Bahrain eliminates tax authority approval requirement for e-invoice issuance

According to the updated VAT General Guide issued by the Bahrain National Bureau for Revenue (NBR), VAT registered persons are no longer required to obtain the tax authority’s approval to issue and retain invoices, credit and debit notes and other documents that register supplies of goods and services in electronic form (e.g. pdf).

Although the Bahraini government announced the preliminary stages towards the introduction of a mandatory e-invoicing system in mid-2022, this has not yet taken effect.

Timeline

The new rules were published on November 16, 2023 and are effective immediately.

Impact

VAT registered persons in Bahrain are now able to digitise their billing processes without needing to obtain prior approval from the authorities. With this, the NBR seems to have chosen to take initial steps to streamline the digitisation of invoicing in the country, until e-invoicing becomes mandatory.