Business Visitors VAT Refund in UAE

In what circumstances can you claim a Refund?

• The period of each Refund claim shall be 12 calendar months (except in the case of Applicants resident in GCC States which are not Implementing States)
• The minimum amount of VAT for which a claim may be submitted under this scheme shall be AED 2,000

What information will you need when completing the Refund Form?

• Original Tax Compliance Certificate (such as business status certificate, certificate of commercial activities or equivalent) in Arabic or English issued by the relevant competent Tax Administration reflecting your tax registration number (“TRN”) attested by UAE Embassy in country of tax registration.
• If you are undertaking exempt or non-business activities in your country of establishment, which do not give you the right to fully recover any input tax, you will need to provide a declaration in Arabic or English indicating the level (percentage) of input tax you are eligible to recover on expenses.
• The relevant tax invoices with valid tax registration number and proof of payment to support your refund claim. Note that an invalid tax invoice will be rejected (e.g., having an incorrect TRN).
• Copy of passport of the Authorized Signatory
• Proof of Authority of the Authorized Signatory

Important Points

Original hard copies of all invoices (with proof of payment) must be sent along with your application. System-generated and scanned tax invoices will also be accepted as original. All invoices require a proof of payment in the form of a receipt attached to the invoice or stamp of invoice as “paid” with the supplier’s details on the stamp.

Alternatively, scanned copies of the tax invoices or system-generated tax invoices may be e-mailed to ForeignBusiness@tax.gov.ae. The company name and claim reference number should be reflected in the subject of the email. Please note that the maximum email size is 20MB per email.

Accessing the Refund Form

Reviewing the progress of your Refund Form

List of countries eligible for the VAT Refunds for Business Visitors with reciprocal agreements – April 2021 Approved List of countries with reciprocal arrangements has been provided by the UAE Ministry of Finance (MoF) and can be found in the schedule below.

* provided certain conditions are met