Key 2025 UAE VAT Law Changes: Five-Year Input Tax Limit, Anti-Evasion, and Import Simplification

Federal Decree-Law No. (16) of 2025 amends UAE VAT law to enhance compliance, prevent evasion, and introduce a five-year limit on recoverable input VAT.
Self-invoicing for imports under the Reverse Charge Mechanism is removed, reducing administrative burden.
Recoverable input VAT must be claimed or refunded within five years, or it is permanently lost; this applies retroactively to VAT periods from 2018 onward.
Input VAT recovery will be denied if linked to tax evasion and the taxpayer knew or should have known.
Businesses must urgently review and claim historical VAT balances before deadlines to avoid financial loss and increased FTA scrutiny.

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.