About
We build the boring layer of UAE VAT.
ScanVAT is a small UAE-based product team building VAT compliance software for retailers and the accountants who serve them. Photograph an invoice, get structured tax data, file Form 201. That's the whole product. We're trying to make it the best one in the country.
Why we built this
Every UAE retailer with an FTA registration has the same problem at the end of every quarter: a pile of receipts, a Form 201 deadline, and an accountant chasing them for clean data. The retailer spends a weekend manually keying invoices into a spreadsheet. The accountant spends another weekend cross-checking the spreadsheet. Both hate it.
We watched this happen often enough to know the work was structurally avoidable. A phone has a camera. The OCR models read printed text and handwriting. The VAT math is mechanical. The only reason this is hard is that nobody has bothered to build the layer that connects the camera to the FTA return.
ScanVAT is that layer.
What we explicitly are not
Not an Accredited Service Provider (ASP). Under UAE Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025, electronic invoices must be transmitted through an MoF-accredited ASP. ScanVAT generates PINT-AE-formatted data that your ASP ingests — we are not the submission channel and we will never claim to be.
Not the FTA.We don't submit returns directly. Your accountant or your ASP does that. ScanVAT prepares the data; you (or your accountant) hit the file button on the FTA portal.
Not a general accounting tool.If you need QuickBooks-style ledgering, accounts payable workflows, or fixed-asset tracking, you need a different product. ScanVAT does invoice scanning, VAT calculation, and Form 201 prep. That's it.
How we think about the product
Cite the law, don't bluff
Every compliance claim on this site links to a UAE Federal Decree-Law, Cabinet Decision, or FTA publication. We will never tell a customer something is "compliant" without naming what it complies with.
The accountant is the partner, not the obstacle
Retailers don't want to learn VAT — they want to run their business. Accountants are the layer that makes the system work. ScanVAT is free for accountants because they're the distribution channel for compliance, not a tax we add on top.
Boring is a feature
Tax documents are not the place for delight, gamification, or AI hype. The product is fast, accurate, and absent of surprises. We optimise for accountants signing off invoices in seconds, not for engagement metrics.
UAE-first, not UAE-bolt-on
Built from scratch around UAE VAT — the 5% rate, emirate-level allocation, AED 375,000 thresholds, PINT-AE structure, Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017. Not a global tool with a UAE configuration flag.
Try the product, talk to the team, or just ask questions.
We answer every email. If something on this site is wrong or you have a regulation we've missed, tell us — we'll fix it.