Bahrain
The 10% rate, the registration thresholds and what the National Bureau for Revenue requires on a VAT invoice, including the one field unique to construction.
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The figures
| Item | Value | Detail and source |
|---|---|---|
| Standard VAT rate | 10% | VAT began at 5% on 1 January 2019 and was revised to 10% with effect from 1 January 2022. Comparisons written before 2022 are out of date. [1] |
| Mandatory registration threshold | BHD 37,500 | Exceeding this figure requires registration. [1] |
| Voluntary registration threshold | BHD 18,750 | Measured over the previous 12 months or the next 12 months, and may be based on VAT-bearing expenses rather than supplies. [1] |
| Invoice issue deadline | 15th of the following month | Invoices must be issued by the fifteenth of the month after the month in which a VAT due date was triggered. [1] |
| Currency on the invoice | BHD | Values, VAT amounts and totals are shown in Bahraini dinars, with the exchange rate stated where a foreign currency is used. [1] |
Section 10.3 of the NBR's VAT General Guide sets out what a full VAT invoice must show. A simplified VAT invoice needs a subset of these. [1]
E-invoicing
We can find no e-invoicing scheme, phase or date published by the National Bureau for Revenue. Its VAT General Guide, updated in July 2026, does not mention electronic invoicing at all, and its publications index lists no e-invoicing guide. Commentary elsewhere describes a business-to-business system in design for a possible phased launch, but nothing on the Bureau's own site supports a date, so we do not publish one. If you are planning a system change, plan it on the invoice-content rules above, which are current and published, rather than on an anticipated mandate. [1]
Getting it right
The first is the rate history. Bahrain moved from five percent to ten percent on 1 January 2022, so any template, price list or comparison article written before that is wrong, and the mistake survives quietly in old quotation templates. The second is the issue deadline. Bahrain does not just say an invoice must be issued, it says by when: the fifteenth of the month following the month in which the VAT due date was triggered. A business that invoices whenever the paperwork is ready can be late without ever noticing it is late.
الفواتير
4 فواتير · مايو 2026
Invoices
4 invoices · May 2026
चालान
4 चालान · मई 2026
চালান
4 চালান · মে 2026
انوائسز
4 انوائسز · مئی 2026
Sector detail
Bahrain's invoice content rules carry one requirement that has no equivalent elsewhere in the Gulf: for supplies relating to the construction of a new building, the invoice must show the building permit number. It is easy to miss because it sits inside the general description requirement rather than as a headline field, and it is the kind of omission that is only discovered when an invoice is queried months later. If you work in contracting, put the permit number in your line description template rather than trusting anyone to remember it.
الفواتير
4 فواتير · مايو 2026
Invoices
4 invoices · May 2026
चालान
4 चालान · मई 2026
চালান
4 চালান · মে 2026
انوائسز
4 انوائسز · مئی 2026
Questions
Every figure and field list on this page is taken from the document linked below, published by the tax authority itself. We do not publish a rate, a threshold or a deadline that we cannot point at.
Tax rules change. Before you rely on anything here, check the current position with National Bureau for Revenue (NBR).
Set the rate yourself, show VAT per line, and keep the fields the Bureau asks for in a template you do not have to remember.
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