Finalising e-invoicing solution provider: Let us talk on what you should look for

Mandatory e-invoicing is almost here with go-live January 1, 2027, with businesses above Dh50 million to appoint an Accredited Service Provider by October 30, 2026. Most advice asks who to pick. After years of running tax across multiple regions, now building the technology, the better question is what to look for, a decision you live with for years.

Under the five-corner model, the ASP plays a central role in the secure exchange of governed data between businesses and the regulator. The Ministry of Finance has set a clear and forward-looking framework for adoption. Within that framework, selecting the right provider is less about marketing and more about prudent due diligence.  Few things are worth weighing.

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Governance and operating model

Accreditation is the floor test for operations, not the governance finish line. Behind it should sit real structure, clear ownership, defined leadership, processes that survive any one person. You are not buying a quarter's licence; you are appointing a custodian for years. The test is whether it carries a multi-year obligation as steadily in month thirty as week one.

Local accountability and support

Engineering can sit offshore, much of the world's best compliance tech does. You need someone accountable here and support you can reach when it counts. The real test is never the demo; it is the Tuesday before go-live when something breaks and you need a name to reach and ensure it ability to perform.

Data stewardship and controls

Invoice data is among the most sensitive you hold; use it only as entrusted. Read the data control terms carefully, where data sits, who accesses it, how it's protected, what rights you keep and watch anything on analytics, benchmarking for your use or any form of secondary use. Your data should never be quietly sold back to someone else for consumption.

Commitment and direction

Some arrived for the moment, not the long road but chasing the new regime, not where tax is heading. Ask what its platform looks like in 2028, what it is the intent of evolution, whether the purpose of evolution meets your considerations or contrary.  A clear answer signals a builder; none signals someone renting the wave, likely gone when it breaks or lacks enough traction.

So, who must it be? A pure-play technology provider, one that treats e-invoicing as survival, not a side hustle. I have watched multi-line houses back out of tech the moment it got hard; for them it was optional scale, never survival-instinct scale. A pure-play builder has nowhere to retreat: the platform is the whole business, so it keeps building when others quietly step back.  A pure-play tax-technology ecosystem that built to keep your data governed and your compliance current, with an agile playbook that moves as the mandates move. The question is long after the deadline has passed, who you will still trust with your data and how it evolves with your intention.

— Kalaiarasan Manoharan is Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Complyance.io and the former Vice-President of Group Taxation in the e-commerce space. The views expressed are personal.