Tourists leaving the UAE can now receive their VAT refund in one business day instead of about nine days, the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) said on 20 October 2026. It launched a new AI-supported refund platform with Planet, the authorised operator of the tourist refund scheme, at Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi and Dubai International Airport. The platform also operates at Sharjah International Airport.
Under the new process, tourists register in the Planet app with a face scan and save images of their passport and bank card. At departure they scan a QR code at a service point. If no inspection is needed, the refund is completed in the app without an in-person check; otherwise, smart gates direct them to a self-service kiosk. The FTA said AI is used to route travellers, flag transactions eligible for automatic refunds, match invoices with travel data and detect unusual patterns during checks.
The FTA said about AED 4.2bn has been refunded across 25 million transactions since 2018.
Why it matters: for visitors, a refund that arrives in a day rather than more than a week removes one of the last chores of a trip. The system also relies on face scans and stored passport images, so how that personal data is handled matters.
What to watch: whether the one-day time holds at busy periods, and what the FTA and Planet publish about how stored face scans and documents are protected.