UAE revises e-invoicing fines: AED 50,000 cap in 12 months
Cabinet Decision No. 173 of 2026 replaces the 2025 penalty table for e-invoicing. A business that has not implemented e-invoicing or appointed its provider pays AED 5,000 for the first violation and AED 5,000 for each further month, up to AED 50,000 in any 12 consecutive months.
The Ministry of Finance announced the new decision on 30 October 2026. It repeals Cabinet Decision No. 106 of 2025 and takes effect from the day after its publication in the Official Gazette. A business that issues e-invoices voluntarily, before e-invoicing is mandatory for it, is outside the decision.
What changes
| Violation | Penalty under the new decision |
|---|---|
| E-invoicing not implemented, including no Accredited Service Provider (ASP) appointed | AED 5,000 for the first violation, then AED 5,000 for each month or part of a month it continues, up to AED 50,000 in any 12 consecutive months |
| A recipient that implemented the system stops meeting its obligations as a recipient | The same scale, within the same AED 50,000 cap |
| An e-invoice not issued and transmitted | AED 100 per e-invoice, up to AED 5,000 per calendar month |
| An e-credit note not issued and transmitted | AED 100 per e-credit note, up to AED 5,000 per calendar month |
| Your ASP not told about a change to your data registered with the FTA | AED 250 per day or part of a day, up to AED 5,000 per calendar month |
- The non-implementation penalty used to be AED 5,000 a month with no upper limit. It now has a cap and covers recipients too.
- The penalty for late notice of data changes falls from AED 1,000 a day to AED 250 a day, with a monthly cap.
- The Ministry of Finance says the penalty for not telling the FTA about a system failure has been removed.
- A business that is both the issuer and the recipient for the same violation pays one penalty for it.
What to do
- If your annual revenue is AED 50 million or more, your ASP deadline was 30 October 2026. If you have not appointed one yet, do it now: each month of delay adds AED 5,000.
- If your revenue is under AED 50 million, nothing is due yet. Your ASP deadline is 31 March 2027 and e-invoicing starts on 1 July 2027.
- Once you are live, tell your ASP about any change to your FTA registration details, such as your trade name or address, within the deadline.
What this means for you
A business that is late with its ASP can now owe at most AED 50,000 for that violation in any 12 months. Late or missing e-invoices are counted per document, so they add up faster for a business that issues many invoices a month.
How QuickTax helps
QuickTax is already building e-invoicing into the service you use for your books and invoices, and plans to have it running for clients by the end of 2026. We will tell you when it is ready, well before your 31 March 2027 deadline. For the phase dates, see e-invoicing under AED 50 million and our guide to e-invoicing for SMEs. Every penalty is explained in our guide to UAE e-invoicing penalties.
This update is for reference and is not tax advice. Source: Cabinet Decision No. 173 of 2026, Articles 2 to 5 and the annexed table, and the Ministry of Finance announcement of 30 October 2026.