No TRN, No VAT

According to the new VAT law, businesses whose turnover exceeds AED 375,000 should mandatorily register and businesses with turnover exceed AED 187,500, is allowed to apply for Voluntary registration. For each business that has registered for VAT, a unique number is issued by the authority known as Tax Registration Number. In abbreviated form, it is often referred as TRN.

Basically, a tax registration number is business unique VAT Number or VAT Registration Number through which the authority will be able to recognize or identify you. After applying for VAT registration and successfully verification, VAT registration number will be issued. It is expected to have 15 digits.

It is mandatory for a registrant to mention his VAT number in all his returns. Only through the VAT number, the authority is able to identify the taxable person. A tax invoice must include the name, address, and TRN of the registrant making the supply. An invoice must have a sequential tax invoice number or a unique number and date of issue, which enables identification of the tax invoice and the order of the invoice in any sequence.

Even if the business has already got TRN, it will be allocated a different TRN for VAT purposes if its application for

registration is successful but in case if it has registered for Excise Tax before, it may find the process faster as some of the answers are prepopulated. One should also take into consideration that a single business can only hold one TRN for VAT purposes at any one time. It is business owner's responsibility to ensure that duplicate applications are not submitted. Branches are not separate legal entities; only the entity of which they are branches should apply for registration where that entity meets the relevant criteria. Even if the business is operating via branches in more than one Emirate, only one VAT registration is required. 

In case if a taxable person wishes to join a tax group, he will be in possession of VAT registration number, using which he can join the tax group. If not, he must submit the VAT registration form and upon submitting, Tax Identification Number (TIN) will be issued. Using TIN, he can join the tax group. Also, do remember that TIN is not a valid TRN, it is a number issued by the FTA for tax identification purposes only.

Please note that earlier to verify the TRN Number it was necessary to be a registered user on FTA website. But now it is not required to be registered hence any person registered with FTA website or not could check the TRN number of the suppliers who are charging them VAT.  

Requirements for linking VAT number or TRN With Dubai Customs are as following : 

• Login/Registration credentials for the Dubaitrade portal.
• Scan/PDF copy of the Trade License. It should be kept in mind that the trade license must be valid.
• Scan/PDF copy of VAT Certificate. In case you don’t have the certificate, log in to FTA website with your id password and take a screenshot of the VAT Dashboard.
• Address details of the Establishment card.

As soon as you are prepared with the above-mentioned documents, you can go ahead with the linking process.