Prepare VAT 201 return with AI, then review and file on EmaraTax

You ask in plain English, the AI does the bookkeeping work, and you or your accountant approve the result.

• You ask: “Draft my VAT return for July to September and tell me what looks odd.”
• The AI agent: The agent totals every posted sale and purchase in the period by VAT treatment and emirate, maps them to the return boxes, and lists exceptions such as bills with VAT but no supplier TRN, or sales coded zero-rated without export evidence attached.
• You review: You clear the exceptions, compare the draft with last quarter, and then you or your tax agent enter and submit the figures on EmaraTax. HelloBooks never files with the FTA for you.

The FTA return form groups outputs and inputs into numbered boxes. The FTA user guide lists standard-rated supplies by emirate in Box 1, reverse-charge supplies in Box 3, zero-rated supplies in Box 4, exempt supplies in Box 5 and imports in Box 6, with standard-rated expenses in Box 9 and recoverable reverse-charge tax in Box 10. HelloBooks fills each of these from the ledger and calculates the net payable or refundable figure.

Because each invoice line carries its own treatment and each customer record carries an emirate, the split by emirate in Box 1 does not need a separate spreadsheet.

A draft is only as good as the coding underneath it. Alongside the totals, the agent produces a short list of entries that deserve a second look before anyone files.

• Purchase bills claiming input VAT with no supplier TRN recorded
• Zero-rated sales with no export or customs document attached
• Foreign supplier bills that have not been treated as reverse charge
• Invoices dated in the period but posted after the last draft
• Large swings against the same quarter last year

A Dubai marketing consultancy invoiced AED 420,000 of standard-rated fees in the quarter, so output VAT is AED 21,000. It also bought a AED 30,000 software licence from a US supplier, which is reverse charged: AED 1,500 goes in as output tax and the same AED 1,500 comes back as recoverable input tax. Local bills with valid tax invoices total AED 96,000 plus AED 4,800 VAT.

HelloBooks shows AED 22,500 due and AED 6,300 recoverable, so the net payable is AED 16,200. The exception list flags one AED 2,100 restaurant bill with no TRN, which the owner removes from the claim before the accountant files.

The FTA guide says the return and any payment must reach the FTA no later than the 28th day after the tax period ends. HelloBooks puts the date on your dashboard. If you find an error after filing, the agent can show which entries changed since the filed draft so your accountant can judge whether a voluntary disclosure is needed.