Sitemap

Accounts receivable in United Arab Emirates

By OCTA Finance Team — Finance automation research & guides, reviewed by OCTA

Accounts receivable guidance for United Arab Emirates, using a AED calculator, cited local payment context, and one practical action for this week.

Evidence for United Arab Emirates

Atradius reports that about 47% of UAE B2B sales are made on credit, about two in five invoices are overdue, and write-offs are just over 2%.

Collection complexity: Allianz Trade rates the UAE at 71, Severe, in its 2026 Collection Complexity Score.

At a January 2026 ministerial forum, the Ministry said the UAE had about 1.33m companies and that SMEs represented about 95% of them.

Regulatory and invoice context

UAE Ministry of Finance and Federal Tax Authority: The OpenPeppol programme under MD 244, as amended by MD 66, pilots from 1 July 2026. Entities with annual revenue of at least AED 50m select an accredited service provider by 30 October 2026 and go live from 1 January 2027; entities below AED 50m select an ASP by 31 March 2027 and go live from 1 July 2027. Government go-live is 1 October 2027. B2C is outside scope.

UAE VAT is 5%; VAT invoices are issued within 14 days and the VAT registration threshold is AED 375,000. There is no statutory commercial net-X term. Federal Decree-Law 50/2022 caps delay interest at 9% and does not allow compounding.

Payment rails and credit context

  • UAEFTS: UAEFTS is the domestic funds-transfer system.
  • Aani: Aani supports instant payments up to AED 50,000 and Request to Pay.
  • Jaywan: Jaywan was inaugurated as the UAE's national card scheme on 20 July 2026.

Credit bureau: AECB. AECB is the UAE credit-bureau reference in this guide.

One action for this week

Have the finance team review the ten oldest open invoices, choose the appropriate local payment route, and set the next follow-up owner and date.

Sources

Related resources

Explore other topics

More in this section