UAE Tax Update | Federal Tax Authority | Accounting Records & Commercial Books | FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026
Last Updated: 2 October 2026
Learn the UAE accounting records requirements under FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026, including electronic copies, complete scans, document storage, FTA access and outsourced bookkeeping
The UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has introduced important requirements concerning the way businesses and taxable persons maintain information contained in their accounting records and commercial books.
The requirements are contained in FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 on the Rules and Requirements for Maintaining the Information Contained in Accounting Records and Commercial Books.
The Decision was issued on 2 June 2026 and is effective from 30 July 2026. The FTA published the Decision on its legislation portal on 20 August 2026.
The new rules are particularly relevant in an environment where UAE businesses increasingly maintain accounting records digitally through:
Accounting software
Cloud accounting systems
ERP systems
Digital document management systems
Scanned invoices
Electronic contracts
Electronic bank records
Digital purchase and sales documents
Electronic tax invoices
The important message for UAE businesses is simple:
Keeping an accounting record is not enough. Businesses must ensure that the information is complete, identical to the original where applicable, clear, legible and accessible to the Federal Tax Authority when required.
This article explains FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 in simple language and provides a practical checklist for UAE businesses and Indian entrepreneurs operating UAE companies.
FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 establishes the rules and requirements that a person must follow when maintaining information contained in accounting records and commercial books.
The FTA’s official legislation portal lists the Decision under the Federal Tax Authority legislation and identifies its issue date as 2 June 2026.
The Decision is particularly important for businesses that maintain records in:
Electronic copy format; or
Photocopy/scanned format.
It establishes requirements concerning the integrity and usability of those copies.
FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 was:
Issued: 2 June 2026
Effective: 30 July 2026
Published on FTA portal: 20 August 2026
The FTA’s official page identifies the Decision as “FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 on the Rules and Requirements for Maintaining the Information Contained in Accounting Records and Commercial Books.”
Therefore, UAE businesses should already be reviewing their record-keeping systems rather than waiting for a future implementation date.
Accounting records are important for several reasons.
They allow a business to:
Prepare accurate financial statements
Calculate taxable income
Prepare Corporate Tax returns
Prepare VAT returns
Support input VAT claims
Demonstrate the nature of business transactions
Support expenses and deductions
Respond to FTA requests
Demonstrate compliance during a tax review or audit
Good record keeping also helps businesses understand their own financial position.
For UAE businesses, accounting records are therefore not simply an internal accounting requirement.
They are an important part of the overall UAE tax compliance framework.
The Decision establishes three fundamental requirements.
The maintained accounting records and commercial books must be:
Complete and identical to the original documents.
Where an electronic copy or photocopy is maintained, the copy should reproduce the information contained in the original document.
The requirement is not satisfied simply because a business has saved a photograph or partial image of a document.
Where a document contains multiple pages, the electronic copy or photocopy must include:
All pages;
All relevant information; and
The pages in the same order as the original.
This is particularly important for documents such as:
Contracts
Purchase agreements
Sales agreements
Bank documents
Loan agreements
Supplier agreements
Customer agreements
Multi-page invoices
Credit agreements
Import documentation
Tax documents
The FTA’s rules expressly require the copy to be identical to the original and to include all pages in the same order.
One of the clearest requirements under the Decision is that:
Partial scanning of a document is not accepted.
For example, suppose a supplier contract has 12 pages.
A business should not maintain only:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 8
Page 12
while discarding or failing to scan the remaining pages.
The maintained electronic copy should contain the complete document and preserve the required sequence.
Original document: 10 pages
Correct electronic record: 10 pages in the original order
Incorrect record: 4 pages only
The objective is to ensure that the FTA can review the complete information contained in the original document.
Businesses are increasingly moving away from physical files and adopting digital accounting systems.
FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 recognises electronic copies and photocopies, but the quality of the copy matters.
The maintained information must be clear and easily legible.
This means a business should be able to open the document and clearly read information such as:
Supplier name
Customer name
Invoice number
Date
Amount
VAT amount
Description of goods/services
Contract terms
Payment details
Other relevant information
Poor-quality scans can create unnecessary compliance problems.
Businesses should avoid storing documents that are:
Blurred
Cut off
Too dark
Too light
Missing pages
Partially scanned
Illegible
Damaged
Difficult to open
Missing important information
The purpose of the FTA requirement is to ensure that the retained information can actually be reviewed and understood.
Therefore, businesses should establish a document-quality checking procedure.
Businesses should also consider whether colour is necessary to understand the document.
A black-and-white copy may be acceptable where the relevant information remains clear and legible.
However, if colour contains information necessary to understand the document, the business should preserve the information in a manner that allows the document to be properly understood.
The focus should be on maintaining an accurate and usable reproduction of the original.
Another important requirement is accessibility.
The accounting records and commercial books must be made available to the Federal Tax Authority when requested.
This means businesses should not merely say:
“The documents are stored somewhere in our system.”
They should be able to locate and retrieve the relevant records.
The Decision specifically addresses access to the records and the system in which the records are stored.
Many UAE businesses use:
Cloud accounting software
Password-protected folders
ERP systems
Encrypted storage
Digital document management systems
Security is important, but security controls should not prevent the FTA from obtaining access where access is lawfully requested.
Where records are protected by:
Passwords
Encryption
Access keys
Other security mechanisms
the required access credentials or keys must be provided as applicable.
The practical principle is:
Secure your records, but ensure authorised access can be provided when required by the FTA.
A common problem with modern cloud accounting is that business owners may not know:
Where documents are stored;
Who controls the system;
Who has administrator access;
How records can be exported;
How backups are performed;
How old records are retrieved.
This can become a problem if the business receives a request for historical records.
UAE businesses should therefore maintain an internal record-management procedure.
Yes.
A business may appoint a third party to maintain its accounting records and commercial books.
Examples include:
Accounting firms
Bookkeeping firms
Tax consultants
Cloud accounting service providers
Document management companies
External CFO providers
ERP service providers
This can be particularly useful for small and medium-sized businesses.
However, outsourcing record keeping does not transfer the ultimate responsibility away from the person required to maintain the records.
This is one of the most important practical points.
Suppose a UAE company appoints an external accounting firm to maintain its books.
The accounting firm stores the invoices and accounting documents.
If the FTA later requests those records, the company cannot simply say:
“Our accountant has the documents.”
The business/person remains responsible for ensuring that the records are properly maintained and safeguarded.
Therefore, businesses should have appropriate agreements and procedures with their external accountants.
If bookkeeping is outsourced, businesses should consider maintaining:
The agreement should specify who is responsible for maintaining:
Sales invoices
Purchase invoices
Bank statements
VAT records
Corporate Tax records
Contracts
Payroll records
Expense records
The business should know:
How often backups are taken
Where backups are stored
Who controls the backup
How historical documents are retrieved
The business should retain appropriate access to its accounting records rather than relying entirely on one external service provider.
Businesses should establish a proper record-retention system covering their accounting and tax documents.
Depending on the nature of the business, this may include:
Sales invoices
Credit notes
Debit notes
Customer statements
Sales agreements
Delivery documents
Receipts
Supplier invoices
Purchase orders
Goods received notes
Supplier agreements
Debit/credit notes
Import documents
Bank statements
Deposit slips
Payment confirmations
Bank transfer records
Loan documents
Financing agreements
VAT returns
VAT workings
Tax invoices
Corporate Tax records
Corporate Tax returns
FTA correspondence
Tax registration documents
Tax payment records
General ledger
Trial balance
Journal entries
Accounts receivable
Accounts payable
Fixed asset register
Inventory records
Payroll records
Customer contracts
Supplier contracts
Lease agreements
Employment-related documents
Service agreements
Shareholder documents
Business correspondence
The exact record-retention requirements should also be reviewed under the applicable UAE tax legislation and other laws relevant to the particular business.
The UAE business environment is increasingly digital.
Businesses can maintain appropriate records electronically where permitted, but the electronic records must satisfy the applicable requirements.
Advantages:
Original documents may be available
Easy to inspect physically
Challenges:
Storage space
Risk of physical damage
Difficult retrieval
Risk of loss
Advantages:
Easy search
Faster retrieval
Lower physical storage requirements
Easier sharing
Easier backup
Challenges:
Cybersecurity
Access control
Backup management
Data integrity
Password management
System dependency
A properly designed digital record-management system can therefore be highly useful for UAE businesses.
A simple internal policy can significantly improve compliance.
The policy should explain:
For example:
Accounts Department
For example:
Senior Accountant / Finance Manager
For example:
Company cloud accounting system
For example:
2026-09-30_SupplierName_InvoiceNo.pdf
For example:
Cloud + periodic independent backup
Only authorised employees and service providers.
A UAE business can consider a structure such as:
2026
→ Sales
→ Purchases
→ Bank
→ VAT
→ Corporate Tax
→ Payroll
→ Fixed Assets
→ Contracts
→ Customs & Imports
→ FTA Correspondence
→ Financial Statements
This makes documents easier to locate.
Suppose a UAE company purchases machinery from a supplier.
The transaction file could contain:
Purchase order
Supplier quotation
Supplier tax invoice
Delivery note
Customs documents
Payment proof
Bank statement
Import documents
Accounting entry
Related correspondence
If each document is properly maintained and can be retrieved when required, the company is in a much stronger position to support the transaction.
Imagine the supplier’s original agreement has 15 pages.
The company’s accounting department scans only pages 1–3 and stores them.
Pages 4–15 are not available.
This creates a record-keeping problem because the electronic copy does not contain the complete original document.
Similarly, if the invoice is scanned so poorly that the VAT amount cannot be read, the copy may not meet the practical requirement for a clear and legible record.
Proper accounting records are particularly important under the UAE Corporate Tax regime.
Corporate Tax calculations are generally based on accounting information subject to the applicable Corporate Tax rules.
Businesses need reliable records to support:
Revenue
Expenses
Deductible expenditure
Non-deductible expenditure
Tax adjustments
Related-party transactions
Interest calculations
Fixed assets
Tax losses
Corporate Tax return information
A weak document-retention system can therefore create difficulties when supporting the figures reported in a Corporate Tax return.
Record keeping is equally important for VAT compliance.
Proper records help support:
Output VAT
Input VAT
Tax invoices
Credit notes
Zero-rated supplies
Exempt supplies
Reverse-charge transactions
VAT adjustments
VAT refund claims
VAT return calculations
A business should be able to connect its VAT return figures with underlying accounting records and supporting documents.
FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 is also highly relevant to Indian entrepreneurs and Indian-owned UAE companies.
Many Indian entrepreneurs operate companies in:
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Sharjah
Ajman
Ras Al Khaimah
Fujairah
Umm Al Quwain
A UAE company may have its accounting work performed partly or entirely from India.
For example:
UAE Company → UAE bank → Accounting records maintained by Indian accounting team → Cloud accounting software
This structure can work efficiently, but the business should ensure that the records remain properly maintained and accessible.
The company should know:
Where its accounting records are stored
Who has access
How documents are backed up
How historical records are retrieved
Who is responsible for document management
How the records can be made available to the FTA
Outsourcing bookkeeping to India can be commercially attractive for some UAE businesses.
However, outsourcing should be supported by a proper process.
An outsourced accounting team should:
Scan complete documents
Maintain original page sequence
Avoid partial scans
Check document quality
Maintain proper file names
Reconcile accounting records
Maintain backups
Protect confidential information
Ensure records can be retrieved
Coordinate with the UAE business
The UAE business should retain appropriate control over its records.
UAE businesses can use the following checklist:
☐ Is the complete document available?
☐ Are all pages included?
☐ Are pages maintained in the original order?
☐ Has any part of the document been omitted?
☐ Is the document clearly readable?
☐ Is the scan sufficiently clear?
☐ Are numbers and dates readable?
☐ Are VAT amounts readable?
☐ Are signatures and relevant information visible?
☐ Is the document stored securely?
☐ Is there an appropriate backup?
☐ Can historical documents be retrieved?
☐ Are authorised users identified?
☐ Can the business retrieve records when requested?
☐ Does the business know where the records are stored?
☐ Can access to the relevant system be provided where required?
☐ Are passwords/access credentials managed appropriately?
☐ Is bookkeeping outsourced?
☐ Is responsibility clearly documented?
☐ Does the company retain access to its records?
☐ Are backup arrangements in place?
Check whether your accounting documents are complete.
Randomly select invoices, contracts and other documents and check whether every page is available.
Make sure the information can be clearly read.
Identify where records are stored and who controls access.
Maintain appropriate backup arrangements.
If your bookkeeping is handled by an external accountant, confirm that the records remain accessible to the business.
Create a systematic folder structure for previous financial years.
Ensure VAT and Corporate Tax records are linked to supporting accounting documents.
Select an old invoice or contract and see how quickly your team can retrieve it.
Document the internal process and assign responsibility.
It is a Federal Tax Authority Decision establishing rules and requirements for maintaining information contained in accounting records and commercial books.
The Decision became effective on 30 July 2026. The FTA issued it on 2 June 2026 and published it on its legislation portal on 20 August 2026.
Yes, the Decision specifically establishes requirements for information maintained as an Electronic Copy or Photocopy, subject to the prescribed requirements.
No. Where the document is maintained as an electronic copy or photocopy, the requirements include reproducing the complete document, including all pages in the same order. Partial scanning is not accepted.
Yes. Records maintained electronically or as photocopies must be sufficiently clear and legible.
Where required, access must be provided to the records and the system in which they are stored.
Businesses should be able to provide the required access where requested by the FTA, including relevant passwords, encryption keys or access mechanisms where applicable.
Yes. A third party can maintain records, but outsourcing does not remove the business/person’s legal responsibility for maintaining and safeguarding the records.
The Decision concerns accounting records and commercial books within the applicable UAE tax framework. Such records can support multiple tax and compliance obligations, including Corporate Tax and VAT.
Digital record keeping can make search, retrieval and backup easier, but the system must be properly designed and maintained so that records remain complete, clear, secure and accessible.
FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 highlights an increasingly important part of UAE tax compliance: the quality and accessibility of accounting records.
Businesses should not think of record keeping as simply storing invoices in a folder.
A compliant record-management system should ensure that documents are:
Complete → Identical → Legible → Properly Stored → Secure → Retrievable → Accessible when required
Businesses that use cloud accounting, outsourced bookkeeping or accounting teams outside the UAE should pay particular attention to these requirements.
A good accounting system should allow a business to answer a simple question quickly:
“If the FTA asks for this document today, can we produce the complete and readable record without delay?”
If the answer is no, the business should review its record-keeping system.
IGSK Corporate Tax Advisors provides accounting, bookkeeping and UAE tax compliance support for businesses operating in the UAE and for Indian entrepreneurs with UAE businesses.
Our services include:
UAE Bookkeeping
UAE Accounting Services
UAE Corporate Tax Registration
UAE Corporate Tax Return
UAE Corporate Tax Advisory
UAE VAT Registration
UAE VAT Return Filing
UAE VAT Advisory
Financial Statement Preparation
Accounting Records Management
Tax Compliance Review
India–UAE Accounting Support
Outsourced Accounting Services for UAE Businesses
Website: www.igskct.ae
We help businesses maintain organised accounting records and build practical accounting and tax-compliance processes suitable for their UAE operations.
The official Federal Tax Authority legislation page for FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 is available on the FTA website.
For the complete legislation and latest UAE tax updates, businesses should refer to the official FTA legislation portal.
This article is provided for general information and educational purposes only. It is based on UAE tax legislation and official FTA information available at the date of publication. It should not be considered legal, tax or accounting advice for a specific business or transaction. Businesses should review the legislation applicable to their circumstances and obtain professional advice where appropriate.
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