Sector
Tax and accounting for UAE Shopify businesses.
Orders reconciled to payouts to bank, and the overseas app and platform subscriptions nobody remembers to reverse charge.
Common tax challenges
Running your own store removes the marketplace, but it hands you the payment stack, the app subscriptions and the shipping decisions, each of which carries its own treatment.
- Gateway settlement. Shopify Payments, Stripe, Tabby, Tamara and PayPal each settle on different schedules, net of different fees, sometimes batching several days of orders into one deposit. Reconciling orders to payouts to the bank is the core control.
- App and platform subscriptions. Your Shopify plan, theme, apps and advertising are usually billed from overseas. These are imported services and bring the reverse charge. A store running fifteen apps has fifteen small recurring entries that are almost always missed.
- Shipping charged to customers. Delivery charged to a UAE customer generally follows the treatment of the goods. It is revenue, not a pass-through, and is regularly netted off against courier costs.
- Dropshipping and place of supply. Where goods never enter the UAE, the place of supply question changes entirely, and so does whether UAE VAT applies.
- Refunds and chargebacks. These need credit notes flowing through properly, or output VAT stays overstated.
What we provide
- Order to payout to bank reconciliation across every gateway
- Reverse charge on platform, app and advertising subscriptions
- VAT treatment mapped by product type and customer location
- Shipping revenue and courier cost recorded separately
- Inventory and cost of goods tracking
- VAT returns and Corporate Tax filing
Typical documents
- Shopify order and payout exports for the period
- Gateway statements for each processor used
- Platform, app and advertising invoices
- Supplier invoices and, where goods are imported, customs documentation
- Courier and fulfilment invoices
- Bank statements
Our process
We reconcile orders to payouts first, then map VAT treatment by destination, then bring the recurring overseas subscriptions into the reverse charge. See e-commerce accounting and monthly bookkeeping.
Getting started
Tell us your licence type and what is outstanding, and we will confirm which returns apply and what the deadlines are before any work begins. Send us your details, or check your position with the tax status tool.