Sector
Tax and accounting for UAE logistics and freight.
Disbursement or recharge is the question that sets your turnover. Zero-rating by route and customs reconciliation follow from it.
Common tax challenges
Freight and logistics businesses handle large sums that are not their revenue, and the distinction between what passes through and what is earned drives almost every issue in the sector.
- Disbursements versus recharges. Duty and charges paid to authorities as agent on a customer behalf are treated differently from costs you incurred and recharged with a margin. Treating everything as pass-through misstates turnover, which affects your VAT position and your registration threshold.
- International transport zero-rating. International transport of goods and passengers, and related supplies, may be zero-rated where the conditions are met. Domestic legs are treated differently, and a single shipment can contain both.
- Designated Zones. Movements of goods in and out of a Designated Zone carry specific VAT treatment. This is a goods rule and is frequently confused with the free zone Corporate Tax question.
- Customs documentation. Import VAT claims must reconcile to declarations, and in a high-volume operation reconciling them at quarter end is not feasible.
- Per-shipment margin. Costs land after the invoice is raised, so job costing has to accrue rather than wait.
- Fleet and fuel. Vehicle costs carry their own input VAT recovery considerations.
What we provide
- Disbursement and recharge treatment set correctly and documented
- Zero-rating review by route and service type
- Customs and import VAT reconciliation
- Job-level costing with cost accruals
- Fleet cost tracking and recovery review
- VAT returns and Corporate Tax filing
Typical documents
- Customer invoices and job files
- Carrier, airline and shipping line invoices
- Customs declarations and duty receipts
- Fleet, fuel and maintenance invoices
- Agency agreements where you act on behalf of others
- Bank statements
Our process
We settle the agent question first, because it determines reported turnover. Then job costing with accruals, so per-shipment margin is real rather than a lagging figure. See VAT return filing.
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.