Validate UAE VAT tax invoices (TRN, 5% VAT, AED, Arabic or English)

UAE businesses that want to recover input VAT need supplier invoices that carry the right particulars. This workflow reads each PDF or scanned invoice that arrives in a Microsoft 365 mailbox, in English, Arabic or both, and transcribes the fields a tax invoice should show: the words "Tax Invoice", supplier name and address, the supplier and customer Tax Registration Numbers (TRN), invoice number and date, currency, amounts before VAT, VAT and total. Arabic-Indic digits are converted to ordinary digits.

A separate code step then applies a checklist: the supplier TRN must have 15 digits, VAT must be 5% of the taxable amount (within rounding), taxable amount plus VAT must equal the total, foreign-currency invoices must show the VAT in AED, the customer TRN should match your own, and the same invoice number must not already be in your log. Clean invoices are logged automatically. Anything else goes to an accountant in the Cadrix approval inbox with the exact list of problems, and the decision is logged too. Nothing is ever sent to the supplier.

Sources used for the checklist: the Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on VAT (standard rate 5%), the Executive Regulation (Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017) and Federal Tax Authority guidance on tax invoices at tax.gov.ae. These rules change and have exceptions (for example simplified tax invoices, zero-rated and exempt supplies, credit notes), so this template is an aid, not tax advice: validate the checklist with your accountant before relying on it. The UAE e-invoicing programme is being phased in; this template does not issue or transmit e-invoices, so check current timelines with the authorities.