Your Q3 VAT Return Is Due on 28 October

• 12 September, 2026
• By Safwan, Managing Partner
• Tax Compliance

Last reviewed 12 September 2026 by the Exiloz tax team against the UAE legislation in force on that date. Tax law moves — confirm any figure against tax.gov.ae before you act on it.

The deadline is fixed, but your VAT number is not

If your FTA tax period runs from July to September 2026, your Q3 VAT return and payment are due by 28 October 2026. That leaves enough time to find missing sales, duplicate purchases and unsupported input tax, but not enough time to treat the return as a year-end clean-up. The general VAT filing guide explains the form. This one is about the reconciliation work that has to happen before you press submit. If you would rather not handle this in house, this is what our vat return filing support covers.

The date comes from the tax period, not from the name Q3. The Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value Added Tax requires the return and payable tax to be delivered within the period set by the legislation. The FTA’s VAT filing guidance says the return and payment are due within 28 days from the end of the tax period. For a period ending 30 September 2026, that produces 28 October 2026.

Check the period first.

Start with the FTA period, not your calendar

The FTA’s VAT Returns User Guide describes three calendar months as the standard tax period, while also warning that the FTA may assign another period, including monthly filing. A business owner who calls every July-to-September filing ‘Q3’ can therefore start in the wrong place. A monthly filer has three returns in that span, not one quarterly return.

Open the VAT section in EmaraTax and record the exact period reference, start date, end date and submission due date. The VAT return form pre-populates these details. If the dashboard does not show July to September, follow the period assigned to your registration and do not force three months of figures into one form.

Start there.

Reconcile sales before you touch input VAT

Output tax is the first control total. Compare the sales ledger, issued tax invoices, credit notes and the VAT report for the same period. Check the net value and VAT separately. A credit note can reduce both, while an invoice raised after the period may belong in the next return depending on the tax point.

Split the review by standard-rated, zero-rated and exempt supplies. The FTA guide requires the return to show these categories separately, and standard-rated supplies carry VAT at 5%. Review sales of business assets, deposits and customer recharges as well. They are easy to leave outside a report built only from the ordinary sales account.

Sales first.

Imports and reverse charge need separate checks

Foreign services and customs imports do not arrive in the VAT return in the same way. Services subject to the reverse charge are reported in Box 3, with recoverable VAT considered in Box 10. Goods declared through UAE Customs are generally reflected in Box 6. Compare the pre-populated import values with customs declarations, then investigate anything missing or unexpected.

The common failure is to treat every overseas cost as a customs import or every import as a reverse-charge service. The distinction changes the box, the evidence and the recoverable amount. If your Q3 review includes a 2026 VAT law change, the VAT amendments summary is a useful cross-check, but it does not replace the transaction review.

Do not blend them.

Input VAT is not the same as VAT incurred

The purchase ledger shows what the company paid or was billed. The VAT return asks for the amount the business is entitled to recover. Before a purchase reaches Box 9, retain the tax invoice or other evidence, confirm the expense relates to business activity and check that the VAT is not restricted. Wages, private costs, exempt activity and fines do not become recoverable because they sit in an expense account.

Credit notes from suppliers need the same attention as sales credit notes. Match them to the original invoice and make sure the input VAT has not stayed in the ledger after the supplier reduced the charge. For unpaid supplier balances and possible bad-debt adjustments, see the separate guide to UAE VAT bad debt relief.

Input tax needs evidence.

Example: the return should reconcile to AED 20,000

Example. A Dubai trading company has July to September taxable sales of AED 600,000 at 5%. Output VAT is AED 30,000. It also receives foreign services worth AED 80,000 under the reverse charge. That adds AED 4,000 of output VAT and, assuming full recovery, AED 4,000 of input VAT. Local purchases of AED 200,000 at 5% add AED 10,000 of recoverable input VAT.

The arithmetic is the point.

The mistake we see most is filing from the ledger

The mistake we see most is filing from the general ledger total without rebuilding the tax-period bridge. A ledger can include a late-posted invoice, a duplicated purchase, a supplier credit note or a journal with no tax invoice behind it. It can also omit a reverse-charge service because the foreign supplier did not charge UAE VAT. None of those issues is visible in a single expense or sales total.

Build a short bridge from source records to the return. Start with the ledger, then add the items the FTA form asks for, remove items that do not belong and document every adjustment. A ledger is not a VAT return. If your team needs the reconciliation and filing pack prepared before the deadline, Exiloz provides VAT return filing support for the assigned period.

Check the bridge, not just the balance.

A previous error may need a voluntary disclosure

A Q3 reconciliation can uncover an error in a return already submitted. The FTA’s VAT Returns User Guide says an error that changed payable tax by no more than AED 10,000 may be corrected in the current return when discovered. If the earlier return understated payable tax by more than AED 10,000, the FTA says to submit a Voluntary Disclosure instead.

Do not use the current Q3 return as a hiding place for a larger historical error. Under the current administrative penalty schedule, a Voluntary Disclosure carries a monthly penalty of 1% on the tax difference from the day after the original return deadline until the disclosure is submitted. The faster the old error is identified and documented, the less room there is for a rushed explanation.

Past errors need their own trail.

The late-payment rule changed, but one display detail is unsettled

The current schedule is not the old late-payment regime found in many online VAT guides. Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, effective from 14 April 2026, sets a late-payment penalty at 14% per annum, accrued monthly on unpaid payable tax from the day after the due date. A late return is a separate issue: AED 1,000 for the first occurrence and AED 2,000 for repetition within 24 months.

One point remains unsettled in published guidance. The current decision states the annual rate and monthly accrual, but the FTA’s public material does not provide a worked calculation for every part-month or partial-payment situation. Do not invent a daily formula from the annual rate. Check the liability shown in EmaraTax and obtain advice before relying on a self-calculated amount.

The rule is current. The display detail is not.

What to do before 28 October

Use the remaining time to finish the return in a controlled order.

1. Confirm the VAT period and due date shown in EmaraTax for your TRN.
2. Reconcile sales, credit notes and output VAT by tax category and Emirate.
3. Tie customs imports and reverse-charge services to their source records, then test recoverable input VAT.
4. Review prior-period errors, save the support pack, submit before the deadline and make sure payment reaches the FTA on time.

Then submit.

Frequently Asked Questions