Supplier Verification Checklist for Input VAT in the UAE (FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026)

FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026 was issued on 22 July and took effect on 1 October 2026. It lists what a taxable person has to verify about a supply, and about the supplier behind it, before deducting input tax. It applies to every business registered for VAT or obliged to register.

The decision works alongside Article 54 (bis) of the VAT law, in force since 1 January 2026, which lets the FTA refuse input VAT linked to tax evasion where the business knew, or should have known, what it was buying into. A verification file is how you show you checked. For the wider set of 2026 changes, including staff expenses and the pending cash rule, see our overview of UAE VAT changes in 2026.

Step 1: Sort your suppliers into three groups

The decision scales the work by how much you buy from each supplier. Start with a list of every supplier you paid in the last 12 months and the total you paid each one. Then add the suppliers you expect to use more in the next 12 months, because both tests look forward as well as back.

The decision says “exclusive of VAT” only for the AED 10,000 test. For the AED 100,000 and AED 375,000 totals it says only “value of supplies”. Until the FTA clarifies this, we count those two totals including VAT. If you put a supplier in a higher group by mistake, you have collected one bank letter too many. If you put it too low, the VAT on its invoices has no file behind it.

The small-supply exception is narrower than it looks. A supplier that sends you twenty invoices of AED 8,000 a year passes AED 100,000, so every one of those invoices needs the checks.

Step 2: Check each supplier

Check each supplier the first time you deal with them. A supplier you have used for years still needs one file. If it has not been verified in the last 12 months, check it before your next dealing. For each supplier, collect and date the following.

Where the supplier is an individual:

• a copy of a valid Emirates ID or passport;
• a meeting with the supplier before the supply, in person or online, with the date noted.

Where the supplier is a company:

• its incorporation, confirmed through an official database or a copy of the certificate of incorporation;
• the incorporation details match the entity’s name, address and staff as you know them;
• a copy of a valid Emirates ID or passport for the director, agent or employee who represents the supplier.

For the place of business, whoever the supplier is:

• evidence that the supplier has a real place of business, checked electronically or by a site visit;
• a note that the premises fit the activity the supplier carries out.

Then record a yes or no for each of the three risk indicators:

• the supplier changed its address more than twice in the last 12 months;
• it changed its key staff, meaning its managers or the people you deal with, more than twice in the last 12 months;
• its deals with you are out of proportion to its size and track record in volume, value or nature.

Where one applies, keep a clear written explanation and give it to the FTA if asked. The explanation has to agree with the other evidence you hold. The decision does not say that a risk indicator on its own cancels the deduction.

For large suppliers, above AED 375,000, add two more items:

• a written confirmation from a bank authorised in the UAE that the supplier holds an account, with no reservations or conditions attached. It does not have to be addressed to you, so a supplier can send the same letter to all its customers;
• a review of publicly available reviews, media coverage and client recommendations, where they exist, from reliable sources. Note that they fit the supplier’s size and business and show no sign of tax evasion.

The decision does not mention the TRN. We still check it for every new supplier with the free TRN verification service on tax.gov.ae, because a tax invoice without a valid TRN is a problem whatever else is in the file.

Step 3: Check every purchase

The supplier file covers who you buy from. Article 4 of the decision adds a check on each taxable supply you receive. In practice these become questions on your purchase approval, answered before the invoice is booked:

1. Is there a genuine business reason for this purchase, and for buying it from this supplier?
2. Are the price and margin in line with the market? If not, is the reason written down?
3. Is the purchase within the supplier’s ordinary activity and the activities on its trade licence?
4. For goods, are their origin and authenticity clear, and does the supplier own them or have the right to sell them?
5. If the supplier is a middleman, is its role in the deal explained?
6. Does the money go to the supplier’s own account in its country of incorporation? A third party paying or collecting, or an account in another country, needs a reasonable commercial explanation.
7. Is it paid electronically? Cash needs a documented commercial reason, has to stay within the thresholds set in tax legislation and must be easy to verify.

The cash threshold is still pending. The VAT Executive Regulation now blocks input VAT on a supply above an amount the Minister of Finance will set where it is paid in cash, but that amount has not been published yet. Moving cash-paid suppliers to bank transfer covers both rules now.

Step 4: Keep the file and set the re-check dates

Article 5 of the decision asks you to document each verification step and keep the supporting documents and records so the FTA can test how you applied the rules. One folder per supplier works:

Put the date of the last check on the folder and a reminder eleven months later, so the renewal is ready before the next dealing falls outside the 12 months. Keep the folders with your VAT records. Our guide to record-keeping requirements covers how long.

Step 5: Write the verification policy

The decision requires a documented policy that names the people who carry out, review and supervise the checks, and sets out their powers and responsibilities. It is kept where you keep your other required tax documents. It does not have to be long. For a small company, two pages cover it:

1. Purpose, in one line: the policy applies FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026 before input VAT is deducted.
2. Scope: the three groups from Step 1 and the thresholds that place a supplier in each.
3. Roles: who collects the documents, who reviews them and who supervises, by job title, with what each may approve. The decision does not say these must be three different people. In a small company the owner often supervises.
4. Procedure: the supplier checks (Step 2), the purchase questions (Step 3) and the re-check cycle (Step 4).
5. Failed checks: what happens if a supplier cannot produce a document or a risk indicator applies: who decides, whether the invoice is paid, and whether its VAT is claimed.
6. Records: where the files live and who has access.
7. Review: when the policy itself is next reviewed.

Common gaps in supplier files

The requirements are hardest to meet with informal suppliers. Patterns worth fixing before the FTA asks:

• the only contact is a phone number, with no name of a representative and no ID on file;
• the invoice comes from one company and the payment request from another, or from a personal account;
• a general trading licence invoices for services outside its listed activities;
• a long-standing supplier that was never formally checked, because “everyone knows them”.

Each of these can usually be fixed with a document or a written explanation. Left alone, each one leaves the VAT on that supplier’s invoices without a file.

Large suppliers raise one question of their own: the bank letter. Ask for it once a year, together with the trade licence, when you renew the supplier’s file. If your own company is the large supplier to someone else, expect the same request from your customers and get a letter from your bank in advance. Our guide to business bank accounts in the UAE explains what banks ask for in return.

How QuickTax helps

We sort your suppliers against the AED 10,000, AED 100,000 and AED 375,000 lines, build the verification files and the written policy Decision 13 asks for, and add the purchase checks to the way your invoices reach your VAT return.

See how our accounting and tax service works →

This material is for reference and is not tax advice. The English text of FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026 is an unofficial translation of the Arabic original. Always verify current requirements on the official resources of the FTA.

What this means for you

FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026 asks for a dated file before you deduct input VAT. Three things to set up now: