Selling
Create it in Invoices → New invoice.
How do I issue my first invoice?
Where in the app: Documents → Invoices
Create it in Invoices → New invoice. Under Select client, choose a client you have already added. If they are not in the list, add them first in Clients → Add client. The invoice form does not create a client for you. Add the lines: Description, Qty, Unit price, and VAT type. For a normal sale in the UAE choose Standard (5%). Zero-rated, Exempt, and Out of scope are for special cases. Fatura works out the VAT and the total. Check three things: Date, Due date, and that the client's TRN is filled in if they are VAT-registered. Create invoice saves the draft and assigns the number straight away. While it is a draft you can change anything, or delete it. Send Email or Mark as Sent issues it as a tax invoice. Common mistake: issuing late. UAE law requires a tax invoice within 14 days of the date of supply.
Full or simplified tax invoice — which do I need?
Where in the app: Documents → Invoices
The UAE has two kinds of tax invoice. A full tax invoice is required when the buyer is VAT-registered and the amount is over AED 10,000. It shows both parties' TRNs and addresses, VAT per line, and any discounts. A simplified tax invoice can be used when the buyer is not VAT-registered, or is registered but the amount is AED 10,000 or less. It carries fewer details — a typical retail receipt. You do not pick the kind. Fatura issues a full tax invoice when the client has a TRN, or when the total is over AED 10,000. It issues a simplified tax invoice only when the client has no TRN and the total is AED 10,000 or less. A VAT-registered client therefore gets a full tax invoice even at AED 10,000 or below. Common mistake: leaving out a registered client's TRN. They then cannot reclaim the input VAT on your invoice and will ask you to reissue it. Without a TRN on the client, Fatura treats the invoice as full only when the total is over AED 10,000.
How do I invoice in USD or another currency in the UAE?
Where in the app: Documents → Invoices
You can invoice in any currency, but VAT returns are filed in AED. An invoice in another currency therefore needs an exchange rate to AED and the date of that rate, and the tax invoice shows both the rate and the VAT in AED. The dirham is pegged at 3.6725 per US dollar, which is the Central Bank rate, so USD needs no lookup. For any other currency, use the UAE Central Bank rate on the date of supply. Common mistake: using today's rate instead of the rate on the date of supply. When the client pays, the AED you actually receive can differ from the invoice's AED value. The difference is an exchange gain or loss in your books. The VAT you already declared does not change. In Fatura: you pick the currency on the invoice. For USD the rate is filled in; for any other currency you enter the rate and its date, and an invoice without a rate cannot be issued. A rate can be added once to a document issued without one, and cannot be changed afterwards. When you record the payment, you enter the AED received.
Related: Invoicing in USD instead of AED
How do I send an invoice to my client?
Where in the app: Documents → Invoices
On the invoice, send it with Send Email or Share via WhatsApp. Both include a link that opens the invoice in a browser, where the client can download the PDF without installing anything. An invoice has no separate button for copying that link. If you handed it over on paper or another way, use Mark as Sent. The invoice is issued the same way. The client is not emailed or messaged. Once it has gone by email or WhatsApp, or the client opened the link, it has reached them. It can no longer return to draft. Corrections are made with a credit note. Tip: turn on Automatic payment reminders under Settings → Notifications. Fatura emails the client, in your business's name, on that schedule — by default 3 days before the due date, on the due date, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days after, then monthly until paid.
How do I record a payment?
Where in the app: Documents → Invoices
When the client pays, open the issued invoice and press Payment received. Enter the amount, the Payment date, and the Method: Bank transfer, Cash, Cheque, Card, or Other. The method decides the account in your books. Cash is posted to Cash on hand. Bank transfer, Cheque, Card, and Other are posted to Bank account. If they paid part, record the part. The invoice stays open with the balance. Record the next payment the same way. When the balance reaches zero, the invoice becomes paid. If they paid less than the balance, Fatura asks what to do with the remaining amount: leave it open, It was a discount, or Bank charges. On a foreign-currency invoice, Payment received also asks Received in AED. Wrong amount or date? Use Delete payment and record it again. Deleting also reverses the payment in your books. Common mistake: using the invoice date instead of the day the money arrived. The Payment date decides which month the money belongs to.
What if the client's bank takes a fee from the payment?
Where in the app: Documents → Invoices
When the client's bank keeps a fee from a transfer, you receive less than the invoice total. The shortfall is a bank charge, not a discount and not an unpaid balance, and should be recorded as one. The charges are booked as a Bank charges expense. They carry no VAT, so the VAT on the invoice does not change. On a foreign-currency invoice the charges stay in the invoice currency, at the invoice rate. Common mistake: recording the smaller amount as the whole payment and leaving the fee as an open balance. The invoice then looks as if the client still owes money when they do not. In Fatura: when you record the payment with the amount that reached you, Fatura asks what to do with the remaining amount, and you choose Bank charges. If the payment is already recorded, you can add the charges afterwards from the invoice. The amount can be lowered, the rest stays open, and it cannot exceed the remaining balance. Fatura shows whether the invoice will be marked Paid or how much stays open before you confirm.
My invoice has a mistake — what do I do?
Where in the app: Documents → Invoices
It depends on whether it reached the client. If you only used Mark as Sent — it was not emailed, not shared on WhatsApp, and the client did not open the link — open the invoice, then More, then Return to draft. Fix it and issue it again. Return to draft is also unavailable when the invoice is marked paid, or when a credit note has already been issued against it. More explains which path is available and why. If it reached them, an issued tax invoice cannot be deleted or changed. UAE law requires the records to be kept for five years, and numbering has no gaps. Correct it with a credit note, which reduces or cancels the invoice, then issue a new, correct one if you still need to charge. Common mistake: trying to delete it. Deleting an issued invoice is blocked. That protects you in a tax audit.
Credit notes and refunding a client
Where in the app: Documents → Credit notes
A credit note reduces an issued invoice: a return, a late discount, or a mistake. On the invoice, open More and choose Create credit note. Under What is this credit note? choose Return goods, where goods come back and stock is updated, or Price reduction, where the price is lowered and stock is not changed. Enter the lines and the amount. It cannot exceed what is left uncredited on the invoice. The credit note changes what the client owes only after you issue it, with Mark as sent or Email to client. A draft credit note does not. If the invoice is unpaid, an issued credit note lowers what you are owed. If the invoice is already paid, you then owe the client. Refund them and record it on the credit note with Record refund. Amounts you still owe clients appear in Books health as “You owe clients a refund.” Common mistake: crediting a paid invoice and forgetting Record refund. Your books then keep a debt to the client.
How do I give a discount after the invoice is issued?
Where in the app: Documents → Credit notes
An issued tax invoice cannot be edited, so a later discount is given with a credit note of the type price reduction. The price is lowered and stock is not changed. The credit note lowers the sale and its VAT. It counts in the VAT return of the period it is issued in, and only once it has been sent. A draft does not count, and the client still owes the full amount until it is sent. Common mistake: leaving the draft unsent. If the client simply paid less than the invoice, you can settle the rest as a discount in the same way. Fatura records it as a price reduction credit note for the difference, dated the payment date. In Fatura: on the invoice you create a credit note and choose Price reduction. If the client paid less, enter what they paid in Payment received; Fatura asks what to do with the remaining amount, and you choose It was a discount. That credit note is created and sent at once. If a payment is already recorded, the same option on the invoice creates the credit note as a draft, and you send it to finish.
Related: Fixing a mistake on a sent invoice
How do I write off an unpaid invoice and claim VAT bad-debt relief?
Where in the app: Documents → Invoices
When a client will not pay, you can write the debt off in your books. Writing off does not change your VAT by itself. VAT bad-debt relief (VAT Law Article 64) reduces your output VAT by the VAT on the written-off part. The rule: the VAT was declared and paid, at least six months have passed since the date of supply, the amount is written off in the books, and the client is told in writing. A partial write-off is allowed. If the client pays afterwards, the VAT on that payment is due again. In Fatura: on an unpaid invoice you open Bad debt and write off an amount, up to the remaining balance, with a date and a required reason. A partial write-off shows as Written off with the amount, and a write-off can be cancelled. If the client pays later, you record it as paid after write-off. Fatura counts the six months from the invoice date and shows each condition as Passed or Not met. Claiming the relief records the claim date, when the client was notified, the method, an evidence note and the date the VAT was confirmed paid. The relief appears in the VAT report as a separate bad debt line.
Related: VAT on unpaid invoices
Quotes, and turning a quote into an invoice
Where in the app: Documents → Quotes
A quote (Quotes → New quote) is a price offer before the sale. It is not a tax document. VAT on the lines is only part of the price you are offering: nothing is due, and the quote does not appear on the VAT report. Send it with Email to client. That marks the quote as sent. A quote has no Share via WhatsApp and no Mark as Sent. Once it is no longer a draft, Copy public link is available. You can also Mark as accepted or Mark as declined. When the client agrees, open the quote and press Convert to invoice. That is available on a sent or accepted quote that has not already been converted. It creates a draft invoice with the same lines, prices, and client. You check it and issue it. A quote that is not a draft cannot be edited in place. Use Return to draft, then edit. Return to draft is blocked after the quote has been converted to an invoice. You can delete a quote whether or not it was sent. Tip: set Valid until. Supplier prices change, and a client who agrees later should see that the old price no longer holds. After that date a sent quote is shown as expired.
Related guides
- I Made a Mistake on a Sent Invoice — Can I Fix It? (UAE)
You cannot edit or cancel a UAE tax invoice once it is issued. You correct it with a tax credit note, and you have 14 days from the event — not from the invoice date — to issue one.
- Tax Invoice vs Simplified Tax Invoice
When to use a full vs simplified tax invoice: the AED 10,000 threshold, B2B vs B2C, and required fields for each.
- Is a Proforma Invoice a Tax Invoice in the UAE?
No — and the reason is simple enough to check in a second. Plus what the numbering rule actually says, which is narrower than the version most guidance repeats.
- Does a Simplified Tax Invoice Need the Customer's Name? (UAE)
No. The Executive Regulation does not require the recipient's name, address or TRN on a simplified tax invoice — even though the FTA's own handbook shows them. What the legal minimum actually is.
- Do My Invoices Need to Be in Arabic in the UAE?
No. An English-only tax invoice is compliant — there is no language requirement in the invoice rules. But the FTA can require a certified Arabic translation of your records on request, and that is where the cost lands.
- Can I Invoice in USD Instead of AED in the UAE?
Yes, you can invoice in any currency. But the VAT amount must be shown in AED, converted at the UAE Central Bank rate on the date of supply — and the rate itself must appear on the invoice.