Written for the Federal Tax Authority, not adapted for it.
Most accounting software sold in the Emirates was built somewhere else and had VAT added afterwards. The difference shows up in the details: where the rounding happens, whether the invoice carries Arabic as a column or as a footnote, and whether retention comes off before or after tax.
VAT is due on the work you certified, not the cash you will receive.
Retention is withheld from the payment, not from the supply. It does not reduce the taxable amount, so the base is the gross work certified — even though the money that arrives is smaller.
Charge VAT on the net payable instead and you under-declare this one certificate by 856.21.
It is the most common error we see in a joinery’s spreadsheet, and it compounds on every claim of every contract.
| VAT charged on | Base | VAT at 5% |
|---|---|---|
| Work certified — correct | 73,120.00 | 3,656.01 |
| Net after retention — wrong | 55,996.00 | 2,799.80 |
| Under-declared | — | 856.21 |
Separately: VAT is rounded on each line and then summed, never on the total. That is why the figure is 3,656.01 and not 3,656.00 — and why a system that rounds once, at the end, disagrees with the FTA by a few fils on every invoice.
Arabic is a column, not a translation under the total.
A compliant tax invoice carries both parties’ TRN, the date of supply, and Arabic alongside English. ProLedger prints it right-to-left from one record, with the fonts bundled rather than fetched — so it renders the same on a site office PC with no internet as it does on your laptop.
| Supplier TRN | 100456789100003 |
| Customer TRN | 100238914500003 |
| Private individual, no TRN | Handled |
| Tax codes | SR · ZR · EX |
Reverse charge and import VAT are not handled in the product today. Boxes 3, 6, 7 and 10 of the return are left for you to complete on the FTA portal. If most of your buying is overseas, weigh that before you start — we would rather say it here than let you find it at filing.
Al Tamayuz Fit-Out Contracting LLC
TRN 100238914500003
| Description الوصف | Amount المبلغ |
|---|---|
| Wardrobes, laminate finish | 44,796.80 |
| Veneered panelling | 11,199.20 |
| VAT 5% ضريبة | 3,656.01 |
| Total الإجمالي | 59,652.01 |
We generate the document. We do not transmit it.
The UAE is moving business-to-business invoicing onto the Peppol network under the PINT-AE specification. Invoices will be cleared through an accredited service provider rather than emailed as PDFs.
ProLedger produces the invoice in PINT-AE format, ready to hand to an accredited service provider. It is not itself accredited and does not transmit to the authority.
Said plainly because the difference matters: producing a compliant document and clearing it through an accredited provider are two different things, and only the first is ours today. Phase dates are set by the Ministry of Finance and keyed to business size — confirm the one that applies to your revenue band directly with them.
| Invoice format | PINT-AE |
| Transport | Peppol |
| An emailed PDF will be sufficient | No |
| ProLedger generates the structured document | Yes |
| ProLedger transmits it to the authority | Not yet |
See the end-of-service number before someone resigns, not after.
Gratuity is calculated per employee at any date you choose and posted as a balance-sheet liability, following the 2021 decree — under which a resignation is treated the same as a termination, not at the reduced pre-2022 fractions. Payroll exports the WPS SIF file your agent bank submits.
| Employee | Role | Service | Gratuity accrued |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faridoon Shah | Workshop foreman | 6y 4m | 38,420.00 |
| Joseph Mathew | CNC operator | 3y 11m | 17,960.00 |
| Imran Qureshi | Site installer | 2y 1m | 8,240.00 |
| End-of-service liability carried on the balance sheet | 64,620.00 | ||
Check the arithmetic against your own last return.
The fastest way to judge any of this is to put one real certificate through it and see whether the VAT agrees with what you filed.