VAT Return Filing in the UAE (2026): The VAT 201 Form Box by Box, Deadlines and Corrections

Every VAT-registered business in the UAE files a VAT 201 return on EmaraTax for each tax period, usually every quarter. This guide is for owners, bookkeepers and finance managers who file it themselves or check what their accountant files. It explains tax periods and the 28 days deadline, what goes in every box from Box 1 to Box 14, how to file and pay, how refunds work, and how to correct mistakes without paying more penalty than you need to. A full worked return in AED shows the boxes filled in.

Quick answer

File your VAT 201 return and pay any VAT due on EmaraTax within 28 days of the end of each tax period, usually a quarter. Report sales by emirate in Box 1, reverse-charge purchases in Box 3, zero-rated and exempt sales in Boxes 4–5, and imports in Box 6. Claim input tax in Boxes 9–10. Box 14 is what you pay, or reclaim.

• File even with no activity — a nil return is still required

• Late filing: AED 1,000, then AED 2,000 for a repeat within 24 months

• Late payment: 14% a year, charged monthly from 14 April 2026

• Errors over AED 10,000 need a voluntary disclosure within 20 business days

Who files a VAT return, and how often

Every person with a Tax Registration Number files a return for every tax period it's registered, under Article 64 of the VAT Executive Regulation. That includes businesses that registered voluntarily, branches (through their head office's single return) and tax groups, where the representative member files one return for the whole group and other members can only view it. A registered tax agent or legal representative can prepare and submit the return, but the business remains responsible for it.

Article 62 sets the standard tax period at three calendar months, ending on a month the FTA chooses. The FTA's returns guide groups businesses into staggers: periods ending April, July, October and January; periods ending May, August, November and February; and periods ending June, September, December and March. The FTA can also assign a different period length where it reduces the risk of evasion, improves monitoring or eases the burden, and some businesses are assigned monthly periods. You can ask the FTA to change the month your quarters end on, for example to line up with your financial year, and it decides at its discretion.

The return and the payment are both due by the 28th day after the period ends. The returns guide adds that where that day is a weekend or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. You'll find your exact periods and due dates on the VAT 201 dashboard in EmaraTax.

Quarterly VAT return deadlines (quarters ending March, June, September, December)

28 January

Return and payment for October–December

28 April

Return and payment for January–March

28 July

Return and payment for April–June

28 October

Return and payment for July–September

If nothing happened in a period, you still file. The FTA's guide is explicit that a nil return is required by the due date. A dormant company that keeps its TRN but stops filing collects a late-filing penalty every quarter.

What goes in each box of the VAT 201 return

The form has two halves: VAT on sales and all other outputs (Boxes 1 to 8), and VAT on expenses and all other inputs (Boxes 9 to 11), followed by the net position (Boxes 12 to 14). Each output line has an Amount column for the net value, a VAT amount column and, where allowed, an Adjustment column.

Box 1 and the emirate split. Report standard-rated sales in the emirate where your fixed establishment most closely connected to the supply is located. A company with a Dubai head office and an Abu Dhabi branch reports the Abu Dhabi branch's sales on the Abu Dhabi line. A non-established business reports by the emirate where the customer received the supply. The split doesn't change your total VAT, but the FTA uses and checks it.

Box 1 also includes deposits and advance payments, sales of business assets, staff sales, deemed supplies such as gifts above the permitted limits, and the full value of goods sold under the profit margin scheme. It excludes zero-rated, exempt and out-of-scope supplies and disbursements.

Boxes 3 and 10 work as a pair. When you buy services from a supplier abroad, you declare the value and the 5% VAT in Box 3 as if you'd made the supply yourself, then recover the same VAT in Box 10 if the purchase relates to taxable business. For a fully taxable business, the effect is zero cash, but both entries must appear. Our reverse charge guide explains which purchases belong here, including gold, electronics and metal scrap bought for resale.

Box 6 comes from customs. If your customs registration numbers are linked to your TRN, imports declared through UAE customs are pre-filled with a value that includes customs duty and any excise tax, and 5% VAT on that value. Check it against your own customs declarations and use Box 7 to correct omissions, errors or zero-rated imports.

Box 9 only takes what you can recover. Enter standard-rated purchases and the VAT you're entitled to recover, not all the VAT you paid. Leave out salaries, entertainment, cars available for private use, costs of making exempt supplies, purchases from other members of your tax group and fines. The adjustment column carries the annual input tax apportionment adjustment, Capital Assets Scheme adjustments and reversals for supplier bad debt relief.

How to file your VAT return on EmaraTax

The EmaraTax VAT 201 user manual sets out the screens. You'll need UAE Pass, or the login of a tax agent linked to your profile.

Filing VAT 201 on EmaraTax

1. 1

   Log in and open the VAT module

   Sign in to eservices.tax.gov.ae, select the Taxable Person profile and open VAT → VAT Returns.

   Open EmaraTax
2. 2

   Pick the period and read the instructions

   On the VAT 201 dashboard, click File next to the open period, tick the instructions box and press Start.

3. 3

   Enter outputs (Boxes 1–7)

   Type amounts on screen, or download the offline template, fill it and upload it. Check the pre-filled Box 2 and Box 6 figures.

   Tip: Use **View details** on Box 6 to see the customs declarations behind the number.

4. 4

   Enter inputs (Boxes 9–10)

   Enter recoverable VAT on standard-rated expenses and on reverse-charge purchases. Boxes 11–14 calculate themselves.

5. 5

   Answer the profit margin scheme question

   Select Yes only if you used the scheme in this period.

6. 6

   Review, declare and submit

   Check every section, tick the declaration and submit. Download the acknowledgement and keep the reference number.

7. 7

   Pay any VAT due by the same deadline

   Payment must reach the FTA by the 28th day too. Pay from the payment section of EmaraTax and keep the receipt.

A submitted return can be edited in the same way it was filed. If you spot an error before the due date, edit and resubmit; correcting within the filing deadline is one of the two ways to avoid the AED 500 penalty for an incorrect return.

A worked VAT return in AED

Take a Dubai trading LLC with a branch in Sharjah, on quarters ending March, June, September and December. Its figures for July to September are:

• Standard-rated sales from the Dubai office: AED 600,000
• Standard-rated sales from the Sharjah branch: AED 150,000
• Exports to customers in Oman and India: AED 200,000
• Marketing services from a UK agency: AED 40,000
• Goods imported through Jebel Ali, customs value including duty: AED 300,000
• Standard-rated local purchases with valid tax invoices: AED 350,000

The company files and pays AED 20,000 by 28 October. The reverse-charge VAT on the UK services and the imports appears on both sides and nets to nothing, but leaving it out would understate Box 3 and Box 6 and Box 6 is cross-checked against customs data. The exports go in Box 4 with no VAT, but the company keeps export evidence for each shipment so the zero rate stands up.

If it paid the AED 20,000 on 10 November instead, the late payment penalty of 14% a year would be charged from the day after the due date, for each month or part of a month: AED 20,000 × 14% ÷ 12 ≈ AED 233 for that first month. You can check the 5% figures for any invoice with the UAE VAT calculator.

Refunds and carrying credit forward

When Box 13 is bigger than Box 12, Box 14 shows a credit. Exporters and businesses with heavy start-up costs often land here. The return asks whether you want a refund. Choose yes and you complete a refund request on EmaraTax after the return is submitted; choose no and the credit stays on your account to offset future VAT and penalties, and you can still ask for it later.

That "later" now has a limit. Federal Decree-Law No. 16 of 2025, in force from 1 January 2026, requires a request for a refund of excess recoverable tax to be made within 5 years, after which the right lapses. The parallel Tax Procedures Law amendments measure the five years from the end of the relevant tax period, and give a transitional window: where the five years ran out before 1 January 2026, or run out within a year of that date, a refund can still be requested within one year from 1 January 2026. That window closes at the start of 2027, so businesses sitting on credits from the early VAT years should act now. Keep your bank details in EmaraTax up to date; the FTA expects a company's account to be held in the company's own name.

Correcting mistakes after you've filed

Which correction route applies?

When you find the error	Size of tax error	What to do	Penalty
Before the return is due	Any	Edit and resubmit the return	None
After the due date	AED 10,000 or less	Correct it in the next return	Check the FTA notice
After the due date	More than AED 10,000	Voluntary disclosure within 20 business days	1% a month on the difference
After an audit notice	Any	Disclosure still possible	15% fixed + 1% a month

Before the return is due

Size of tax error

Any

What to do

Edit and resubmit the return

Penalty

None

After the due date

Size of tax error

AED 10,000 or less

What to do

Correct it in the next return

Penalty

Check the FTA notice

After the due date

Size of tax error

More than AED 10,000

What to do

Voluntary disclosure within 20 business days

Penalty

1% a month on the difference

After an audit notice

Size of tax error

Any

What to do

Disclosure still possible

Penalty

15% fixed + 1% a month

The Tax Procedures Executive Regulation (Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023, amended by Cabinet Decision No. 17 of 2026 from 1 April 2026) sets out three routes, depending on timing and size.

Before the due date: edit and resubmit the return. No voluntary disclosure is needed.

After the due date, error of AED 10,000 or less: correct it in the next return you file, by including the net value and the VAT of the correction in the box where it belongs, such as Box 1 for under-declared sales or Box 9 for an over-claimed expense. If there's no further return to correct it in, for example after deregistration, submit a voluntary disclosure instead.

After the due date, error of more than AED 10,000: submit a voluntary disclosure on EmaraTax within 20 business days of becoming aware of it.

Since 14 April 2026, a voluntary disclosure that increases the tax costs 1% a month of the tax difference for each month or part of a month from the day after the original return was due until the day you submit the disclosure. The extra tax is then due 20 business days after submission; pay by then or the late payment penalty starts. The penalty table also sets a AED 500 penalty for an incorrect return, and its two exceptions cover only corrections within the filing deadline and disclosures that don't change the tax, so expect it to apply alongside a disclosure that does.

Example. In November, the trading company finds that its April–June return, due 28 July, missed a AED 360,000 sale, so output tax was understated by AED 18,000. That's above AED 10,000, so it files a voluntary disclosure on 20 November. From 29 July to 20 November is three full months plus part of a fourth, so the penalty is 4% of AED 18,000, which is AED 720. Had the FTA found the error after notifying an audit, the bill would have been a fixed 15% of the difference (AED 2,700) plus the 1% monthly charge.

What the FTA checks after you file

The authority compares Box 6 with customs data, Box 2 with the tourist refund operator's records and your input tax claims with what your suppliers declared, and it can open a tax audit or issue an assessment within the limitation period. Large or unusual refund claims are reviewed before payment, and the FTA may ask for invoices, contracts, export evidence or bank statements. Keep the working papers behind each return — the sales and purchase listings, customs declarations, the emirate split and any apportionment calculation — so you can answer a query quickly. If the FTA issues an assessment you disagree with, you can ask it to reconsider within the time limit set in the Tax Procedures Law; our penalties guide explains the route.

Year-end adjustments and the final return

Three adjustments catch out businesses in their second or later year. If you make both taxable and exempt supplies, for example a property company with commercial and residential tenants, you recover only part of your input tax during the year and make an annual apportionment adjustment in the first return after your tax year ends. The FTA's period reference number at the top of the return tells you when that is. Under the Capital Assets Scheme, input tax on qualifying high-value assets is adjusted each year over five or ten years if their use changes. And if you've recovered VAT on a purchase but haven't paid the supplier for more than six months after the due date, you must repay that input tax in the adjustment column of Box 9 once the supplier claims bad debt relief.

Note that Cabinet Decision No. 149 of 2026, announced on 8 September 2026, refines the apportionment methodology and the Capital Assets Scheme. Check the updated Executive Regulation before your next annual adjustment.

When your deregistration is approved, EmaraTax opens a final return for your last tax period. Besides the usual figures, you account for output tax on business assets and stock you still hold on the last day of registration, if you recovered input tax on them.

Before you press Submit

0/7

• Sales ledger total agrees with Boxes 1, 4 and 5
• Branch sales are on the right emirate line
• Imported services are in Box 3 and Box 10
• Box 6 matches your customs declarations; corrections are in Box 7
• Every Box 9 claim has a valid tax invoice from a verified supplier
• Annual apportionment or Capital Assets Scheme adjustment included, if due
• Payment is scheduled to arrive by the 28th

Share Print

Common VAT return mistakes

Filing late because the payment isn't ready. The late-filing and late-payment penalties are separate. File on time and pay what you can; the 14% annual charge runs only on what's unpaid.

Ignoring imported services. Software subscriptions, consultants and advertising bought from abroad belong in Box 3 and Box 10. Omitting them understates both sides, and the FTA treats it as an error.

Not checking Box 6. Imports declared under another company's customs code, or zero-rated goods, need adjusting in Box 7.

Claiming VAT without a valid tax invoice. Box 9 needs a tax invoice from a registered supplier. Since 2026 you must also be able to show you verified that your suppliers and their supplies are genuine.

Reporting all sales on the head office line. Branch sales go to the branch's emirate.

Letting credits sit for years. The 5 years refund limit now applies.

Official links

• FTA — Filing VAT returns and making payments28-day deadline
• VAT 201 user manual (EmaraTax)Screen-by-screen filing
• VAT returns user guide (box-by-box)What to include and exclude in each box
• Tax Procedures Executive RegulationArticle 10: voluntary disclosures
• Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017 as amended — penaltiesLate filing, late payment, disclosures
• EmaraTax portalFile and pay

What to do next

Put your next four due dates in the calendar, then reconcile this quarter's sales ledger, purchase ledger and customs declarations before you open EmaraTax. If you've just registered, read our VAT registration guide for what happens from your effective date, and our UAE VAT penalties guide for what each mistake costs and how to ask for reconsideration. Use the UAE VAT calculator to check invoice-level VAT as you go.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

When is the UAE VAT return due?

The return and any VAT payable must reach the FTA within 28 days of the end of each tax period. For a quarter ending 30 September, that's 28 October. The FTA's returns guide says that when the 28th falls on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.

Do I have to file a VAT return if I had no sales?

Yes. Every registrant files a return for every tax period, even if there were no transactions. File a nil return by the due date. Missing it attracts the same late-filing penalty as any other return: AED 1,000 the first time and AED 2,000 for a repeat within 24 months.

Is the UAE VAT return quarterly or monthly?

The standard tax period is three calendar months, ending on a month the FTA assigns. The FTA can assign a shorter or longer period where it helps compliance or reduces the burden, and some businesses file monthly. Your tax periods and due dates are shown on your EmaraTax VAT 201 dashboard.

How do I correct a mistake in a VAT return I've already filed?

Before the due date, edit and resubmit the return on EmaraTax. After the due date, if the error changes the tax by AED 10,000 or less, correct it in your next return. If it's more, submit a voluntary disclosure within 20 business days of finding it. The penalty is 1% a month on the tax difference.

How do I claim a VAT refund in the UAE?

If Box 14 shows more recoverable tax than due tax, you can ask for a refund through EmaraTax after submitting the return, or carry the credit forward to offset future VAT and penalties. Since 1 January 2026, a refund of excess recoverable tax must be requested within 5 years, or the right lapses.

Can an accountant file my VAT return?

Yes, if they're linked to your EmaraTax profile as a registered tax agent, or if a legal representative files on your behalf. The return still carries the authorised signatory's declaration, and the business remains liable for the figures and for any penalties, so review the return before it's submitted.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 12 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Filing VAT returns and making payments — Federal Tax Authority · accessed 12 October 2026
2. 2.VAT User Guide – Returns (Form VAT201) — Federal Tax Authority · accessed 12 October 2026
3. 3.VAT 201 – VAT Returns form – User Manual (EmaraTax) — Federal Tax Authority · accessed 12 October 2026
4. 4.Executive Regulation of the VAT Law and its amendments (consolidated, September 2026) — Federal Tax Authority / Ministry of Finance · accessed 12 October 2026
5. 5.Executive Regulation of the Tax Procedures Law (Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023) — Federal Tax Authority / Ministry of Finance · accessed 12 October 2026
6. 6.Amendments to the Executive Regulation of the Tax Procedures Law effective April 2026 — DLA Piper · accessed 12 October 2026
7. 7.Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017 and its amendments (incl. Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025) — Federal Tax Authority / Ministry of Finance · accessed 12 October 2026
8. 8.Ministry of Finance to implement VAT law amendments starting January 2026 — UAE Ministry of Finance · accessed 12 October 2026
9. 9.Ministry of Finance to implement amendments to the Tax Procedures Law starting early 2026 — UAE Ministry of Finance · accessed 12 October 2026