UAE Tax Law Update, July 2026

Every document below can be downloaded from our legislation library.

The five new Directives on Tax Transactions

This is the headline. Before July the FTA published law, decisions, guides and public clarifications. In July it started issuing Directives on Tax Transactions, under Federal Tax Authority Decision No. 5 of 2021 on the Authority's policy for issuing clarifications and directives.

A Directive states the FTA's position on one narrow transaction. Five were issued in a fortnight. If your business is in the area a Directive covers, read it. If it is not, you can skip it.

Directive No. 1 of 2026, judicial expert services

Issued 10 July 2026.

Downloaddirective-1-2026-judicial-expert-services.pdf

A person on the roster of experts at the Ministry of Justice, a local judicial authority or an arbitration centre, who is appointed by a court to give expert services, is supplying those services in the course of a business. The supply is taxable. The fee is consideration.

What it means for your business. If you sit on an expert roster and take court appointments, that income counts toward your VAT registration threshold. Under Article 13 of the VAT Law and Article 7 of the Executive Regulation you may already be required to register. Many experts have treated these fees as outside their business income. That position is now closed.

Directive No. 2 of 2026, adjustments after leaving a tax group

Issued 10 July 2026.

Downloaddirective-2-2026-tax-group-exit-adjustments.pdf

If you leave a VAT group but stay registered in your own right, adjustments relating to supplies you made or expenses you incurred before you left go in your own returns, not the group's. This covers reductions in the value of supplies the group already declared, and reductions in expenses where the group already recovered the input tax. You must keep records proving the adjustment traces back to the group period.

What it means for your business. If you exited a VAT group this year, someone has to own the old credit notes and supplier rebates. That someone is you. Check that your first standalone return picked them up.

Directive No. 3 of 2026, converting digital currency into dirhams

Issued 17 July 2026.

Downloaddirective-3-2026-digital-currency-conversion.pdf

If you supply a digital currency, or you supply goods or services and are paid in one, you must convert the value into dirhams for your VAT return using a set method. Pick three exchange platforms from the list the FTA publishes. Use the same three for every transaction in the calendar year. Take the numerical average of the rates on those three at the date and time of supply, or at the date and time you received the consideration.

What it means for your business. If you accept crypto, you no longer choose your own rate source. Pick your three platforms now and document the choice, because you are locked into them until the year ends. This affects traders, e-commerce sellers and any consultancy taking payment in digital currency.

Directive No. 4 of 2026, fees inside life insurance contracts

Issued 17 July 2026.

Downloaddirective-4-2026-life-insurance-fees.pdf

Fees and charges relating to a life insurance or life reinsurance contract are exempt only where they sit inside the premium and no separate consideration is charged. Management, operation and execution fees can form part of the exempt supply. A service that is independent in nature, or that carries its own charge, is a separate supply and is taxed on its own footing.

What it means for your business. For insurers and brokers, how you invoice now decides the VAT treatment. Bundle the fee into the premium and it follows the exemption. Bill it separately and it does not.

Directive No. 5 of 2026, valuing deemed supplies of services

Issued 20 July 2026, published 22 July 2026.

Downloaddirective-5-2026-deemed-supplies-value.pdf

Sets the method for determining the value of a deemed supply of services for the purposes of Article 37 of the VAT Law.

What it means for your business. Deemed supplies catch things you did not sell, such as services given away or put to private use. If you have staff or owner use of company services, this is the valuation rule you now apply.

FTA Decision No. 12 of 2026, registration and deregistration timelines

Issued 16 July 2026, published 4 August 2026.

Downloadfta-decision-12-2026-registration-deregistration-timelines.pdf

An entity in scope of Top-up Tax must apply to register within 7 months of the end of the first fiscal year in which it comes into scope. Where that fiscal year ended before 30 April 2026, the application must be in on or before 30 November 2026.

What it means for your business. If you are part of a group with consolidated revenue of EUR 750 million or more, and your year end was 31 December 2025, your registration deadline is 30 November 2026. That is a hard date and it is close.

FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026, verifying your suppliers

Issued 22 July 2026, published 20 August 2026. Effective 1 October 2026.

Downloadfta-decision-13-2026-verification-of-supplies.pdf

Sets the measures, procedures and conditions a taxable person must follow to verify the validity and integrity of supplies.

What it means for your business. This is the practical side of the January 2026 VAT amendment that lets the FTA deny input tax where a supply forms part of a tax evasion arrangement. From 1 October you are expected to have carried out checks on your suppliers. Recovering input tax on an invoice from a supplier you never verified becomes a real exposure. Build the check into your purchase ledger process before October.

Corporate Tax, summary of private clarifications to May 2026

Issued 9 July 2026.

Downloadct-private-clarifications-summary-may-2026.pdf

The FTA consolidated the positions it has taken in private clarifications into one document, covering periods up to May 2026. It introduces no new law. It shows how the FTA reads the law it already has, across exempt persons, permanent establishments, free zone qualification, the participation exemption, adjustments to taxable income and loss transfers.

What it means for your business. A private clarification binds only the person who asked for it. This summary is not law and you cannot rely on it as such. It is still the clearest indication available of the answer you would get if you asked. Read it before you take a position on any of those topics.

TPGPC1, the guide to private clarifications

Issued 15 July 2026.

Downloadtpgpc1-private-clarifications-guide.pdf

The FTA guide on how private clarifications work under the Tax Procedures Law.

What it means for your business. If you have a genuinely uncertain position, a private clarification is the way to get certainty in writing. This guide sets out when it is worth asking and what the application needs.

Downward adjustments in the Corporate Tax return

Issued 15 July 2026.

Downloaddownward-adjustments-corporate-tax-return.pdf

A public clarification on downward adjustments a taxable person makes in the tax return to comply with the Corporate Tax Law.

What it means for your business. Relevant to anyone filing by 30 September. Read it alongside your computation before you submit.

CTP012, Additional Tier 1 instruments issued by banks

Issued 30 July 2026.

Downloadctp012-additional-tier-1-instruments.pdf

Sets out the Corporate Tax treatment of dividend and coupon payments a bank makes on an Additional Tier 1 instrument. An AT1 instrument must be subordinated to depositors, general creditors and the bank's debt. The bank must have full discretion at all times to cancel the payments. The payments must come out of distributable items. The clarification deals with the dividends and coupons, not the repayment of principal.

What it means for your business. Narrow. It matters to banks and to anyone holding AT1 paper. Everyone else can skip it.

Cabinet Decision No. 137 of 2026, excise prices

Issued 24 July 2026.

Downloadcabinet-decision-137-2026-excise-price-tobacco.pdf

New excise prices for tobacco products and for liquids used in electronic smoking devices.

What it means for your business. If you import, distribute or retail tobacco or vaping products, your excise price base has changed. Reprice and update your declarations.

Basic tax information bulletin for small business

Issued 30 July 2026.

Downloadbulletin-small-business-july-2026.pdf

An FTA plain language bulletin aimed at small businesses.

What it means for your business. Useful to hand to a new business owner. It covers the ground without the legislative language.

What to act on this month

1. Top-up Tax registration, if you are in a group above EUR 750 million. Deadline 30 November 2026.
2. Supplier verification procedures, before FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026 takes effect on 1 October 2026.
3. Your three digital currency exchange platforms, if you take payment in crypto.
4. Your invoicing of insurance fees, if you are an insurer or a broker.

If you want us to check which of these reach your business, send us your TRN and we will come back to you.