VAT
Your issued invoices, less your sent credit notes, less the input VAT you can recover on expenses and bills.
What goes into the VAT report?
Where in the app: Finance → VAT Report
Your issued invoices, less your sent credit notes, less the input VAT you can recover on expenses and bills. Drafts are not counted. An invoice counts once it is issued, a credit note once it is sent, and a bill once you have received it. Dates decide the period. An invoice counts by its invoice date, a credit note by its date, and a bill by its bill date — not the date you paid it. Imported services are noted separately. The VAT on them is self-accounted and is worked out in the ledger, not in this report, so it is not part of the recoverable input VAT here.
When is my VAT return due?
Where in the app: Finance → VAT Report
The return is due 28 days after the end of your filing period. If that day is a Saturday, a Sunday, or a public holiday Fatura has listed, it moves to the next working day. Your period is monthly or quarterly, from your FTA certificate; quarters can start in January, February or March. If you have not set it, Fatura asks “When does your VAT period start?” and assumes calendar quarters until you answer. While the deadline for the previous period is still ahead, the dashboard, the To do list and the VAT report show that previous period, because that is the one you are filing. The VAT report opens on that return; pick another period from the list. The To do list shows the deadline under Deadlines, and how many days are left.
Where do I find my VAT period on the FTA certificate?
Where in the app: Finance → VAT Report
Your VAT return period (tax period) is set by the FTA, not chosen in Fatura. It is shown on your VAT registration certificate, as the dates of your first VAT return period (tax period). In EmaraTax, each VAT return also lists the period it covers. Quarterly periods start in January (Jan–Mar, Apr–Jun, Jul–Sep, Oct–Dec), February (Feb–Apr, May–Jul, Aug–Oct, Nov–Jan) or March (Mar–May, Jun–Aug, Sep–Nov, Dec–Feb). Some businesses, usually large ones, file monthly. Look at the months of your first period and pick the matching answer under “When does your VAT period start?”. You can change it later in Settings → VAT registration. Until you set it, Fatura assumes calendar quarters (January start) and marks those periods and deadlines as assumed. If you are not sure, check with the FTA or your accountant.
What does my VAT registration date change?
Where in the app: Settings → Documents
Your effective registration date, shown on your FTA registration certificate, decides which documents carry VAT and which return is your first. Invoices dated before the registration date should not charge VAT and carry no TRN. An invoice dated on or after the date that went out without VAT still owes it. The first VAT return starts on the registration date. Input VAT from before registration can go in Box 9 of the first return when the expense or bill is dated less than five years before the registration date, and has standard-rated VAT on a supplier tax invoice showing the supplier's TRN. Capital assets bought before registration are not covered here; ask a tax agent. In Fatura: you enter your TRN and then the date on your certificate in Settings; the date needs a TRN first, and with a TRN but no date every date counts as registered until you confirm it. Invoices dated before the date become plain Invoice documents, and Fatura warns if one charges VAT. The VAT Report and return check leave out earlier documents. Pre-registration purchases are chosen under Purchases before registration until the first return is filed. The date cannot change while claims exist, or if it would move a document into or out of a filed return.
Related: Do I need to register for VAT · VAT registration checker
What is the standard rate?
Where in the app: Finance → VAT Report
Most sales in the UAE carry 5% VAT. You charge it, and your VAT-registered clients reclaim it, so it passes through you to the FTA. VAT type is set on each line, so one invoice can mix Standard (5%) with other treatments. The default for your business is VAT rate (%) under Settings → Documents → VAT & currency. You should not charge VAT until you are registered and have a TRN. Leaving the TRN empty does not stop a line from being standard-rated. This is a plain-language primer, not tax advice.
Zero-rated, exempt, out of scope — what's the difference?
Where in the app: Finance → VAT Report
Zero-rated is in the VAT system at 0%: exports, some education and healthcare. You report the sale, and you can still recover the input VAT on your costs. Exempt is outside the charge: certain financial services, bare land, local passenger transport. You report it, but input VAT on costs used for exempt sales is generally not recoverable, and apportionment may apply. Fatura does not calculate that split. When the period includes exempt supplies, the report says so and tells you to check with an accountant. Out of scope is not a UAE supply at all. The report shows it as “Out of scope — not on the FTA return”, and total sales already exclude it. Choose out of scope only when you are sure. If you are not, a zero-rated sale is the safer of the two. This is a plain-language primer, not tax advice.
Why does the emirate matter?
Where in the app: Finance → VAT Report
A standard-rated sale is reported in the box for the emirate where the supply was made — boxes 1a–1g of the return. Set the default under Settings → Documents → VAT & currency. The field is Emirate. Documents already issued keep whatever they were issued with and are not rewritten.
What is the ready-to-file checklist?
Where in the app: Finance → VAT Report
Ready to file is a last look before you file: draft invoices and draft credit notes dated in the period, your business name, address and TRN, your emirate, documents in another currency with no exchange rate, and a client with a TRN but no address. None of it blocks you. It exists so you notice a draft that should have been issued, or a missing detail that makes an invoice incomplete in an audit. When these checks are clear, the screen says they look complete for this period. That is not a confirmation that the return is correct or ready to submit.
Why do the VAT report and the ledger differ?
Where in the app: Finance → VAT return check
They are two views. The VAT report follows your documents — issued invoices, sent credit notes, and recoverable input VAT on expenses and bills. The ledger return follows what was posted to the VAT accounts. They differ by design on reverse charge. The VAT on imported services is worked out when the document is posted, so boxes 3 and 10 are calculated in the ledger and not in the document report. For those boxes, the ledger figure is the correct one. Check ledger vs VAT report shows both sides line by line. The page is VAT return check. It says when the two sides differ only for known reasons, and it marks an unexpected difference. Look at an unexpected difference before you file.
I already filed this period elsewhere
Where in the app: Finance → VAT Report
If you moved to Fatura mid-year, set the date up to which you filed with your old system: Settings → Data → Data export, under VAT already filed elsewhere through. Documents dated on or before that date stay off Fatura’s VAT return — invoices, credit notes, expenses, and bills — so you do not report them twice. The note on the screen names invoices. The ledger is not affected. Those documents are still in your books. You cannot move the date over a period already marked filed in Fatura. The change is blocked.
How do I correct a VAT return I already filed?
Where in the app: Finance → VAT Report
A filed VAT return is not edited. What you do depends on the size of the error. The rule comes from the Executive Regulation of Tax Procedures (Cabinet Decision 74/2023). If the tax difference is AED 10,000 or less, correct it in the next return, or in the return for the period you found it in, whichever comes first. If it is more than AED 10,000, file a voluntary disclosure on EmaraTax within 20 business days of becoming aware of it. In Fatura: marking a return as filed locks the period. If you then issue a document dated inside it, Fatura asks how to report it. Issue as a correction reports it in the current return while the net corrections to that filed period stay within AED 10,000. Issue into the disclosure links the document to a draft under Voluntary disclosures, and you record the day you discovered the error. Fatura never sends anything to the FTA; you submit the disclosure yourself on EmaraTax. Reopening the period is only for a return that was not yet submitted to the FTA, and asks for a reason.
Related: How to file a VAT return · Late VAT return penalties
Related guides
- Do I Need to Register for VAT in the UAE?
Mandatory vs voluntary VAT registration thresholds, what counts toward AED 375,000, late penalties, and how to register via EmaraTax.
- Should I Register for VAT Voluntarily in the UAE?
Above AED 187,500 you may register even though you do not have to — and you can qualify on expenses rather than sales. Whether it helps depends almost entirely on who your customers are.
- How to File a VAT Return in the UAE
Your VAT return and payment are both due 28 days after your tax period ends. What goes in the form, what the 2026 penalty regime actually says, and what to prepare before you open EmaraTax.
- What Happens If You File a UAE VAT Return Late?
AED 1,000 for a first late return, AED 2,000 if it repeats. Late payment is separate and now runs at 14% a year — a rule most published guidance still gets wrong.
- VAT 201 Boxes Explained
All fourteen boxes on form VAT 201, which ones you fill, which ones EmaraTax fills for you, and the emirate rule that catches first-time filers.
- UAE E-Invoicing 2027 Timeline: Deadlines, Penalties and Checklist
UAE e-invoicing from official Ministry of Finance decisions: ASP and go-live dates for each phase, AED penalties, how a small business should choose an ASP, and a checklist.