CUSTOMS- INVOICE ATTESTATION

CUSTOMS

One More Step towards Going Digital

Commercial Invoices Attestation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation for Imports to Local

Executive Summary:

With a vision to improve in ease of doing business and initiative of offering government services online, from February 1, 2023, Companies in United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be required to get their Import Invoices attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC).

It will be applicable on a commercial invoice of imported goods valued AED 10,000 or more.       

Key Details:

Dubai Customs vide their Customs Notice No. (11/2022) on ‘Procedure and Fees of Commercial Invoices Attestation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation for Imports to Local’ has introduced this provision.

• The Notice will come into force as of February 1, 2023.
• Applicable on a commercial invoice of imported goods valued AED 10,000 or more:
  • Imports from rest of the world
  • Imports from free zone
  • Imports for re-export
•  MOFAIC shall collect, through its own systems, a fixed service fee of AED 150 for each attestation.
•  If the attestation fee is paid prior to completing the customs declaration, Declarants needs to enter the reference number for each attested Invoice into the Customs electronic systems.
• Attestation fee can be paid within 14 days by the Declarants from the date of completing the custom declaration.
• After expiry of the period referred above, MOFAIC shall impose administrative fine of AED 500 per Invoice on incompliant customers. More fines will be imposed in case of repeated violations.
• A person can submit a written grievance to the MOFAIC, which will be decided on within 30 days from submission.
• Exempt for:
  • Invoice value below AED 10,000
  • Goods brought into free zones
  • Goods imported from GCC countries
  • Personal imports
• Diplomat, police, military, charitable societies, international organizations, transit import and B2C e-commerce movement’s goods will not be covered.
• Previously, import to the UAE only required an original invoice with no requirement for attestation by any authority.
• Benefits from this initiative are:
  • Reduced compliance cost for client
  • Real time data and control over Imports & Exports
  • Reconciliation between Imports and invoices processed through banks

Our Analysis:

The new regulation will apply to all goods imported into the UAE with a value of AED 10,000 and above and the attestation of Invoices will be done electronically with effect from February 1, 2023. Importers on who the provisions are applicable need to abide by the procedure to avoid the penalties due to non-compliance. It will provide an ease in availing government services with increased security, will result in more control on cross border transactions by the UAE authorities and reduction of cost for the businesses.

How MBG can help:

• Compliance with the provision of the law
• Reconciliation between custom records and books
• Reporting non-compliance transactions
• Filing grievance with the Authorities