials under a separate scheme in Article 66 of the Executive Regulation, also through e-Services.

The rest of the VAT rules are collected in the VAT and excise guides.