What are the things you should take care of while filing a vat return in UAE?

Author: Harry Jonson

The first date to file a vat return online in UAE was on 28th Feb 2018. You had a tough time with the filing process as the taxation system is totally new. You could not understand what to do, how to fill up the form, etc. You were in a state of confusion, indecisive about your next move. The scenario is the same with most taxpayers.

Presently, there many experts available in UAE to file a vat return online. But six months back, the scenario was different. Only a handful of experts could be found who knew the procedure to file a vat return. And hiring them was out of the question because they were all pre-booked by the top companies.

In UAE vat registration online so is vat return filing. Prepare yourself for the next vat return filing by understanding the things you should take care of during the filing process.

You will find the Vat return format on the official website of the Federal Tax Authority or FTA. In February 2018, it was uploaded with the name "VAT201-Vat Return". However, to file a vat return, you must register with the FTA. You will need the username and password to log in to the portal.

Things that you need to take care of

Once you log in to the portal, you will find that few of your details are pre-populated and automatically generated. For example, tax year end, current vat return period, reference number, etc. will be already given. These are the things you must take care of.

  • All monetary denominations you are specifying must be in AED (United Arab Emirates Dirhams)
  • The denominations must not have any fractions.
  • Put ‘0’ wherever you did not mention any amount.

Since you must provide the details of the taxable supplies, be careful with these things too:

  • All advance amounts that you have received
  • All deposited amount except the refundable ones
  • Deduct the credit notes from total supplies and mention them
  • Mention the value of the supplies in net figure always
  • Mention the vat bad debt relief in the adjustment column

There is also some additional information that you must provide. This includes:

  • The services or the goods that you have purchased before tax registration
  • The credit notes which the supplier has raised
  • Any monetary errors stated in the previous tax periods. However, it must exceed more than AED 10,000/.

These are a list of few major things that you must be careful with when you are filing a vat return. Once you have completed everything properly, you will get the net amount which you have to pay.