Middle East legal invoices change by country, currency, and tax rule. Everhour connects billable time to invoicing.
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A regional legal bill answers a practical invoice question: how much should the client pay for approved lawyer time, billable expenses, and applicable tax in the relevant Middle East country. The fee base starts with hours multiplied by rates. The invoice total then changes by currency, tax treatment, discounts, write-downs, and contract terms.
The Middle East has no single VAT, GST, sales-tax, currency, or private legal-bill payment-term rule. Even within the GCC, the VAT agreement is a framework that must be transposed into each member state's domestic law. GCC invoices also use local currencies such as SAR, AED, QAR, BHD, OMR, and KWD rather than one shared regional currency.
Start with approved billable hours by role, multiply each block by its agreed hourly rate, add approved billable expenses, then apply the country-specific tax treatment. For a taxable UAE attorney-service invoice, use the UAE treatment instead of a regional rate; taxable supplies of goods or services made by a business may be taxed at 5% or 0%.
For example, a UAE matter includes 27 partner review hours at AED 900, 18 associate research hours at AED 550, and AED 730 in approved filing expenses. Fees equal AED 24,300 plus AED 9,900. The taxable subtotal is AED 34,930. At 5% VAT, tax is AED 1,746.50, and the invoice total is AED 36,676.50.
The most important regional decision is choosing the correct country rule before adding tax. Saudi Arabia's current standard VAT rate shown by ZATCA is 15%. Oman charges VAT on taxable goods and services supplied by VAT-registered businesses at a standard 5% rate. Bahrain applies a 10% standard VAT rate from January 1, 2022, and its NBR examples classify legal services as standard-rated services.
Jordan's General Sales Tax applies to the import or supply of goods and services at a standard rate of 16% unless the supply is non-taxable, exempt, or subject to another listed rate. Egypt's VAT law sets the standard VAT rate on goods and services at 14% from FY 2017/2018 and lists professional and consultancy services in the attached table at 10%. Qatar's General Tax Authority tax-information page currently shows no VAT category.
A one-off calculation is enough when you have approved hours, agreed rates, a known local currency, clear billable expenses, and a confirmed tax treatment for the invoice country. It works for checking a draft invoice, validating a subtotal, or comparing a write-down against the original billable value before the invoice is finalized.
A managed workflow is better when lawyers track time across matters, non-billable work must stay out of invoices, and invoice data needs a handoff to accounting. Everhour Billing & Invoicing turns tracked billable time and expenses into invoices, calculates amounts from rates while excluding non-billable work, and exports invoices to QuickBooks Online, Xero, or FreshBooks with status synced back.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
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Multiply each approved time block by its agreed hourly rate, add approved billable expenses, and then apply the tax treatment for the invoice country. Do not apply one regional VAT rate across the Middle East. The country named on the invoice controls the currency, tax category, and rate.
The GCC VAT framework sets a basic 5% rate for supplies of goods and services unless a zero-rate or exemption applies, but each member state implements the framework through domestic law. That is why a Saudi invoice can use a 15% standard VAT rate while an Oman invoice can use 5%.
Use the currency required by the engagement, client contract, and invoicing country. GCC legal invoices are not issued in a shared regional currency. Common GCC currencies include Saudi riyal, Emirati dirham, Qatari riyal, Bahraini dinar, Omani rial, and Kuwaiti dinar.
The common mistake is calculating the fee base correctly but adding tax under the wrong country rule. A taxable UAE professional-service invoice generally needs UAE VAT treatment, while Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, and Qatar have different published tax positions or categories.
Treat expenses according to the invoice country, the engagement terms, and the local tax treatment for pass-through costs or recoverable disbursements. The calculator math should keep expenses as separate lines before tax so the reviewer can confirm which items belong in the taxable base.
Everhour Billing & Invoicing converts tracked billable time and expenses into invoices, calculates invoice amounts from rates, and excludes non-billable work. Invoice data can be exported to QuickBooks Online, Xero, or FreshBooks, with invoice status synced back to Everhour.
Everhour supports project, member, and custom task rates, so different legal roles or matter phases can carry different billable rates. Rate changes can be dated, which keeps older reports tied to the rates that applied when the work was performed.
Move recurring regional billing out of manual spreadsheets. Everhour converts tracked billable time and expenses into invoices, excludes non-billable work, and keeps invoice status visible for cleaner billing operations.
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