The UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) is rolling out mandatory e-invoicing in three phases between 2026 and 2027. If your business is registered for VAT, this affects you — and the deadlines are closer than they look.
The phased rollout at a glance
- Phase 1 — Businesses with annual revenue ≥ AED 50M must appoint an Accredited Service Provider (ASP) by 30 October 2026 and go live on 1 January 2027.
- Phase 2 — Businesses with revenue below AED 50M must appoint an ASP by 31 March 2027 and go live on 1 July 2027.
- Phase 3 — Government entities go live on 1 October 2027.
What "PINT-AE compliant" actually means
PINT-AE (Peppol International Invoice — UAE) is the XML format the FTA accepts. It's a UAE-specific profile of the global Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 standard, with extra fields for Arabic translations and UAE tax rules.
Your e-invoices need:
- Bilingual rendering — Arabic and English side by side on every line item
- TRN validation — both seller and buyer TRNs validated against the FTA registry
- ASP signing — the invoice is signed by an accredited intermediary before it reaches the FTA network
- Audit-grade storage — invoices retained for seven years, immutable
What you should do this quarter
If you're in Phase 1, you should already be evaluating ASPs. The 30 October 2026 deadline is non-negotiable, and onboarding takes weeks once you commit.
If you're in Phase 2, start scoping now. The 31 March 2027 ASP-appointment deadline sounds far away, but VAT-registered SMEs typically take 8-12 weeks to go from "evaluating" to "live." Don't leave it to Q1 2027.
How TrustBill fits in
TrustBill is FTA-accredited and ships PINT-AE compliant invoices through our partner network. You keep your existing accounting software (Tally, Zoho, QuickBooks, SAP, anything with an export); TrustBill handles the transformation, signing, and FTA submission.
Start free with 50 invoices — no card required.
