VAT registration in the UAE: thresholds and how to register

VAT registration is mandatory for a UAE business whose taxable supplies and imports exceeded AED 375,000 over the previous 12 months, or are expected to exceed it in the next 30 days. It must apply to the Federal Tax Authority within 30 days. Between AED 187,500 and AED 375,000, registration is voluntary. Non-resident businesses making taxable supplies in the UAE have no threshold.

Key takeaways

• Registration is mandatory once taxable supplies and imports exceed AED 375,000 over the previous 12 months, or are expected to in the next 30 days.
• A business can register voluntarily if its taxable supplies and imports, or its taxable expenses, exceed AED 187,500.
• The application is due within 30 days of the obligation arising; registering late costs AED 10,000.
• Non-resident businesses making taxable supplies in the UAE must register whatever their turnover, unless someone in the UAE accounts for the VAT.
• Registration on EmaraTax is free, and a business must apply to deregister within 20 business days of the reason arising.

On this page 9 sections

Who must register for VAT

A business resident in the UAE must register once its taxable supplies and imports pass the VAT registration threshold on either of two tests, one looking back and one looking forward. The rules apply to any person carrying on an economic activity in the UAE, even one without a trade licence, according to the FTA’s registration service card.

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.

The law says “exceeded”, so a total of exactly AED 375,000 does not trigger registration.

The 12-month test

The look-back test adds up taxable supplies and imports over the 12 months just ended. This is a rolling period, not a calendar or financial year, which is why the FTA’s Taxable Person Guide tells businesses to monitor the total on an ongoing basis. The obligation arises on the day the 12-month total passes AED 375,000 (Taxable Person Guide, section 4.3.2).

The 30-day test

The look-forward test asks whether the total value of taxable supplies and imports is expected to exceed AED 375,000 in the next 30 days (Decree-Law, Article 13). It catches a business that signs a large contract, including a new business with no sales history. The obligation arises on the day that expectation arises (Taxable Person Guide, section 4.3.2).

What counts towards the threshold

Article 19 of the VAT Decree-Law sets what goes into the total, and Article 20 leaves out sales of the business’s own capital assets. Zero-rated supplies count as taxable supplies; exempt supplies do not (see which supplies are taxable, zero-rated or exempt).

Non-resident businesses

A business with no place of residence in the UAE does not wait for a threshold.

Non-resident businesses

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.

The exception covers supplies on which someone in the UAE is responsible for the VAT, such as a registered customer that accounts for it under the reverse charge.

Voluntary registration

A business below the mandatory threshold may choose to register once its taxable supplies and imports, or its taxable expenses, pass a lower figure.

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.

Taxable expenses are standard-rated expenses incurred in the UAE by a person resident in the UAE (Executive Regulation, Article 8). The Ministry of Finance says this route is designed to let start-ups with no turnover register. For an application based on expenses, the FTA asks for at least five VAT invoices with amounts over the registration threshold. An application based on expected supplies or expenses needs evidence of the intention to make or incur them, and for expected revenue the FTA asks for purchase orders or contracts stamped and signed by both parties. The applicant must also show that it carries on a business in the UAE (Executive Regulation, Article 8).

Voluntary registration takes effect from the first day of the month after the application, or an earlier date the FTA agrees. A voluntary registrant cannot apply to deregister within 12 months of registering (Decree-Law, Article 23).

The trade-off runs both ways. A registered business charges VAT on its taxable supplies and files returns. In exchange, the Ministry of Finance explains, it can reclaim the excess when it pays more VAT on its costs than it collects. The balance depends on the business’s costs and on whether its customers can recover the VAT they pay.

Deadline and effective date

A business must apply within 30 days of the obligation arising. Article 49 of the Tax Procedures Law sets how such periods are counted: the day the obligation arises is not counted, and a period that ends on a weekend or an official federal holiday runs to the next business day. The FTA’s Taxable Person Guide, published in 2018 before that law took effect on 1 March 2023, counts the day itself as day 1 in its Examples 4 and 5, which gives an earlier date. Registration takes effect from the first day of the next month on the 12-month test, and from the day the expectation arose on the 30-day test.

Deadline 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.

How the 30 days are counted

Start day not counted; a last day that is not a business day moves to the next business day

When time periods are calculated under the Tax Procedures Law and the tax laws, the day of notification or the day of the event that starts the period is not counted, a period whose last day is not a Business Day is extended to the next Business Day, and periods and due dates follow the Gregorian calendar.

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.

Worked example

Crossing the threshold on the 12-month test

The turnover is an illustration; the trigger date is the one in the FTA’s own example.

1. On 1 June 2026 a sale takes a trading business’s taxable supplies over the previous 12 months past the threshold, to AED 390,000.
2. AED 390,000 minus AED 375,000 = AED 15,000 over the threshold, so the obligation arises on 1 June.
3. 1 June is not counted, so day 1 is 2 June and day 30 is 1 July 2026, a Wednesday: the last day to apply. The FTA’s 2018 example, which counts 1 June as day 1, gives 30 June.
4. On the 12-month test, registration runs from the first day of the next month: 1 July 2026.

Apply by 1 July 2026; registered from 1 July 2026.

Worked example

A large contract on the 30-day test

The contract value is an illustration; the dates of the agreement and the supply are the ones in the FTA’s own example.

1. On 15 August 2026 a business agrees to supply goods worth AED 400,000 on 1 September 2026.
2. Supplies of AED 400,000 due within the next 30 days exceed AED 375,000, so the obligation arises on 15 August.
3. 15 August is not counted, so day 1 is 16 August and day 30 is 14 September 2026, a Monday. The FTA’s 2018 example, which counts 15 August as day 1, gives 13 September.
4. On the 30-day test, registration runs from the day the expectation arose: 15 August 2026.

Apply by 14 September 2026; registered from 15 August 2026.

How to register on EmaraTax

Registration is made online on EmaraTax, the FTA’s portal, open 24 hours a day. The FTA’s service card estimates 45 minutes to submit the application and lists these steps:

1. Sign up for an EmaraTax account through the FTA’s website and activate it.
2. Open the account dashboard.
3. Create a new taxable person profile.
4. Select “View” to open the taxable person’s account.
5. Select “Register” under Value Added Tax.
6. Complete the application, attach the documents and submit it.

Fee and processing time

Free; about 20 business days

Applying for VAT registration through EmaraTax is free, and the FTA's estimated time to complete an application is 20 business days from the date it receives the completed application; once approved, the VAT registration certificate is available in the taxpayer's account.

An approved application gives the business a Tax Registration Number (TRN), which is what people mean by a UAE VAT number, and the VAT registration certificate appears in the EmaraTax account. Article 79 of the Decree-Law requires the TRN on every tax return, tax invoice, tax credit note and other tax document. Corporate tax registration is a separate application with its own rules and deadlines.

Documents the FTA asks for

The FTA’s service card lists documents that vary with the legal form and the basis of the application. A new company’s licence and incorporation papers come from the steps to start a business.

• Licence and incorporation: a valid trade licence and any branch licences; the certificate of incorporation, memorandum of association or partnership agreement, if applicable; the commercial registration certificate or another official document from the licensing authority.
• People: Emirates ID and passport copies of owners and authorised signatories, and a power of attorney for a signatory who is not named as manager in the memorandum of association.
• Turnover: a signed and stamped declaration of total taxable supplies and monthly sales since establishment, with supporting invoices, contracts, purchase orders or leases as relevant.
• Other: customs details, if any; an optional bank letter; the registration documents of a club, charity or association; the decree for a government entity.

Each file must be a PDF of no more than 15 MB.

Branches, sole establishments and tax groups

A business registers once, not once per location or per licence.

One registration number

One TRN per company or per natural person

A company's branches are all registered under one Tax Registration Number and covered by one VAT return, and all sole establishments owned by the same natural person are registered under a single TRN, with the registration threshold measured on their combined activities.

Article 14 of the Decree-Law says a person conducting business may not hold more than one TRN unless the Executive Regulation provides otherwise. Two or more related parties, each with a place of establishment or fixed establishment in the UAE and with one or more of them controlling the others, can apply to register together as a single tax group under the same article.

The cost of registering late

A late application costs a fixed penalty, and the VAT on sales made in the meantime is still due.

Late registration penalty

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.

When a business does not apply on time, the FTA registers it from the date it first became liable to register (Executive Regulation, Article 7). The business then owes VAT on all the taxable supplies and imports it made before registering, even though it did not charge that VAT to its customers at the time.

Deregistering from VAT

Deregistration is compulsory in two cases and optional in a third.

When to deregister

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.

When a business must deregister

The two cases come from Article 21 of the Decree-Law. In the second, the forward test still matters: a business whose supplies or taxable expenses are expected to pass AED 187,500 in the next 30 days does not have to deregister. If a registrant does not apply, the FTA can deregister it once satisfied that the conditions are met (Executive Regulation, Article 14).

When a business may deregister

Article 22 lets a registrant apply when its taxable supplies over the past 12 months were below AED 375,000, but a voluntary registrant cannot do so in its first 12 months. If the FTA approves, deregistration runs from the date requested in the application, from the application date if none was given, or from another date the FTA sets (Executive Regulation, Article 14).

Deadline, steps and the late penalty

Deadline to apply

20 Business Days

A registrant must apply to the FTA to deregister within 20 business days of a deregistration case arising, and on applying must pay all tax and administrative penalties due and file its final tax return.

On EmaraTax, the business opens its taxable person account and, under VAT, chooses “Actions” and then “De-Register”. The service is free and the FTA estimates 30 business days to complete it. Documents depend on the reason, for example a licence cancellation certificate or liquidation letter, a turnover template from the date of registration, or a signed declaration that taxable supplies will not pass the threshold in the next 30 days. Business assets are treated as supplied just before deregistration, and the VAT on them goes in the final return (see filing VAT returns after registering). Deregistering does not cancel tax or penalties already due.

Late deregistration penalty

AED 1,000, then monthly, up to AED 10,000

A registrant that fails to submit a deregistration application within the timeframe in the tax law is penalised AED 1,000 for the late submission and the same amount on the same date each month, up to a maximum of AED 10,000.

The VAT and excise guides cover rates, returns and refunds.