A finance manager messaged me last week, frustrated.
His company had received an invoice from a UAE supplier addressed to a sister entity inside the same VAT group — but the supplier had used the parent company's name on the invoice. The supplier said: "All good, the TRN is the same."
It was not all good.
Here is what was happening
His company belongs to a VAT group. The Group TRN is registered in the name of the representative member only — not his entity. So when an outside supplier invoices anyone in the group, they correctly use the Group TRN, but they often default to the representative member's name on the invoice itself.
That fails Article 59 of the VAT Executive Regulations. A tax invoice must show the actual recipient of the supply — the entity that contracted, took delivery, and bore the cost. The TRN is shared. The recipient details are not.
What I corrected
- Asked the supplier to reissue with my client's entity name and address as the recipient, but with the Group TRN.
- Aligned the supplier's master data so future invoices default correctly.
- Updated the client's input-VAT review checklist — recipient name and address must match the actual contracting entity, even when the TRN is shared.
The lesson: a Group TRN does not entitle anyone to put the wrong name on a tax invoice.
Are your supplier invoices addressed to the right entity in your VAT group? Worth a sample check this week.
A version of this post was first shared on LinkedIn. Names and figures are anonymised. This is general information, not advice for your business.