VAT returns in Saudi Arabia and the UAE: what, when and how

When are VAT returns due in Saudi Arabia and the UAE?

In Saudi Arabia the return and the payment are both due by the last day of the month after the tax period ends. In the UAE both must be received by the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) by the 28th day after the period ends. The main rules side by side:

In Saudi Arabia the deadline holds even when it falls on a weekend or public holiday: the regulations say returns and payments are due on the set date whether or not it is a working day. Plan the timetable so the filing never depends on the last day.

What goes into a VAT return?

Both returns ask for the same building blocks, taken from the ledger for the period:

• Sales at the standard rate and the output VAT on them.
• Zero-rated sales, such as qualifying exports, and exempt sales.
• Imports, and purchases where you account for the VAT yourself under the reverse charge, such as services bought from abroad.
• Purchases and expenses on which you recover input VAT, and the amount recovered.
• Adjustments, such as credit and debit notes, and corrections of earlier returns where the rules allow them.

The UAE form VAT 201 also asks for standard-rated sales by emirate, so each sale needs the emirate where it is made. In Saudi Arabia, sales figures should agree to the e-invoices issued through Fatoora: see ZATCA e-invoicing explained.

How do you prepare a VAT return, step by step?

1. Close the period firstPost every sales invoice, supplier bill, credit note and import document that belongs to the period. A return prepared on open books has to be corrected later. Run it as part of the month-end close.
2. Agree output VAT to salesTie revenue and output VAT in the ledger to the sales register and, in Saudi Arabia, to the e-invoices cleared and reported in the period. Split standard-rated, zero-rated and exempt sales, and in the UAE the emirate of each sale.
3. Review input VATRecover VAT where you hold a valid tax invoice with the supplier details right, or other evidence the rules accept, and leave out purchases the rules block from recovery. Where you also make exempt sales, apportion the input VAT.
4. Add reverse charge and importsAccount for VAT on services bought from abroad under the reverse charge, and include VAT paid on imports. Check that both sides of each reverse-charge entry are in the return.
5. Reconcile to the VAT accountsThe net figure on the return should equal the movement in the VAT accounts for the period. Explain every difference before you file.
6. Review and approveA second person reviews the return and the reconciliation, as your approval matrix sets out. The preparer should not approve their own return.
7. File, pay and keep the fileFile and pay by the deadline, then keep the working papers with the return. In Saudi Arabia, invoices, books and records must be kept for at least six years from the end of the tax period, in Arabic, and accessible from within the Kingdom.

How do you reconcile the return to the ledger?

Start from the VAT accounts in the trial balance, not from the return. Output VAT on the return should equal the credits to the output VAT account for the period, input VAT should equal the debits to the input VAT account, and any difference needs a named cause.

Common causes of differences are invoices posted after the period was extracted, credit notes in the billing system but not in the ledger, VAT coded to the wrong account, and journals that touch VAT without an invoice. Clear them every month and the quarter-end return becomes a check rather than an investigation.

What if you find an error after filing?

In Saudi Arabia, ZATCA's April 2025 guideline on the amended regulations explains that an error that understated the VAT due is corrected in the corrections section of the return for the period in which you find it, adding the missing tax. An error that overstated the tax can be corrected in a later return, within the time limit the regulations set.

In the UAE, errors are corrected through a voluntary disclosure, or in some cases in a later return, under FTA rules. Since 14 April 2026, a voluntary disclosure that changes the tax due carries a penalty of 1% of the difference for each month or part of a month from the original due date. If you wait until the FTA has notified you of a tax audit, a fixed 15% penalty applies on top of the monthly one.

In both countries, an incorrect return can also carry its own penalty. In Saudi Arabia it is 50% of the difference in the tax due. In the UAE it is AED 500, unless you correct the return before its deadline or by a voluntary disclosure that does not change the tax due.

What changed for VAT in 2025 and 2026?

• Saudi Arabia: amendments to the VAT Implementing Regulation (Resolution 01-06-24 of 19 November 2024, explained in a ZATCA guideline in April 2025) set a deadline for credit and debit notes: within 15 days after the end of the month in which the event happened. They also changed tax group rules and clarified how to correct returns.
• Saudi Arabia: from January 2026, an electronic marketplace that facilitates supplies by resident suppliers who are not VAT-registered is treated as the supplier and accounts for the VAT.
• UAE: Federal Decree-Law No. 16 of 2025, in force from 1 January 2026, removed the need to issue self-invoices under the reverse charge, set a five-year limit for reclaiming excess refundable tax, and lets the FTA deny input VAT on supplies that form part of a tax-evasion arrangement.
• UAE: Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, in force from 14 April 2026, changed the penalties, including the late-filing and late-payment penalties in the table above.

Questions people ask