UAE caps e-invoicing fines at Dh50,000 a year and drops a daily penalty
A new Cabinet decision keeps the Dh5,000 monthly fine for late e-invoicing set-up but limits it to Dh50,000 in any 12 months, and ends double penalties.
Businesses getting ready for the UAE's e-invoicing system now face a ceiling on how much a delay can cost them. The Ministry of Finance announced on Friday 30 October a new Cabinet decision on administrative penalties for e-invoicing, which replaces Cabinet Decision No. 106 of 2025, the rules published last November.
The basic penalty does not change. A business that fails to meet its obligations to put e-invoicing in place, whether it issues invoices, receives them or both, is fined Dh5,000 for the first violation and Dh5,000 more for every month, or part of a month, that it stays out of line. What is new is a cap: these fines can add up to no more than Dh50,000 in any 12 consecutive months. Under the old rules a business that missed a full year would have built up Dh60,000.
Two other changes favour companies. The penalty for failing to tell the Federal Tax Authority when an e-invoicing system breaks down has been removed; under the old decision this carried Dh1,000 for each day of delay. And a business can no longer be fined twice for the same violation because it acts as both the issuer and the recipient of an invoice: only one penalty applies. The ministry said the changes follow feedback from businesses and are meant to make the penalties clearer, more proportionate and easier to follow as the system becomes mandatory.
The deadlines stay where they were. Companies with annual revenue of Dh50 million or more had until 30 October 2026 to appoint an Accredited Service Provider and must issue e-invoices through the system from 1 January 2027. Businesses below that line have until 31 March 2027 to appoint a provider and go live on 1 July 2027.
If your company is in the larger group and missed Friday's deadline, the monthly Dh5,000 fine still applies; the cap only limits how far it can grow. Appointing a provider from the FTA's list of accredited ones is still the step that stops it. Smaller businesses have five months to choose one. The full text of the new decision has not yet been published alongside the announcement, so check the Ministry of Finance and FTA websites for the details that apply to you, including other fines the announcement did not mention.