VAT Calculator UAE
Add 5% VAT to a net price or pull it out of a dirham total — both directions, instantly.
This VAT calculator UAE edition is preset to the 5% standard rate, so you can price a quote in dirhams or work backwards from a VAT-inclusive till receipt without touching the rate field. Enter the amount, choose whether you are adding VAT or extracting it, and the net figure, the VAT portion and the gross total appear together.
Five per cent is a low headline rate by global standards, and that is exactly why the reverse calculation goes wrong so often. Taking 5% off a VAT-inclusive figure looks close enough to be believed, but it is not the same as dividing by 1.05 — the gap is small on a taxi fare and material on a construction invoice. The tool always divides, so the extracted net and the VAT line reconcile back to the gross exactly.
VAT has applied in the UAE since 1 January 2018 and is administered by the Federal Tax Authority. Everything here is computed locally in your browser with nothing sent anywhere, and if you deal across the Gulf you can switch the calculator to another country's regime without retyping the amount.
How to calculate UAE VAT
- Pick the direction: add VAT to a net amount, or remove VAT from a VAT-inclusive total.
- Type the figure in dirhams.
- Leave the rate at 5% — the UAE standard rate — unless the supply is zero-rated.
- Read the net, the VAT and the gross side by side as you type.
- Copy the VAT line onto your tax invoice, where it must be shown in AED even if the sale was priced in another currency.
The 5% standard rate and where it came from
The UAE introduced VAT on 1 January 2018 at a single standard rate of 5%, following a GCC-wide framework agreement, and that rate has held since. There is no reduced band in the UAE system: a supply is either standard-rated at 5%, zero-rated, exempt, or outside the scope of UAE VAT altogether. That makes the arithmetic simple and the classification the hard part — the question is almost never which rate but whether the supply is taxable at all.
Because the rate is uniform, prices displayed to consumers in the UAE are generally required to be VAT-inclusive, so the number on the shelf edge or the menu is what you pay. Business-to-business quotes, by contrast, are usually stated net with VAT shown separately. When you receive a figure without a label, the safe move is to ask which it is rather than assume, because a 5% error compounds quickly across a schedule of payments.
Zero-rated, exempt, and why the difference matters
Zero-rated supplies are taxable at 0%. Exports of goods outside the implementing GCC states, international transport of passengers and goods, and certain qualifying education, healthcare, investment-grade precious metals and the first supply of new residential buildings sit in this group. Because they are still taxable supplies, the supplier stays in the VAT system and can recover input tax on related costs — which is why zero-rating is commercially valuable rather than merely neutral.
Exempt supplies are outside the tax entirely and carry no recovery right. The main UAE categories are certain financial services where no explicit fee is charged, bare land, local passenger transport, and the lease or sale of residential property other than the first supply. Selling exempt means the VAT you paid on your own costs becomes a real expense, and a business making both taxable and exempt supplies has to apportion its input tax. This calculator handles the 5% arithmetic; deciding which basket a supply falls into is a matter for the FTA's guidance.
The divide-by-21 shortcut for 5% VAT
There is a neat trick specific to a 5% rate: the VAT contained in a VAT-inclusive amount is exactly the total divided by 21. A gross figure of 1,050 dirhams contains 50 dirhams of VAT, because 1,050 ÷ 21 = 50, leaving 1,000 net. It works because 5/105 reduces to 1/21, and it lets you check a receipt in your head without reaching for a phone.
The formal versions are the ones to use when the amounts matter. Adding VAT is net × 1.05. Removing it is gross ÷ 1.05 for the net, with the VAT being the difference. Note how far the wrong method drifts: taking 5% off a 1,050 gross gives 997.50 rather than 1,000, a 2.50 error on a small invoice that becomes thousands across a year of purchase ledger entries.
Registration: AED 375,000 mandatory, AED 187,500 voluntary
Registration becomes mandatory once the value of your taxable supplies and imports over the preceding twelve months exceeds AED 375,000, or when you expect to exceed it within the next thirty days. The test looks backwards on a rolling basis, not at your financial year, so a strong quarter can push you over without warning — which is why businesses near the line should be watching a running twelve-month total rather than checking annually.
Voluntary registration is available from AED 187,500, measured on taxable supplies or on taxable expenses, which lets a start-up with heavy set-up costs recover input tax before its revenue arrives. Non-resident businesses making taxable supplies in the UAE face no threshold at all where no one else accounts for the tax. Registration produces a Tax Registration Number, and related entities can in some circumstances form a tax group under a single TRN. Confirm your position against the FTA's current guidance before deciding either way.
Tax invoices, TRNs and the Arabic requirement
A valid UAE tax invoice must be issued in Arabic, either alone or alongside another language, and must carry the words 'Tax Invoice', the supplier's name, address and TRN, a sequential number, the date of issue and of supply, a description of the goods or services, the taxable amount, the rate and the VAT charged. Where the recipient is registered, their TRN goes on it too. A simplified tax invoice is permitted for small-value retail supplies and for unregistered recipients.
Two details cause most disputes. First, the VAT amount must be stated in dirhams with the exchange rate shown if the invoice is in another currency — you cannot leave it in the foreign currency. Second, a customer cannot recover input tax without a valid invoice in their possession, so a missing TRN or a missing Arabic element turns a recoverable cost into a real one. Verifying a supplier's TRN through the FTA's lookup before paying a large invoice is cheap insurance.
Filing returns through EmaraTax
VAT returns are filed electronically through the FTA's EmaraTax portal. The tax period is quarterly for most registrants, while larger businesses are assigned monthly periods, and the FTA sets the period when it issues the registration. The return summarises output tax on your sales by emirate, input tax on your purchases, reverse-charge entries and adjustments, and any net payable must be settled by the due date — filing without paying does not stop the clock.
The emirate-by-emirate breakdown of standard-rated supplies catches out businesses new to the system, as does the requirement to account for imported goods and services under the reverse charge even though no cash changes hands. Administrative penalties apply for late registration, late filing, late payment and incorrect returns, and they escalate. Deadlines and penalty amounts are set by Cabinet decision and have been revised since 2018, so take them from the FTA rather than from an old checklist.
Designated zones, imports and what this tool will not tell you
Some UAE free zones are listed as designated zones and are treated as outside the state for VAT purposes on goods, so movements into and between them can fall outside the tax while services supplied there generally do not. Imports are typically handled through the reverse charge on the importer's return rather than paid at the border, tourists can reclaim VAT on qualifying purchases through the refund scheme, and VAT is entirely separate from the federal corporate tax that now applies to business profits — being registered for one says nothing about the other.
Everything on this page is arithmetic and general background, not tax advice. The rate, the thresholds, the designated-zone list, the penalty regime and the treatment of specific sectors are set by law and by FTA decisions and can change; individual supplies can be genuinely difficult to classify. Use the calculator to get the numbers right, then confirm the treatment with the Federal Tax Authority's published guidance or a qualified adviser before you file or price on it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the VAT rate in the UAE?
A single standard rate of 5%, in force since 1 January 2018. There is no reduced band — supplies are either standard-rated, zero-rated, exempt, or outside the scope of UAE VAT.
How do I take 5% VAT out of an inclusive price?
Divide the gross by 1.05, or take the shortcut and divide it by 21 to get the VAT itself. A 1,050 dirham total contains 50 of VAT and 1,000 net — not 52.50, which is what subtracting 5% wrongly gives.
When must a UAE business register for VAT?
Once taxable supplies and imports over the past twelve months pass AED 375,000, or when you expect to pass it within the next thirty days. Voluntary registration is available from AED 187,500 of taxable supplies or expenses.
What is the difference between zero-rated and exempt here?
Zero-rated supplies such as exports and international transport are taxed at 0% and still allow input tax recovery. Exempt supplies — bare land, local passenger transport and certain financial services — carry no recovery right at all.
Do UAE prices already include VAT?
Consumer-facing prices are generally displayed VAT-inclusive, so what you see is what you pay. Business-to-business quotes are usually net with VAT shown as a separate line, so check which basis a figure is on before signing.
Is this a substitute for advice from the FTA?
No. It calculates 5% in both directions and nothing more. Registration duties, designated zones, reverse charge and input tax recovery are governed by UAE law and Federal Tax Authority guidance, which is where anything you act on should be confirmed.