What are the Information to be Included in a Detailed Tax Invoice in Bahrain?

Tax Invoices in Bahrain | What are the Information to be included in a Detailed Tax Invoice in Bahrain?

Preparing a proper tax Invoice is very important for compliance of Bahrain VAT Law. In this blog, we are summarizing, the important contents required in a Tax Invoice under Bahrain VAT Law, Tax Invoice Format etc.

What is a Tax Invoice?

Tax Invoice is an invoice issued for taxable supply for goods & services. Tax Invoice is the primary evidence for a recipient to claim the input tax credit.

What are the Different Types of Tax Invoices in Bahrain?

According to the National Bureau of Taxation, there will be two kinds of invoices for VAT in Bahrain.  Those are Simplified Tax Invoice, Bank Statements.

1. Simplified Tax Invoice: Registrants making sales for an amount less than BHD 500 will require sellers to issue a simplified tax invoice. Mainly supermarkets, restaurants and other retail industries will have to prepare Simplified Tax Invoices or while selling to an unregistered customer will require sellers to issue a simplified tax invoice. Registrants making sales for an amount more than BHD 500 will have to issue a detailed Tax invoice.

2. Bank Statement: In certain cases, even bank statement will be treated as Tax Invoice under Bahrain VAT Law (Conditions are mentioned below)

What is the Information to be included in a Detailed Tax Invoice? A detailed Tax Invoice should include all the following information:

• The words “Tax Invoice” clearly stated
• The name and address of the Customer.
• The name, address of the Taxable Person
• The Registration Number
• The date of issue of the Tax Invoice and the date of Supply or date of payment, if different
• A sequential invoice numbers
• A description of the Goods or Services
• The Number of Goods supplied
• Value of the Supply & Unit price exclusive of Tax in BHD
• The value of the discount, if any, and the net value in BHD
• Rate and Amount of Tax
• Total amount due on the Supply inclusive of Tax in Dinars.
• The exchange rate applied where a currency other than the Dinar is used

However, Tax invoices can be issued either in Arabic or English. However, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) the Tax Invoice shall be issued only in Arabic.  A supplier should issue a Tax Invoice by the 15^th day from the end of the month in which the supply took place. Where the invoices are issued other than in Dinar, the Taxable person should also mention the exchange rate and should mention the Dinar value as well. Where a Taxable Person issues a copy or several copies of the original Tax Invoice. The statement “Duplicate of Original” must be displayed on every copy.

And input tax thereon can be claimed only using the original Tax Invoice. And if the original tax invoice is lost/ damaged, the Supplier may issue a duplicate invoice with a statement mentioning that it has been issued to replace the original Tax Invoice. If a supplier who makes several Supplies for a single Customer during a period of one month may issue a summarized Tax Invoice which will be treated as a Tax Invoice, which should follow all the conditions for a Tax Invoice stipulated in the Law and the Regulations.

What is the Information to be Included in a Simplified Tax Invoice?

The Simplified Tax Invoice should include all the following information:

• The name, address of the Taxable Person and Registration Number
• The date of issue of the Invoice.
• A description of the Goods or Services
• The total value of the Supply in Dinars, inclusive of Tax.
• The rate and amount of Tax applicable in Dinars.
• A description of the Goods or Services

However, the Simplified Tax invoices can be issued only in the case when the customer is unregistered in the Kingdom of Bahrain or the Supply is less than the BHD 500.

Whether there is a Provision in Bahrain VAT Law to Issue Tax Invoice on Behalf of Supplier?

Yes.  A taxable customer from a taxable supplier has the right to issue a Tax invoice on behalf of the supplier if the following conditions are satisfied.

• There is an agreement in writing between both parties relating to the issue of Tax Invoices by the Customer.
• The Supplier undertakes not to issue any Tax Invoice relating to the specific transaction.
• There is a mechanism whereby the Supplier is able to approve every Tax Invoice issued by the Customer on his behalf.
• The Tax Invoice clearly indicates that it is issued by the Customer on behalf of the Supplier.
• The Customer retains a copy of every Tax Invoice issued on behalf of the Supplier.
• The invoice issued by the Customer on behalf of the Supplier meets all the conditions for a Tax Invoice provided in the Law and the Regulations that we mentioned above.

Bank Statements As per Clause I of Article 52 of the Executive Regulation of the VAT Law, a Bank statement shall be treated as a Tax Invoice if it contains the following information:

• Name, Address and Registration number of the bank in Bahrain
• Name and Address of the customer
• The date of issue of the bank statement
• The Tax rate applicable to every supply
• The amount of Tax on every supply

This has been a welcoming addition to the Bahrain law as it will enable registrants to claim Input tax based on the Bank statements issued by banks unlike in UAE, where Input tax recovery is possible only by obtaining a proper tax invoice which affected the input claims of registrants.

What is the Penalty for Non-Compliance Related to Issue of Tax Invoice?

If any person who has done with the non-compliance related to issuing of a Tax invoice there will be an administrative penalty of BHD 5,000. Emirates Chartered Accountants Group offers TAX Services in Bahrain to the clients by giving them proper guidance and assisting them to comply with the new TAX provisions in Bahrain. For VAT Registration, VAT Advisory, VAT Implementation, VAT Return Filing Services in the Bahrain please contact our below representative

For VAT Services in Bahrain
Contact Person: 
Mr Bichinraj 
Email: br@emiratesca.com 
Mobile: +973 – 3619 8998 
 +971 – 50 629 0615