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Deadlines & Timeline

The AED 50 million threshold: which side are you on?

One number decides your dates. Businesses at or above AED 50 million in annual revenue are in the first mandatory wave; everyone else follows six months later. Understanding exactly what that number measures matters more than most people assume.

Free readiness checkNo obligationWritten answerAjman head office
Feb 2026
Guidelines V1.0 published
Jul 2026
Voluntary pilot opened
2027
Mandatory in two waves
Oct 2027
Government entities live
What matters

Worth understanding before you decide anything

If you take four things away from this page, make them these.

1It is revenue, not profit

The threshold looks at annual revenue. A low-margin distributor can sit well above the line while being far less profitable than a consultancy sitting below it.

2It sets your phase, not your scope

This is the single most misunderstood point. The threshold decides when you comply, never whether you comply. A small company is still in scope.

3If you are close to the line, plan for the earlier date

A business hovering around AED 45–55 million should assume the earlier wave. The cost of being ready three months early is trivial next to the cost of being three months late.

4Group companies are usually assessed separately

Each licensed entity generally stands on its own. Do not assume the group's largest company sets the date for the smallest one.

Practical steps

Before you spend anything

Everything here can be done before you commit to a provider or a system.

GoldenKey e-Invoice · in development

We are building our own e-invoicing app — and the ERP and CRM around it

We are not reselling somebody else's product. Zaini Developers is our own development team, and the e-invoicing engine sits inside the same platform that already runs CRM, accounting, POS and HR for UAE clients. That means when your business needs a field, a document layout or a report that a shrink-wrapped product does not have, we add it instead of putting it on a roadmap.

Reports that answer questionsOutstanding by customer, VAT summary by period, revenue by branch or salesperson.
API for your existing stackIf you already run an ERP or a shop system, we integrate rather than replace.
Import your historyExisting customers and open invoices moved across from Excel, Tally, Zoho or QuickBooks.
Works on mobileIssue and check invoices from a phone — useful for site, showroom and delivery teams.
Hosted or on your own serverRun it on our hosting or inside your own environment if your policy requires it.
Arabic & EnglishDocuments and interface in both, since UAE counterparties ask for both.
Built and supported locallyDesigned and maintained by our own team in the UAE and India — you talk to the people who built it.
Structured invoice outputEvery invoice is produced as structured data mapped to the PINT AE field set, not a PDF with a logo on it.
Connects to your ASPWe wire your system to the Accredited Service Provider you appoint, so the exchange happens through the approved channel.

GoldenKey is a business setup and compliance consultancy. We are not a Ministry of Finance Accredited Service Provider, and we do not claim to be one. Our software is built to work alongside the ASP you appoint. Scope, timelines and pricing are agreed in writing before any work starts.

Questions we get asked

Frequently asked

Short, practical answers. If yours is not here, ask us directly — we answer even if you never become a client.

Is the AED 50 million threshold based on turnover or profit?

Annual revenue — the top line, not the bottom line.

What if my revenue crosses AED 50 million next year?

Check your position against the published criteria rather than assuming. If you are near the line, preparing for the earlier date is the safer plan.

Does the threshold exempt small businesses?

No. It only determines which phase you fall into. A small company is still in scope with a later date.

Keep reading

Related guides

A note on this pageA note on how to read this: it is general information, not tax or legal advice, and your own circumstances may change the answer. The Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Authority publish the authoritative guidance and it continues to develop. If anything here matters to a decision you are making, have it confirmed — we will do that in writing for free. Indicative prices are confirmed in writing before any work starts.
Talk to a human

Book a straight conversation about e-invoicing

Twenty minutes on the phone is usually enough to turn this from a vague worry into a short list of tasks.

  • 20+ years of UAE compliance work behind every answer
  • We tell you your phase before we quote anything
  • Software team in-house — no third-party hand-off
  • Written scope and indicative pricing before any work starts

Free e-invoicing readiness check

No cost, no obligation. We tell you which phase you fall into and what you actually need.

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