UAE publishes E-Invoicing Guidelines v2.0 (26 October 2026): businesses are identified by the 10-digit FTA TIN, including non-VAT registrants

What changed in detail

The UAE Ministry of Finance published Version 2.0 of the UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines, dated 26 October 2026. The guidelines are explanatory; the obligations themselves come from Ministerial Decisions No. 243 and No. 244 of 2025 and their amendments.

Version 2.0 adds Appendix 6, with clarifications on taxpayer identification, buyer identification and invoice classification:

• A Person in scope is identified by the 10-digit Tax Identification Number (TIN) assigned by the Federal Tax Authority, including Persons registered for tax types other than VAT.
• A VAT-registered seller populates IBT-031 with its 15-digit VAT TRN. A seller not registered for VAT populates IBT-032 with its 10-digit TIN, and a Corporate Tax TRN must not go in IBT-031.
• For a UAE buyer, IBT-046 carries the buyer’s TIN, with scheme identifier 0235, where the PINT-AE rules require it. Foreign buyers outside the framework use the electronic address 9900000098.
• Invoice type code 480 (out of scope of VAT) is only for supplies wholly outside the scope of VAT, not for exempt or zero-rated supplies.

The guidelines restate the phased timeline: Persons with annual revenue of AED 50,000,000 or more implement e-invoicing by 1 January 2027, Persons below that threshold by 1 July 2027, and government entities by 1 October 2027. The guidelines’ table gives 31 October 2026 as the last date for the first group to appoint an Accredited Service Provider, while Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026 sets that deadline at 30 October 2026. For the second group, the table gives 31 March 2027.

What it means

Appendix 6 settles a question many businesses had: being outside VAT does not put you outside e-invoicing. A company registered only for Corporate Tax still issues e-invoices identified by its TIN. ERP mappings that put a Corporate Tax TRN in the VAT identifier field, or use code 480 for exempt supplies, will fail validation. Where the guidelines’ table and the Ministerial Decision differ on the ASP date, the decision is the binding text. For large businesses that deadline has passed, and go-live is 1 January 2027.