vatfiling.com / VAT services / Tourist Refund Scheme
Recovery
The Tourist Refund Scheme for UAE retailers
If you sell to visitors, the Tourist Refund Scheme is a price advantage you either offer or quietly hand to the shop next door. It also puts a number into your VAT return that you do not type yourself.
- Operator
- Planet
- Appears in
- Box 2
- Requires
- An active TRN
The FTA's appointed operator for the scheme.
Pre-populated on the VAT201 for registered retailers.
Registration with the FTA comes first.
How it runs
- We confirm your goods qualifyThe scheme covers goods exported by the visitor, not services and not consumables used here.
- Registration with the FTA and PlanetThe system integration and the till process go in together, because staff have to be able to issue a tag at the point of sale.
- Your team is briefed on the till processPassport check, tag issue, receipt. A tag issued wrongly is a refund the visitor does not get and a complaint you do.
- Box 2 is reconciled every periodAgainst Planet's records, so the return agrees with what was actually refunded.
What we ask you for
- TRN certificate
- Store details and till system information
- A named contact for Planet onboarding
What we see go wrong
- Treating Box 2 as editable. It comes from Planet, and a disagreement is resolved with Planet.
- Issuing tags for services or for goods the visitor consumes in the UAE.
- Staff turnover wiping out the till knowledge, so tags stop being offered at all.
Questions we get asked
How does a UAE retailer join the Tourist Refund Scheme?
By registering with the FTA and then onboarding with Planet, the appointed operator, which supplies the tagging process used at the point of sale.
What is Box 2 on the VAT201?
Tourist refunds. For retailers in the scheme it is pre-populated from the Planet system as a negative adjustment to output tax, and it is not typed in by the taxpayer.
Do tourists get VAT back on services?
No. The scheme covers goods the visitor exports from the UAE. Hotel stays, meals and other services are outside it.
General information about UAE VAT, current at 10 August 2026. It is not tax advice and does not create a client relationship — see our disclaimer. Confirm your own position with the FTA, or with us, before acting.
Send the return. We will tell you where it stands.
No charge for the first look. If nothing needs doing we will say so, and if something does you will know what it costs before you decide.