---
title: "UAE VAT Invoices in Foreign Currency: Which Exchange Rate Article 69 Requires"
description: "A UAE tax invoice issued in dollars, euros or pounds must still show the VAT in dirhams. Article 69 of the VAT Decree-Law names the rate: the one approved by the Central Bank of the UAE at the date of supply. What that means in practice, what Article 59 requires on the invoice, weekends, and how to fetch the rate automatically."
canonical: https://allratestoday.com/blog/uae-vat-invoice-exchange-rate-article-69/
source: AllRatesToday (https://allratestoday.com/) — Markdown mirror of the page above; index of all pages at https://allratestoday.com/llms.txt
generated: 2026-11-10T15:56:51.538Z
---

Plenty of UAE businesses invoice in US dollars, euros, pounds or rupees. The VAT return, however, is a dirham document, and the law does not leave the conversion to your bank or your ERP default. **Article 69 of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017** names the rate and the date, and the Executive Regulation says what must appear on the invoice. This guide sets out the rule, the points where teams usually go wrong, and how to pull the right number without opening a browser.

 **Not tax advice.** This is a practical summary for the people who build the invoicing, ERP and reporting logic. The English texts of UAE tax legislation are unofficial translations and the Arabic text prevails; confirm your own case with a UAE tax adviser.

## What Article 69 says

The article is one sentence long. In the Federal Tax Authority's English text:

*"If the supply is in a currency other than the UAE Dirham, then for the purposes of the Tax Invoice, the amount stated in the Tax Invoice shall be converted into the UAE Dirham according to the exchange rate approved by the Central Bank of the State at the date of supply."*

Two choices are made for you:

- **The rate:** the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) rate. Not the rate your bank applied to the receipt, not a market mid-rate from a data vendor, not a monthly ERP rate.
- **The date:** the date of supply under the VAT rules, which is not always the day you happened to raise the invoice or the day cash arrived.

## What must appear on the invoice

Article 59(1) of the Executive Regulation lists the particulars of a full tax invoice. Three of them matter for a foreign-currency invoice:

| Article 59(1) | Requirement |
| --- | --- |
| (h) | For each line, the rate of tax and the amount payable expressed in AED |
| (j) | The gross amount payable expressed in AED |
| (k) | The tax amount charged expressed in AED, **together with the rate of exchange applied** where the currency is converted from a currency other than the dirham |

So an invoice in euros is not compliant with a euro VAT line alone. It needs the VAT in dirhams and the exchange rate you used, printed on the document. A simplified tax invoice needs the total consideration and the tax amount in AED.

## Which table is "the Central Bank rate"

The CBUAE's exchange rates page is headed *"Exchange Rates against UAE Dirham for VAT-related obligations"*. It covers more than 70 currencies. The bank states that the rates are updated Monday to Friday, are based on FX rates prevailing at 6pm UAE time, and are mid rates. The Federal Tax Authority's public clarification on exchange rates (VATP004, 2018) directs businesses to this table for invoices issued from 17 May 2018, and practitioner summaries of it add two points worth building into your system:

- **Use the rate as published, with all its decimals.** Do not round 4.120386 to 4.12 before multiplying.
- **Imports are different.** For imported goods, businesses may use the exchange rate applied by the customs department on the import declaration. For imported services under the reverse charge, the CBUAE rate at the date of supply applies.

## Worked example

A Dubai consultancy invoices a German client EUR 20,000 plus 5% VAT for a service with a date of supply of Thursday 15 October 2026. The official CBUAE table for 15 October shows EUR at `4.120386`.

| Line | EUR | AED at 4.120386 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Net | 20,000.00 | 82,407.72 |
| VAT 5% | 1,000.00 | 4,120.39 |
| Gross | 21,000.00 | 86,528.11 |

The invoice shows the AED column and the line "Exchange rate: 1 EUR = 4.120386 AED (Central Bank of the UAE, 15 October 2026)". Box 1 of the VAT return takes AED 82,407.72 and AED 4,120.39. If the client pays three weeks later and the bank credits a different dirham amount, that difference is an FX gain or loss in the ledger. It does not change the VAT.

Had the system picked up the 14 October table instead (EUR `4.08237`), the VAT would be AED 4,082.37, a AED 38 difference on one invoice. Small, but it is repeated on every invoice and it is exactly what an FTA audit sample recomputes.

## Weekends, holidays and the 6pm question

The CBUAE does not publish on Saturday or Sunday. For a supply dated Saturday 7 or Sunday 8 November 2026, the latest official table is Friday 6 November (EUR `4.091466`); the next one is Monday 9 November (EUR `4.112542`).

There is also a timing point. A table struck at 6pm cannot be known when you invoice at 10am the same day. One Big Four reading, from when publication started in 2018, is that a day's table applies to invoices issued or received on the following day. Other teams use the table carrying the invoice's own date and issue foreign-currency invoices after it is available. The legislation says "at the date of supply" and no more, so pick one policy, write it down, and apply it to every invoice. A consistent, documented rule is what survives an audit.

## Fetching the rate automatically

The CBUAE page is a web table with monthly download files and no API of its own. The same official table as JSON:

```
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/open/central-bank/cbuae"
# "rate_date": "2026-11-09", "available_by_utc": "15:25",
# "rates": [ ... { "base": "EUR", "quote": "AED", "type": "reference", "value": 4.112542 }, ... ]
```

For an invoice dated in the past, ask for the table of that date. The response tells you whether the bank published on that day or whether you are looking at the previous business day's table:

```
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/central-bank/cbuae/2026-11-08"
# "requested_date": "2026-11-08", "rate_date": "2026-11-06",
# "published_on_requested_date": false
```

Store three things against each invoice: the rate, the `rate_date` it came from, and the source. That is your Article 59(1)(k) evidence. Dated tables and history are on paid plans; the full reference is on the [CBUAE rates page](https://allratestoday.com/central-bank-rates-api/cbuae/).

## Checklist for the invoicing system

- Rate source is the CBUAE table, never the bank or card rate.
- Rate date follows the date of supply under your documented policy, with a fallback to the last business day.
- Full published precision is used in the multiplication; rounding happens once, on the AED result.
- The invoice prints AED tax, AED gross and the exchange rate.
- From 2027 the same rate travels in the e-invoice: see [the PINT AE exchange rate fields](https://allratestoday.com/blog/uae-e-invoicing-exchange-rate-pint-ae/).

## FAQ

### Which exchange rate must be used on a UAE tax invoice in foreign currency?

Article 69 of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 requires conversion into dirhams at the exchange rate approved by the Central Bank of the UAE at the date of supply. The Central Bank's daily table of rates against the dirham is the source the Federal Tax Authority points to.

### Does the exchange rate have to be printed on the invoice?

Yes. Article 59(1)(k) of the VAT Executive Regulation requires the tax amount in AED together with the rate of exchange applied where the invoice currency is not the dirham.

### Can I use my bank's rate or the rate at which I was paid?

Not for the VAT amount. The bank rate determines how many dirhams you receive, and the difference from the invoice value is an FX gain or loss in your accounts. The VAT is fixed at the Central Bank rate for the date of supply.

### What rate applies if the date of supply is a Saturday or Sunday?

The Central Bank of the UAE publishes Monday to Friday. For a weekend date the latest official table is Friday's. Document that fallback in your policy and apply it consistently.

### Is a US dollar invoice affected, given the dirham peg?

The Central Bank table shows USD at 3.6725 every day, so the conversion never moves, but the invoice must still show the AED tax amount and the rate applied.

## The Article 69 rate, on the invoice automatically

The official Central Bank of the UAE table as JSON, CSV, XML or Excel for your invoicing system and ERP. Dated tables and history on paid plans.

 [See plans](https://allratestoday.com/pricing/)

## Related Articles

- [Central Bank of the UAE exchange rates today: official AED table and endpoints](https://allratestoday.com/central-bank-rates-api/cbuae/)
- [UAE e-invoicing: the exchange rate and AED fields in PINT AE](https://allratestoday.com/blog/uae-e-invoicing-exchange-rate-pint-ae/)
- [UAE corporate tax: currency conversion under FTA Decision No. 13 of 2023](https://allratestoday.com/blog/uae-corporate-tax-exchange-rate-fta-decision-13/)
- [Exchange rates as at 31 December 2025: CBUAE closing rates](https://allratestoday.com/blog/exchange-rate-31-december-2025-uae-cbuae-closing-rates/)
- [CBUAE exchange rate history: download as CSV, Excel or API](https://allratestoday.com/blog/cbuae-exchange-rate-history-download/)
- [Exchange rates for VAT invoices: the finance-team workflow](https://allratestoday.com/for-finance-teams/vat-invoice-exchange-rates/)
- [Central Bank of the UAE exchange rate API: official AED rates as JSON](https://allratestoday.com/blog/cbuae-exchange-rate-api/)