VAT Executive Regulation Amendment (2024)

The 2024 overhaul of the VAT Executive Regulation, effective 15 November 2024, adding Articles 3 bis and 14 bis and amending Articles 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 14 and many others on supplies, deemed supplies, registration, deregistration, tax invoices, input tax and exempt financial services; the FTA publishes it as the consolidated regulation showing each change by footnote.

Summary

Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2024 is the 2024 overhaul of the VAT Executive Regulation, Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017. It was issued on 6 September 2024 and its amendments took effect on 15 November 2024; the Federal Tax Authority publishes it only as part of the consolidated Executive Regulation, whose header records the decision and its effective date and whose footnotes mark each article amended or added by it. It is in force.

The footnotes show amendments across the regulation: Articles 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 23, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 41, 42, 46, 50, 52, 53, 55, 58, 59, 60 and 64, covering definitions, supplies, deemed supplies, registration and deregistration, tax groups, zero-rating of exports and transport, residential and charity buildings, healthcare, financial services, imports, input tax recovery and apportionment, capital assets, invoices, credit notes and returns, together with two new provisions, Article 3 bis on transfers of government real estate between government entities and Article 14 bis on deregistration to protect the integrity of the tax system.

The provisions clients meet most, in their amended form, are these. Article 1 now defines Virtual Assets as a digital representation of value that can be traded or converted and used for investment, excluding digital fiat currency and securities, and defines a Business Day. Article 42 exempts the transfer of ownership and conversion of Virtual Assets, with effect for supplies made on or after 1 January 2018, and exempts fund management services supplied independently for a consideration to funds licensed by a UAE authority. Article 14 requires a deregistration application within 20 business days of the triggering event and Article 14 bis lets the FTA deregister on its own initiative a person who no longer meets the requirements or has not completed deregistration. Article 30 keeps the 90-day export window for zero-rating goods and spells out the evidence required; Article 31 zero-rates services to recipients outside the Implementing States who are outside the UAE when the service is performed, treating a presence of under 30 days not connected with the supply as being outside the State, and withholds zero-rating where another person in the UAE receives the service with non-recoverable input tax. Article 53 blocks input tax on non-employee entertainment, personal-use vehicles and free employee benefits, save for benefits required by labour law or documented policy and health insurance for the employee, one spouse and up to three children under 18. Article 59 requires a tax invoice within 14 days of supply, allows simplified invoices up to AED 10,000 and summary invoices within 14 days of month-end, and Article 55 requires an annual apportionment adjustment where the difference exceeds AED 250,000.

Who it applies to

Every VAT registrant and every person required to register in the UAE, together with businesses relying on the registration exceptions, exporters of goods and services, financial and virtual asset service providers, fund managers, employers recovering input tax on staff benefits and anyone issuing tax invoices or credit notes, because the amended Executive Regulation sets the detailed rules for applying Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017.

Contents

English official text in 67 articles. Open the full text or jump to a provision:

1. Article 2 — Supply of Goods2
2. Article 3 — Supply of Services3
3. Article 3 bis — Exceptions of Supplies4
4. Article 4 — Supply of More Than One Component
5. Article 5 — Exceptions related to Deemed Supply6
6. Article 6 — Application for Registration
7. Article 7 — Mandatory Registration7
8. Article 8 — Voluntary Registration8
9. Article 9 — Related Parties
10. Article 10 — Registration as a Tax Group
11. Article 11 — Amendments to a Tax Group
12. Article 12 — Effect of registration as a Tax Group
13. Article 13 — Aggregation of Related Parties
14. Article 14 — Tax Deregistration9
15. Article 14 bis — Tax Deregistration to Protect the Integrity of the Tax System10
16. Article 15 — Deregistration of a Tax Group Registration or Amendment Thereof11
17. Article 16 — Exception from Registration12
18. Article 17 — Registration when the Decree-Law Comes into Force
19. Article 18 — Liabilities due before Deregistration
20. Article 20 — Place of Supply of Goods Delivered within the State
21. Article 21 — Place of Supply of Services Related to Real Estate
22. Article 22 — Place of Supply of Certain Transport Services
23. Article 23 — Telecommunication and Electronic Services13
24. Article 24 — Evidence for Certain Supplies Between the Implementing States
25. Article 25 — Market Value
26. Article 26 — Apportionment of Single Consideration
27. Article 27 — Price Excluding Tax
28. Article 28 — Discounts, Subsidies and Vouchers
29. Article 29 — Accounting for Tax on the Profit Margin14
30. Article 31 — Zero-rating the Export of Services16
31. Article 32 — Zero-Rating Exported Telecommunications Services
32. Article 33 — Zero-rating International Transportation Services for Passengers and Goods18
33. Article 34 — Zero-rating certain Means of Transport19
34. Article 35 — Zero-rating Goods and Services in Connection with Means of Transport20
35. Article 36 — Zero-rating of precious metals
36. Article 37 — Residential buildings21
37. Article 38 — Zero-rating of Buildings Specifically Designed to be Used by Charities22
38. Article 39 — Zero-rating Converted Residential Building
39. Article 40 — Zero-rating Education Services
40. Article 41 — Zero-rating Healthcare Services23
41. Article 42 — Tax Treatment of Financial Services24
42. Article 43 — Exemption of Residential Buildings
43. Article 44 — Exemption of Bare Land
44. Article 45 — Exemption of Local Passenger Transport Services
45. Article 46 — Tax on Supplies of More Than One Component25
46. Article 47 — General Rules regarding Import of Goods
47. Article 48 — Calculation of Tax under the Reverse Charge Mechanism on import of Concerned
48. Article 49 — Payments for Goods Transferred to another Implementing States
49. Article 50 — Special Rules of Import26
50. Article 52 — Input Tax Recovery in Respect of Exempt Supplies28
51. Article 53 — Non-recoverable Input Tax29
52. Article 54 — Special cases of Input tax
53. Article 56 — Adjustment of Input Tax Post-Recovery
54. Article 57 — Assets Considered Capital Assets
55. Article 58 — Adjustments under the Capital Assets Scheme31
56. Article 60 — Tax Credit Note33
57. Article 61 — Fractions of Fils
58. Article 63 — Tax Periods in the Case of Loss of Capacity
59. Article 64 — Tax Return and Payment34
60. Article 67 — Business visitors
61. Article 68 — Tourist Visitors37
62. Article 69 — Foreign Governments38
63. Article 70 — Transitional rules
64. Article 71 — Record-keeping Requirements39
65. Article 72 — Record Keeping of the Supplies Made40
66. Article 74 — Repeal of Conflicting Provisions
67. Article 75 — Publication and Coming into Force of the Decision

Key provisions

Obligations and deadlines

• Issue tax invoices within 14 days of the date of supply, or summary invoices within 14 days of month-end (Article 59).
• Apply for deregistration within 20 business days of ceasing to qualify (Article 14).
• Hold customs and commercial or official export evidence within 90 days to zero-rate exported goods (Article 30).
• Confirm the recipient is outside the UAE when the service is performed before zero-rating exported services (Article 31).
• Exclude input tax on non-employee entertainment, personal-use vehicles and free staff benefits unless an exception applies (Article 53).
• Recalculate input tax apportionment annually and adjust where the difference exceeds AED 250,000 (Article 55).
• A tax group's representative member must report a member's ineligibility within 20 business days (Article 15).

Penalties

The Executive Regulation sets no fines of its own; failures to register, deregister, issue invoices or file returns under its rules are penalised under Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017 as amended, including by Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, and under the Tax Procedures Law. Late export evidence results in tax at the domestic rate under Article 30(9).

History and citations

“Cites” and “Cited by” are built automatically from references in the full texts held in this library; they cover only instruments in the library.

Related instruments

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