If your revenue is under AED 50 million and you invoice other businesses or government, you must appoint an accredited service provider by 31 March 2027 and issue e-invoices from 1 July 2027. Larger businesses have earlier dates, and government entities a later go-live. All of them come from Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025 on the Electronic Invoicing System and Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025 on its implementation, as amended by Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026.
Under the revenue line: appoint by
31 March 2027
Source: Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025, Article 5(1)(b)
Under the revenue line: e-invoices from
1 July 2027
Source: Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025, Article 5(1)(b)
Every date in the decisions
- Voluntary pilot from
- 1 July 2026 Source: Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025, Article 3(4) and Article 4. Verified 14 October 2026.
- Revenue of AED 50 million or more: appoint a provider by
- 30 October 2026 Source: Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026, Article One, amending Article 5(1)(a) of Decision 244 of 2025. Verified 14 October 2026.
- Revenue of AED 50 million or more: issue e-invoices from
- 1 January 2027 Source: Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026, Article One, amending Article 5(1)(a) of Decision 244 of 2025. Verified 14 October 2026.
- Revenue under AED 50 million: appoint a provider by
- 31 March 2027 Source: Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025, Article 5(1)(b). Verified 14 October 2026.
- Revenue under AED 50 million: issue e-invoices from
- 1 July 2027 Source: Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025, Article 5(1)(b). Verified 14 October 2026.
- Government entities: issue e-invoices from
- 1 October 2027 Source: Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025, Article 5(1)(c). Verified 14 October 2026.
The amendment that moved one date
The first wave's appointment date was changed by a later decision. Replaced the original date of 31 July 2026. Applies to revenue equal to or exceeding AED 50,000,000. The go-live for that wave stayed at 1 January 2027. Nothing in that amendment touched the dates for businesses under AED 50 million. Read the amending text yourself: Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026.
What "revenue" means here
Revenue means gross income in the most recent accounting period, per Article 1 of Decision 244. In practice that is the top line of your last set of accounts, not profit and not VAT-able turnover alone. If that number is close to the line, which wave you are in is a question for your accountant, and the safer assumption is the earlier set of dates.
Two dates, two different jobs
- Appoint a provider. Choose one of the accredited providers on the official list, sign its end-user agreement, and complete onboarding, which registers your business on the network. Nothing changes about how you invoice yet.
- Issue e-invoices. From the go-live date, invoices to businesses and government must go through that provider in the required format. Plain PDFs and Word files stop counting for those customers.
The gap between the two dates is the time to fix customer records and test the flow. Use it.
Where the dates come from
The implementation phases are in Article 5 of Decision 244 of 2025, the pilot and voluntary start (1 July 2026) in Articles 3 and 4 of the same decision, the government go-live (1 October 2027) in Article 5(1)(c), and the amended first-wave appointment date in Decision 66 of 2026. The Ministry's own programme page lists every document: Ministry of Finance e-invoicing.