VAT refund for tourists

Tourists and visitors in the UAE must pay value-added tax on their purchases while they are in the country, but the tourist can retrieve it upon leaving the country through an integrated electronic system linking all exit and entry points to the UAE with all retail sales outlets and shops registered in the tax refund system. Added value for tourists.

The UAE introduced Value Added Tax on January 1, 2018, which is an indirect tax of 5% and imposed on most goods and services that are supplied at each stage of the supply chain. And it launched an integrated digital system to refund the tax to tourists in the last quarter of 2018.

The tax refund system allows tourists to recover the value-added tax paid on purchases that are subject to value-added tax from within the country and that are exported abroad. The tax is refunded after confirming that the tourist and the goods have left the country. VAT refunds can be claimed within 12 months from the date the refund requests are validated.

Mechanism for claiming a refund of VAT for tourists

When shopping, ask the store to add the invoice to the system for refunding the tax value, provided that the value of the invoice is not less than 250 AED
You need to show your passport to the store that scans it for use in the payment system (Planet).
Then, the employee sticks the “Tax Exemption” sign on the back of the sales invoice
Your digital form for tax exemption is then created
The Tax Free Tag must be activated within 90 days of the date of purchase