Dubai VAT Refund 2026: UAE Tourist Tax-Free Guide

Dubai charges 5% VAT on almost everything you buy, from gold in the souk to a handbag in Dubai Mall, and tourists can claim most of it back when they leave. The scheme is national, so the same rules apply whether you shop in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah or any other emirate of the UAE. It is also one of the most digital refund systems anywhere: a single operator, Planet, runs it for the Federal Tax Authority, and most of it happens on your phone and at a kiosk.

Dubai VAT Refund Calculator

Enter what you plan to spend to see the VAT you can reclaim and what you’d actually receive after fees.

Shopping in

Total spend (shelf price)

VAT inside your purchase · 5% rate

AED 238.10reclaimable

Planet (official operator)87% less AED 3.60AED 203.54
GoodVat app90% of the VATAED 214.29

Minimum spend in Dubai (UAE): AED 250.00, before VAT, per receipt. Dubai (UAE) refund rules

GoodVat is coming to Dubai. Be first in.

The GoodVat app handles your tax-free claim automatically, with no refund-desk queue, and pays out 90% of the VAT. 1,300+ refunds issued so far. It's in private beta, and Dubai is next. Join now to get in first.

Private beta members get their first refund fee-free. We'll only email you about the beta. Privacy

See how the app works

Estimate only. Uses the standard tax rate and a typical operator commission; your refund depends on the goods, the retailer and the refund operator.

Who Can Claim a VAT Refund in Dubai and the UAE?

You must be a visitor, not a UAE resident, and have entered on a tourist visa.
You must be 18 or older.
The goods must leave the UAE with you.
You need your original passport, or a GCC national ID. Copies are not accepted.

Minimum Purchase Amount

Each refund transaction needs a minimum spend of AED 250 before VAT. That is AED 262.50 at the register. It applies per transaction, so two AED 150 purchases at different shops don’t combine.

The shop must be registered in the tourist refund scheme. Most malls and larger retailers are, and some online stores now qualify too. Ask before you pay.

Step 1: Shop and Ask for Tax-Free

Tell the cashier you want a tax-free purchase and show your passport. Most retailers are paperless: your purchase is logged against your passport and you get a text message with a link to Planet’s shopper portal, where every tax-free purchase from your trip appears. A few shops still issue a paper invoice and upload a picture of it. If that upload fails verification, only the shop can fix it, so check the portal before you fly.

Step 2: Validate Before You Leave

You validate at a Planet self-service kiosk or a staffed desk at your exit point. These are at Dubai International (DXB), Abu Dhabi and the other UAE airports, as well as land borders and seaports. Scan your passport, and present the goods if you are asked to.

Two time limits matter:

90 days. You must validate within 90 days of the date on the tax invoice.
6 hours. Once you validate, you have to leave the UAE within 6 hours or the validation is cancelled and you start again.

Validate before you check in your bags, in case an officer wants to see what you bought. Some malls and hotels also have kiosks you can use if your flight leaves within 24 hours and you already have your boarding pass.

Step 3: Get Your Refund

Choose how you want to be paid at the kiosk:

Card. No limit. It arrives within about 9 days. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB and UnionPay are accepted.
Cash. Collected after immigration, up to AED 35,000.
Digital wallet. WeChat Pay and Alipay, paid instantly.

You have one year from validation to request the refund.

How Much You Actually Get Back

You don’t get the full 5%. The Federal Tax Authority’s published terms deduct 13% of the VAT, plus AED 3.60 for each tax-free transaction. So you keep 87% of the VAT, less a small flat fee per receipt.

Here is a AED 5,000 purchase:

	Amount
Price at the register	`AED 5,000.00`
VAT inside the price (5%)	`AED 238.10`
Less 13%	`− AED 30.95`
Less transaction fee	`− AED 3.60`
Refund	`AED 203.54`

That works out to about 4.1% of what you paid. The flat fee bites harder on small purchases, so one AED 1,000 receipt returns more than four AED 250 ones.

Deadlines and Common Mistakes

Validating too early. The 6-hour rule catches people who validate at a mall kiosk and then fly the next day.
Packing the goods in checked luggage before validation, when an inspection is still possible.
Shopping at a store that isn’t in the scheme. No tax-free tag means no refund, whatever the receipt says.
Spending just under AED 250 before VAT on each receipt.
Leaving a failed paper invoice unfixed. Once you’ve left the country the shop can’t correct it for you.
Using the goods in the UAE. The refund is for goods you take home.