Reverse charge VAT on imported services UAE businesses buy every month

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

• You ask: “Did I treat all my foreign subscriptions this quarter as reverse charge?”
• The AI agent: The agent lists every bill from a supplier with a non-UAE address or currency, shows the treatment applied to each, and highlights any that were posted as out-of-scope or with no VAT at all.
• You review: You confirm each flagged bill really is an imported service used by your business, and your accountant checks the reverse charge totals before the return is filed.

When a registered UAE business receives services from a supplier outside the country, the business itself accounts for the 5% VAT. It declares the tax as output tax and, where the expense relates to taxable activity, recovers the same amount as input tax. For a fully taxable business, the net cash effect is nil, but both sides must still appear on the return.

The FTA return guide places reverse-charge supplies in Box 3 and the recoverable side in Box 10. Since 1 January 2026, the Ministry of Finance says businesses no longer have to issue self-invoices under the reverse charge, but they must keep supporting documents for the transaction.

When a bill arrives by email, upload or phone photo, the AI reads the supplier name, address and currency. A US or Irish address, a USD or EUR total and no TRN together suggest an imported service. The bill is posted with the reverse charge treatment and the original document stays attached as your support.

• Supplier records remember the reverse charge treatment for next time
• FX conversion to AED at the rate on the bill date
• Both output and input sides posted in one step
• Exception list for foreign bills without the treatment

A Dubai skincare brand pays USD 2,000 a month for online advertising and USD 300 for a store platform. At an exchange rate of 3.6725, that is AED 8,447 of imported services. HelloBooks posts AED 422.35 as reverse-charge output VAT and the same as recoverable input VAT. Over a quarter, that is about AED 1,267 on each side of the return, with the twelve source bills attached.