UAE VAT for Laundry Businesses: FTA Guide

By the Presso team · 13 August 2026

VAT rules for UAE laundries: 5% rate, AED 375,000 registration threshold, tax invoice fields, simplified receipts, VAT 201 filing and 2027 e-invoicing.

VAT 101: a flat 5% on everything you wash

The UAE introduced VAT at 5% on 1 January 2018 under Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017. Laundry and dry-cleaning services are standard-rated — no exemption, zero-rating or special laundry category. Every kandura press, every kilo of wash & fold and every curtain panel you bill carries 5% VAT, and the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) expects it collected, documented and paid over on time.

The 5% is the easy part — the fines come from everything around it: late registration, receipts missing required fields, undocumented refunds, price boards without VAT. This guide covers each FTA tax invoice requirement as it hits a real counter, ending with the e-invoicing change arriving in 2027.

A note before we start: this is general information, not tax advice — confirm everything with the FTA, a registered tax agent or your accountant before acting.

Registration: the AED 375,000 line

You must register for VAT once your taxable turnover exceeds AED 375,000 over 12 months; registration is voluntary from AED 187,500. Miss the mandatory deadline and the late-registration penalty is AED 20,000, before any unpaid VAT is even discussed.

You then receive a TRN — a 15-digit Tax Registration Number that goes on every tax invoice you issue. Anyone can verify a TRN publicly at tax.gov.ae, so never print one that’s made up or borrowed. Below the thresholds and unregistered? Then don’t charge VAT or show a TRN on receipts — if unsure, ask your accountant.

The two invoices your counter issues

FTA rules allow two invoice types, and a typical laundry uses both every week.

Simplified tax invoice — almost every counter sale

A walk-in dropping three shirts and an abaya is a B2C sale, and the FTA permits a simplified tax invoice for B2C transactions or wherever the total consideration is AED 10,000 or less. The required fields are just five: your name, your TRN, the date, a description of the services and the VAT-inclusive total. This covers virtually every receipt a retail laundry prints.

Full tax invoice — B2B and hotel accounts

Hotel valet contracts, corporate rate cards and staff-accommodation linen accounts need a full tax invoice. Under Article 59 of the Executive Regulations, it must contain all of the following:

• the words “Tax Invoice”
• your name, address and TRN
• the recipient’s name, address and TRN (if VAT-registered)
• a unique sequential invoice number
• the date of issue
• the date of supply, if different from the issue date
• a description of the goods or services
• quantity and unit price per line
• the VAT rate per line
• the VAT amount in AED
• the total payable in AED
• any discounts applied

If you run these contracts, invoicing belongs in your POS, not a Word template — B2B and hotel accounts issues monthly consolidated tax invoices with the customer’s TRN already on them.

Simplified vs full at a glance

Field	Simplified (B2C / ≤ AED 10,000)	Full tax invoice
Words “Tax Invoice” displayed	—	Required
Your name and TRN	Required	Required
Your address	—	Required
Customer name, address & TRN (if registered)	—	Required
Unique sequential invoice number	—	Required
Date of issue	Required	Required
Date of supply (if different)	—	Required
Description of goods/services	Required	Required
Quantity and unit price per line	—	Required
VAT rate per line	—	Required
VAT amount in AED	—	Required
Total payable in AED (VAT-inclusive)	Required	Required
Discounts, if any	—	Required

Field lists per Article 59 — verify with your tax agent. Keep sequential numbering on even for simplified receipts; it makes VAT 201 filing and audits far easier.

Rules that apply to every invoice

• 14-day deadline. Invoices must be issued within 14 days of the date of supply. Monthly B2B billing: don’t let it drift.
• Credit notes reference the original. Refunding a damage claim or cancelling a corporate order? Issue a credit note that references the original invoice number — never just delete the sale.
• Amounts in AED. VAT amounts must be stated in dirhams.
• English or Arabic — or both. Either language is acceptable and bilingual invoices are common practice.
• Display prices VAT-inclusive. Under Cabinet Decision 49/2021, prices not displayed VAT-inclusive carry an AED 2,500 penalty. If your board says AED 15 for a kandura, AED 15 is what the customer pays — the VAT comes out of that, not on top at the till.
• Penalties for bad paperwork. Also under Cabinet Decision 49/2021: AED 1,000 for a first non-compliant invoice, AED 2,000 for repeats, and AED 5,000 for failing to issue an invoice or credit note at all.
• Keep records for at least 5 years — every invoice, credit note and return.

A purpose-built POS automates this list — TRN, sequential numbering, the “Tax Invoice” wording, the 5% line and credit-note references printed by default: see VAT compliance.

Filing: VAT 201 on EmaraTax

Registered businesses file the VAT 201 return via EmaraTax. Most laundries file quarterly — monthly filing only applies above AED 150 million in turnover — and the deadline is 28 days after the end of the tax period. Late filing draws penalties.

The return needs your sales totals and the VAT collected, net of credit notes. If the POS stores every invoice with its VAT line, filing is a report export, not a weekend with a shoebox of receipts — Presso’s reports and analytics produce that period VAT summary from your actual orders.

E-invoicing is coming: Peppol and PINT AE by 2027

The UAE is moving business invoicing onto the Peppol network under Ministry of Finance Ministerial Decisions No. 243 and 244 of 2025. Invoices become structured PINT AE data (UBL 2.1 XML), exchanged through a Ministry Accredited Service Provider (ASP) with near-real-time reporting to the FTA. A PDF, or a WhatsApp photo of an invoice, will not qualify.

A voluntary pilot opened on 1 July 2026. The mandatory rollout:

Who	Appoint an ASP by	E-invoicing mandatory from
Revenue ≥ AED 50M	30 Oct 2026	1 Jan 2027
Revenue < AED 50M (nearly all laundries)	31 Mar 2027	1 Jul 2027

Scope matters: the mandate covers B2B and B2G invoices, even for businesses below the VAT-registration threshold; B2C counter receipts are excluded for now. Retail receipts stay as they are, but the monthly consolidated invoice you send a hotel must flow through an ASP from your go-live date. Non-compliance is priced: AED 5,000 per month for failing to appoint an ASP or implement the system, plus AED 100 per non-compliant document (capped at AED 5,000 per month).

Your Monday-morning checklist

1. Check your 12-month turnover. Past AED 375,000 and unregistered? Register now — the AED 20,000 late penalty dwarfs the admin effort.
2. Audit one receipt. TRN printed? Sequential number? The 5% VAT line? “Tax Invoice” wording on your B2B invoices?
3. Fix the price board. Every displayed price VAT-inclusive, counter and app alike.
4. Configure both invoice types. Simplified for the counter, full invoices with customer TRNs for hotel and corporate accounts.
5. Refund by credit note, referencing the original invoice — every time, no exceptions.
6. Calendar the VAT 201 deadline: 28 days after each quarter ends.
7. Ask your POS vendor about their PINT AE / ASP roadmap before the 2027 deadlines.

Put VAT on autopilot

Presso prints FTA-compliant simplified and full tax invoices out of the box — your TRN, sequential numbering, the 5% line and bilingual receipts — from AED 149/month per branch plus VAT, with no setup fees. See pricing, browse the FAQ, or book a free demo and try it live at app.presso.ae.