Oman is moving to mandatory electronic invoicing under a program the Oman Tax Authority (OTA) calls Fawtara. If your business is registered for VAT in Oman, this will affect how you issue, transmit, and store every tax invoice you raise — starting in 2027.
This guide covers what Fawtara actually requires, the exact dates that apply to your business, the technical model behind it, and how to prepare — with every claim traceable to an official source.
What is Fawtara?
Fawtara is the Oman Tax Authority's electronic invoicing program. Rather than inventing a bespoke national e-invoicing format, Oman adopted the international Peppol network — the same interoperability framework already used for e-invoicing across the EU, Singapore, Australia, and a growing list of other countries — and layered Oman-specific rules on top of it.
Concretely, OTA was formally approved as a Peppol Authority on 7 January 2026, making it the government body responsible for accrediting Access Point providers and Service Metadata Publishers inside Oman's Peppol network. That approval is what makes the rest of this guide possible: it's the reason Oman's e-invoicing model runs on Peppol infrastructure and PINT-OM document formats, not a closed government portal.
The legal basis
Two separate pieces of legislation matter here, and it's worth keeping them distinct:
- Royal Decree No. 121/2020 — issued 12 October 2020, published in the Official Gazette on 18 October 2020 — is Oman's Value Added Tax Law. It's the foundation for VAT in Oman generally, and — specifically relevant here — Article 70 sets the record-retention requirements that apply to every tax invoice, electronic or not (see Archiving, below).
- Tax Authority Decision No. 189/2026 — published in Official Gazette No. 1660 on 9 August 2026 — is the instrument that actually creates the binding e-invoicing obligation. It amends the VAT Law's Executive Regulation and is where the Phase 1 / Phase 2 dates below come from.
If you see other sources citing a different decision number or an earlier draft timeline, check the publication date — Oman's e-invoicing timeline was revised more than once before Decision 189/2026 locked it in, and older articles online haven't all been updated.
The network model: Peppol PINT-OM
Fawtara doesn't just require you to email a PDF — it requires invoices to move through a structured, machine-readable network using Peppol International (PINT) invoicing tailored for Oman — "PINT-OM".
The full model has more moving parts than the standard 4-corner Peppol diagram most guides show:
- C1 → C2: the supplier sends the invoice to their own Access Point provider.
- C2 → C3: that Access Point delivers it to the buyer's Access Point.
- C3 → C4: the buyer's Access Point delivers it to the buyer.
- C2 → C5 → C6 and C3 → C5 → C6: independently of delivery, both the supplier's and the buyer's Access Points also submit a Tax Data Document (TDD) to a Tax-Authority-facing Access Point (C5), which forwards it to OTA itself (C6).
That last part matters and is easy to miss: every invoice requires a TDD submission to OTA, regardless of whether the buyer is on the Peppol network or not. Reporting to the tax authority isn't a side effect of delivery succeeding — it's a separate, mandatory flow.
Phase 1 and Phase 2: which one applies to you
Decision 189/2026 splits the mandate into two phases, determined purely by turnover — not by industry or business type:
| Phase | Effective date | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | 1 April 2027 | Businesses with annual taxable supplies above OMR 5 million |
| Phase 2 | 1 October 2027 | Businesses with annual taxable supplies below OMR 5 million |
If your business's annual taxable turnover is above OMR 5 million, you have until 1 April 2027. Everyone else has until 1 October 2027. There's no separate small-business exemption published yet — smaller businesses aren't exempt, they're simply on the later phase.
The required format
Two formats travel together for every invoice:
- A machine-readable XML file, structured as UBL 2.1 under the PINT-OM customization — this is the document that actually moves through the Peppol network and gets validated.
- A human-readable PDF, generated as PDF/A-3 — the archival PDF standard, which allows the underlying XML to be embedded inside the PDF itself so a human-readable copy and the machine-readable original travel together.
This isn't a "pick one" choice — compliant invoices carry both.
Archiving: how long you have to keep records
This is where Royal Decree 121/2020 comes back in. Article 70 of the VAT Law sets retention periods for tax invoices, accounting records, and related customs documents:
- 10 years from the end of the tax year in which the relevant VAT return was filed, for most businesses.
- 15 years for records relating to real estate — a longer window than the general rule, reflecting how long property-related tax questions can stay open.
This obligation exists independently of Fawtara — it applies today, under the VAT Law, regardless of when your business moves onto e-invoicing. What Fawtara adds is that the record you're retaining is now a structured PINT-OM document plus its PDF/A-3 companion, not just a PDF or paper copy.
What this means in practice — and what's still to be confirmed
A few things OTA has not published in detail as of this writing, and that we're deliberately not guessing at: a full, itemized exemption list beyond the OMR 5 million phase split, and penalty amounts for non-compliance. Where you see either claimed elsewhere with specific figures, treat it as unconfirmed until you can trace it back to OTA's own guidance directly — we'll update this guide as OTA publishes more.
How to prepare
- Confirm which phase applies to you. Check your business's annual taxable turnover against the OMR 5 million threshold — that single number decides between 1 April 2027 and 1 October 2027. See our Phase 1 vs Phase 2 self-check for a quick answer.
- Choose how you'll connect to the Peppol network. You need either your own certified Access Point (a significant engineering and certification undertaking) or a relationship with an accredited Access Point / service provider who handles that connection on your behalf.
- Confirm your provider actually produces PINT-OM XML plus PDF/A-3 — not generic UBL, and not a PDF-only invoice. Genuinely compliant output is specific to this spec, not "e-invoicing in general." See our PINT-OM & UBL 2.1 explainer for what that actually means.
- Plan your archiving, not just your issuance. A provider that generates a compliant invoice but doesn't retain it correctly for 10 (or 15, for real estate) years leaves you exposed later, even if every invoice was compliant on the day it was issued.
- Look for accreditation, not just a sales claim. See our companion guide on what OTA accreditation actually requires before choosing a provider.
Where Sumu fits
Sumu is an invoicing platform built for the Oman market specifically — not a generic global platform with Oman bolted on. As of September 2026, Sumu holds:
- ISO 27001 certification
- Fawtara certification
- Peppol Access Point Certified Provider status
These are the same categories of accreditation this guide recommends checking for in any provider — Sumu names them here as a concrete example of what a compliant, accredited setup actually looks like, not as an exhaustive claim beyond what those certifications cover.
Further reading
- Fawtara Timeline & Phases Explained — the Phase 1 / Phase 2 self-check
- What Is an OTA-Accredited Service Provider — how to verify a provider's claim
- PINT-OM & UBL 2.1 Explained — the required invoice format, in detail
- Penalties & Risks of Fawtara Non-Compliance — what's actually at stake
- E-Invoicing for SMEs: The Phase 2 Survival Guide — a non-enterprise prep plan
- How to Choose an E-Invoicing Provider in Oman — 7 criteria to evaluate any vendor by
FAQ
Is Fawtara mandatory for every VAT-registered business in Oman? Yes, on a phased basis. Turnover above OMR 5 million moves on 1 April 2027; everyone else moves on 1 October 2027.
Can I just send a PDF invoice by email and call it compliant? No. A compliant invoice is a PINT-OM UBL 2.1 XML document (delivered over the Peppol network, with a Tax Data Document separately reported to OTA) accompanied by a PDF/A-3 human-readable copy — not a plain PDF sent by email.
What happens if my buyer isn't set up for e-invoicing yet? The Tax Data Document reporting obligation to OTA (via C5 → C6) applies regardless of whether the buyer's side of the exchange is ready — reporting to OTA isn't conditional on the buyer receiving the invoice through Peppol.
How long do I need to keep e-invoices? 10 years generally, 15 years for real estate-related records, under Article 70 of Royal Decree 121/2020 — this applies regardless of whether the record is electronic or paper.
Does Oman have its own e-invoicing format, separate from the rest of the world? Not a bespoke one. Oman adopted Peppol, the same international network standard used elsewhere, with a country-specific customization (PINT-OM) rather than a closed proprietary system.
Unfamiliar term? Check our Oman e-invoicing glossary.
Sources: Oman Tax Authority (Peppol Authority approval, 7 January 2026); Tax Authority Decision No. 189/2026, Official Gazette No. 1660 (9 August 2026); Royal Decree No. 121/2020, Value Added Tax Law, Official Gazette (18 October 2020); docs.peppol.eu/poac/om.
