Do I charge VAT on sales to customers outside the UAE?

Goods shipped to a destination outside the GCC implementing states can be zero-rated, provided you hold the export evidence and the goods leave within 90 days. Sales to customers inside the UAE are standard-rated at 5%. HelloBooks applies the treatment per order based on the ship-to location and tracks the export evidence for zero-rated shipments.

How does HelloBooks handle Amazon.ae and Noon settlements?

It ingests the settlement/payout report and decomposes it into gross sales, commissions, fulfilment fees, refunds and adjustments, posting each to the correct account so output VAT sits on gross sales and input VAT on UAE-charged fees is captured. The net deposit then reconciles cleanly against your bank feed.

When do I need to register for VAT as an online seller?

When your taxable supplies and imports exceed AED 375,000 over a rolling 12 months, or you expect to within 30 days. You can register voluntarily from AED 187,500 — worth it when you import stock, because it lets you recover the import VAT you self-account for.

United Arab Emirates · E-commerce

Accounting software for UAE e-commerce sellers

AED sales, marketplace and payment-gateway reconciliation, reverse charge on imported stock, place-of-supply for cross-border sales, and the FTA VAT 201 — for sellers on Amazon.ae, Noon, and their own stores.

United Arab EmiratesLast updated: 2026-07-10

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The short answer

UAE e-commerce sellers juggle several VAT questions at once: domestic sales to UAE consumers are standard-rated at 5%; stock imported from abroad triggers the reverse charge; sales shipped outside the GCC can be zero-rated; and marketplaces like Amazon.ae and Noon settle net of commissions, fulfilment fees and returns that all have to be unpicked before the numbers hit the books. HelloBooks reconciles the payout, applies the right VAT treatment per order, and prepares the VAT 201 from the reconciled ledger.

The facts

UAE e-commerce sellers at a glance

Field	Value
Authority	Federal Tax Authority (FTA) VAT on e-commerce follows the standard VAT law; no separate e-commerce regime.
Domestic sales	5% VAT Standard-rated to UAE consumers.
Imported stock	Reverse charge Self-accounted on the VAT 201; recoverable as input VAT.
Exports outside the GCC	Zero-rated (0%) Subject to the export-evidence rule.
Marketplace payouts	Net of fees Commission, fulfilment, refunds reconciled to gross sales.
Registration threshold	AED 375,000 mandatory Voluntary from AED 187,500.

Rates and thresholds verified against the UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) as at 2026-07-10. Re-verify after any Cabinet Decision that amends the VAT executive regulations.

Reconciling marketplace and gateway payouts

Amazon.ae, Noon and payment gateways like Telr, PayTabs and Stripe pay you net: gross sales minus commission, fulfilment, chargebacks and refunds, often across a settlement period that straddles two VAT return periods. If you book the net deposit as revenue, your output VAT is understated and your recoverable input VAT on fees is lost.

HelloBooks ingests the settlement report, splits it into gross sales, platform fees (which carry their own input VAT where charged by a UAE entity), refunds and adjustments, and posts each to the right account — so your VAT 201 output tax is on gross sales, not net deposits.

Imported stock and the reverse charge

Most UAE online sellers import their stock. That import triggers the reverse charge: you self-account for the VAT on the VAT 201 and recover it as input VAT in the same return. Booking the supplier invoice without the reverse-charge entries leaves your return incomplete.

HelloBooks handles the reverse charge automatically on bills flagged as imports and keeps the customs declaration reference attached, so the imported-goods box of the VAT 201 reconciles to your customs records.

Frequently asked

Questions UAE e-commerce sellers ask

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United Arab Emirates

VAT & the FTA VAT 201

5% VAT, registration thresholds, Designated Zones and the VAT 201 return.

Plans

UAE pricing

AED billing, VAT 201 preparation included on every paid plan.

Capabilities

All features

Accounting, VAT, banking, inventory, AI assist.

HelloBooks prepares the FTA VAT 201 return from your ledger — per-emirate boxes 1a–1g, zero-rated and exempt supplies, Designated-Zone handling, and the reverse charge on imports. For online sellers it decomposes marketplace settlements into gross sales, fees and refunds so output VAT is never understated on a net payout.