NOT IN FORCE. This Public Clarification was abrogated by VAT Public Clarification No. VATP041 of 2025.
Banks and exchange houses (collectively referred to as financial institutions) may only recover VAT imposed on international bank charges from banking institutions outside the UAE to the extent such costs are incurred to make taxable supplies and provided the financial institutions obtain and retain the required supporting documents.
In practice, such international bank charges and their underlying transactions are evidenced by SWIFT messages which do not meet the requirements to constitute tax invoices for UAE VAT purposes.
This Public Clarification clarifies the Federal Tax Authority’s (“FTA”) position on the acceptability of SWIFT messages for the purposes of documentation requirements and to support input tax recovery.
As taxable persons, when financial institutions receive interbank services from non-resident banks, they are regarded as making supplies to themselves in respect of these interbank services and are required to issue tax invoices to themselves in respect of these supplies. These fin...