On 19 October 2026, the UAE Ministry of Finance announced Ministerial Decision No. 197 of 2026, which amends the 2025 decision that set up the national e-invoicing system. The changes took effect from 1 October 2026. The ministry described them as a way to reduce the operational burden on businesses. The start date for the first wave of companies has not moved.
What changes
- Transactions between members of the same VAT tax group are treated as excluded transactions for 24 months from 1 January 2027. Invoices to customers outside the group are still covered.
- Article 11 no longer requires e-invoice and credit note data to be stored inside the UAE. Businesses must still keep the records for the period set by the Tax Procedures Law and hand them to the Federal Tax Authority on request.
- Article 12 is repealed, so there is no longer a duty to notify the FTA of a system failure within two business days.
The timetable stays as published. The National reports that businesses with annual revenue of AED 50 million or more must appoint an accredited service provider by 30 October 2026 and go live on 1 January 2027. Smaller businesses follow from 1 July 2027 and government entities from 1 October 2027.
What it means for founders
For most UAE founders the main date is still mid-2027, and nothing here pushes it back. The storage change matters if your accounting or ERP tool keeps data on servers outside the country: that alone should no longer block you. Tax groups get breathing room on intra-group invoices, though advisers quoted by The National say it is still unclear how some group transactions will be handled. One open point: commentators note the announcement does not say what happens to the separate penalty for late outage notification under Cabinet Decision No. 106 of 2025.
What to do now
- If your revenue is AED 50 million or more, confirm your service provider appointment before 30 October 2026.
- If you are smaller, ask your accounting software vendor which accredited provider it will connect to and when testing opens.
- Check that customer records, especially Tax Registration Numbers, are clean, since every qualifying invoice will pass through a provider. If invoicing runs across several tools, map the flow end to end before you pick a provider.
- Read the decision text yourself, as the FTA may still issue guidance on the open points.
Sources: Ministry of Finance via Zawya, Ministry of Finance amends electronic invoicing regulations; The National, UAE amends e-invoicing regulations as implementation deadline draws closer; Tax Adepts, UAE e-invoicing deadline stays as MoF eases three rules
This is general information, not legal or tax advice.