E-Invoicing Execution Masterclass: Dubai Gets Ready for the UAE Mandate
On June 25, Comarch and PwC Middle East hosted the E-Invoicing Execution Masterclass at the Waldorf Astoria DIFC in Dubai, bringing together tax, finance, and IT decision-makers for a practical session on getting their organizations ready for the UAE’s e-invoicing mandate.
The Countdown Has Started, Even If the Deadline Has Changed
While the Ministry of Finance pushed the live reporting deadline to the end of October, the recent masterclass made it clear that this is just an illusion of safety.
An enterprise-grade implementation is not a simple software plug-in — it touches tax, legal, and IT at once, and a stable, penalty-free production launch by January 2027 depends on Accredited Service Provider (ASP) onboarding, system integrations, and comprehensive testing starting now. Waiting until autumn means competing for scarce implementation resources and rushing the testing phase, which protects companies from go-live disruption.
As Jakub Frankiewicz, Global Consulting Director at Comarch, notes:
“E-invoicing readiness in the UAE isn't an IT project that can be bolted on at the last minute. The companies that will go live smoothly in January 2027 are the ones treating this as a cross-functional transformation – tax, legal, and IT working from the same blueprint – and starting that work today.”
What We Covered During the Masterclass
The day opened with Abhinav Mangla, Director of Middle East Tax Strategy and Transformation at PwC Middle East, and Marc AlHachem, Manager at PwC Middle East, who shared an overview of the regulatory landscape and the Peppol-based 5-Corner Model, outlining how companies can adapt existing ERP workflows to meet the new requirements.
Kamila Kania, Head of Consulting, and Jakub Frankiewicz, Global Consulting Director at Comarch, then took the conversation from theory to execution. Their session centered on a practical reality many companies underestimate: standard ERP systems are built for accounting, not for the real-time, structured data exchange the UAE Federal Tax Authority now requires. They introduced a three-pillar Readiness Framework – Data, System, and Process – to help organizations assess where their own systems stand before committing to an implementation timeline.
The event concluded with the afternoon session dedicated to practical implementation strategy and technical architecture, drawing on Comarch's hands-on experience delivering e-invoicing projects worldwide. Kamila and Jakub shared the areas that most often cause deployment delays and concluded with an overview of Comarch's own implementation methodology.
“The engagement in the room proved that companies are looking for concrete, technical solutions rather than just regulatory overviews,” says Kamila Kania, Head of Consulting at Comarch. “Once we walked through the actual data gaps – field by field – it became immediately clear that waiting is no longer an option, and the internal gap analysis must begin today.”
The significance of these preparations and the market's readiness for digital transformation are perfectly summarized by Adam Beldzik, E-Invoicing Sector Director at Comarch:
“The UAE is a strategically important market for Comarch, and the engagement we saw in Dubai confirms that local businesses take this mandate seriously. We are fully prepared to guide them through this transition. Our dedicated UAE compliance solution is an important addition to Comarch’s global e-invoicing portfolio, further driving our mission as a global compliant provider”.
All attendees left with an exclusive post-event toolkit, including a step-by-step EmaraTax onboarding guide for selecting an Accredited Service Provider and the full set of presentation materials to share with their internal teams. To keep the conversation going, we wrapped up a fantastic day with a networking dinner.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our session!
