The UAE's Federal Tax Authority (FTA), together with Planet Tax Free, has launched an AI-powered digital platform for tourist VAT refunds: airport steps now take minutes and the refund lands on a tourist's card within one business day — down from about nine.
The launch was announced on October 20, 2026. The platform is live at three UAE international airports — Zayed International (Abu Dhabi), Dubai International and Sharjah International. The FTA bills it as the world's first integrated, AI-powered digital platform for tourist tax refunds.
What the FTA actually launched
The platform replaces the paper-based parts of the old refund flow. The tourist works through Planet's app: digital registration, facial recognition, photos of a passport and a refund card. The system then automatically cross-checks the purchase and travel data and clears the refund.
The FTA frames the rollout as part of the UAE's drive to move all business and citizen interactions with the government fully into digital form. The agency and Planet launched the world's first fully digital tourist VAT refund scheme back in 2022; e-commerce purchases were added in December 2024. The October 20, 2026 launch is the next step: AI closes the manual-review loop that used to be the bottleneck.
How it looks to the tourist
A tourist registers once inside the Planet app — face scan, passport, refund card. On the way out of the country, they clear the airport steps quickly (minutes, per the FTA). Where purchases do not require a physical check, the refund is finalised inside the app with no counter queue. The money arrives on the card within one business day — against roughly nine days under the previous flow.
What it means for retailers and expat founders in the UAE
For a store already enrolled through Planet, a faster refund is a direct conversion lever. A tourist standing at a till in Mall of the Emirates or Dubai Festival City is far more comfortable adding another item to the basket when the refund hits their card tomorrow rather than nearly two weeks later. At the underlying 5% VAT level nothing changes for the retailer — the platform runs on top of the existing Planet operator flow and does not force a POS reconfiguration.
For an expat opening a retail or F&B business in the Emirates, enrolment into the tourist VAT refund scheme goes through the authorised operator Planet Tax Free, not through a separate FTA integration. Per FTA data, more than 19,000 UAE retail outlets were already connected to the scheme by August 2026.
Context: the UAE's tax-free retail stack
The AI launch sits inside a larger picture — the UAE as a tax-friendly jurisdiction for business and a tax-free destination for tourists. Companies pay a 9% corporate tax on profits above AED 375,000, with Small Business Relief available for lower-turnover firms; residents pay 5% VAT; tourists get most of that VAT back on departure. Separately, FTA Decision No. 11 of 2026 took effect on July 12, 2026, trimming the per-claim fixed fee and raising the per-tourist 24-hour cash refund ceiling.
For Garant's practical checklist, the tourist VAT refund line now carries real weight. A client opening a tourist-oriented retail or F&B shop in the UAE should plug into the Planet scheme on day one — with the October 20, 2026 AI platform in production, the time to refund becomes a visible edge at the till.
