Ministry of Finance publishes version 2.0 of the UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines

The Ministry of Finance has published version 2.0 of the UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines, dated 26 October 2026. It replaces version 1.1 of 1 June 2026 and is the edition now on the Ministry's e-invoicing page.

What is new compared with the June edition:

• A new Appendix 6 explains how sellers and buyers are identified on an electronic invoice, and when the invoice type codes 380 (tax invoice) and 480 (out of scope of VAT) apply. A VAT-registered seller gives its 15-digit VAT registration number. A seller that is not VAT-registered gives its 10-digit TIN instead, and must not put a corporate tax number in the VAT field.

• A new section on healthcare services and insurance claims. Where a hospital treats a patient and the insurer merely settles all or part of the bill, the patient remains the recipient, and the payment alone does not make it a business-to-business transaction. The insurer is the buyer only where it receives a supply in its own right.

• Newly established businesses within scope must appoint an accredited service provider and complete onboarding before issuing their first invoice, whatever their date of establishment.

• The storage wording has been rewritten following the October amendments to the regulations. The June edition spoke of storing records within the State and then said the location of servers did not matter. Version 2.0 drops both and requires that records are kept for the period in the Tax Procedures Law, remain accessible, and can be produced to the Federal Tax Authority in complete and readable form. Storage can be delegated to a service provider by contract, but the business keeps the legal responsibility.

• The penalties chapter now refers to Cabinet Decision No. 173 of 2026 in place of Cabinet Decision No. 106 of 2025.

Unchanged from June: the 24-month grace period for transactions between members of the same VAT group from 1 January 2027, and the timeline. Businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more go live on 1 January 2027, smaller businesses appoint a provider by 31 March 2027 and go live on 1 July 2027, and government entities appoint by 31 March 2027 and go live on 1 October 2027.

For a UAE business, this is the reference your finance and IT teams should be working from now, particularly if you invoice customers abroad, work in healthcare, or have only recently set up.