Asking your customers for their details: a ready-to-send email and form

In short

Your eInvoices need tax numbers and licence details that most customer records do not hold yet. The fastest way to get them is to ask every business customer now, in one short email. Your finance team sends it, tracks the replies in the Buyer Master, and chases anyone who has not answered.

Why eInvoicing needs it

Each eInvoice is delivered to the customer's network address, the Peppol ID: the code 0235 followed by the customer's 10-digit Tax Identification Number (TIN). The Ministry of Finance Guidelines make the supplier responsible for contacting the buyer and collecting this number. Your eInvoicing service provider then looks it up and delivers the invoice.

The eInvoice also carries the buyer's legal name, Tax Registration Number (TRN) or licence details, and address with emirate. These come from documents only the customer holds, so you need to ask.

Your customers have the same deadline as you. A business in scope of eInvoicing must appoint a service provider and receive its invoices electronically. Most will be glad of a clear list.

What good looks like

Copy this email, add your company name, and send it to each business customer's finance contact.

Subject: eInvoicing: please confirm your company details

Dear [customer name],

The UAE is moving to eInvoicing. From our go-live date, our invoices to you will be sent as eInvoices over the UAE eInvoicing network, to your company's network address (Peppol ID).

To set this up, please send us:

1. A copy of your current trade licence.
2. Your VAT registration certificate, if you are registered for VAT.
3. Your 10-digit Tax Identification Number (TIN). You can find it in your EmaraTax account; a screenshot is fine. If you have already linked with an eInvoicing service provider, its confirmation email works too.
4. The finance email address where you want invoice queries to go.

If your company is part of a VAT group, please send the TIN of your own company, not the group's.

You can fill in the short form below instead, and attach the documents. A reply by [date, two weeks from today] would help us a great deal.

Thank you, [Your name], [Your company]

The form to attach or paste below the email:

Field	Your details
Legal name (exactly as on the trade licence)
Trade licence number
Licence issuing authority
Registered address (street, building, area)
City
Emirate
Tax Registration Number (15 digits), if VAT registered
Tax Identification Number (10 digits)
Where you found the TIN (EmaraTax, provider email, other)
Member of a VAT group? (yes or no)
Finance contact name and email

For overseas customers, change the form: ask for the legal name, street address, city, region, country, and their national tax number or company registration number. They do not need a TIN.

How to fix it in Tally

Tally is where the answers end up, not where you track the chase.

1. When a reply arrives, open the customer: Alt+G (Go To) > Alter > Ledger.
2. Enter the legal name, address, emirate and country from the trade licence.
3. Under VAT registration details, set the Registration type and enter the TRN.
4. Check the TIN Tally shows against the TIN the customer sent, and overwrite it if it differs.
5. Set Party registered on PEPPOL to Yes and enter 0235: followed by the TIN.
6. Save with Ctrl+A.

To see who is still missing details, use Alt+G > Update Party TRN, then F8 to list only the parties with gaps.

How to fix it in Excel or another system

Add three tracking columns to your Buyer Master sheet:

Column	Format	Example
Request sent	Date	2026-10-20
Status	Sent, Chased, Received, No reply	Received
Documents received	Text	Licence, VAT certificate, EmaraTax screenshot

Filter on Status every week. Chase anyone still at Sent after two weeks: a phone call to their finance team works better than a second email. Note the date of each chase.

If you use an ERP, keep the same three fields on the customer record, or track them in a spreadsheet next to it.

Customers who never reply. Do not guess their numbers, and do not copy the first 10 digits of their TRN. Mark them No reply and send the list to Calculus staff. If a customer is already registered on the UAE eInvoicing network, its Peppol ID can be found in the UAE Peppol directory. If it is not registered yet, the Guidelines set a fixed endpoint, 0235:9900000098, for tax invoices to that buyer. Calculus staff confirm this with you before your first invoice to that customer.

Checklist

• Email sent to every business customer, with the form attached
• Separate version sent to overseas customers
• Tracking columns added to the Buyer Master
• Non-responders chased after two weeks
• No-reply list sent to Calculus staff, with no guessed numbers

The law

• MoF UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines V1.1, section 5.2: the supplier contacts the buyer and collects its Peppol participant identifier; the service provider looks it up. Section 3: the identifier is 0235 followed by the 10-digit TIN. Section 6.2: supplies to natural persons not in business are out of scope. mof.gov.ae
• Ministerial Decision No. 243 of 2025 on the Electronic Invoicing System, Article 5(1) (issuers and recipients appoint an Accredited Service Provider) and Article 6(3) (the recipient processes eInvoices through the system). mof.gov.ae
• MoF UAE Electronic Invoice mandatory fields, sections 4.1 and 4.2: buyer fields on every eInvoice. mof.gov.ae