THE NEW ERA OF TAX COMPLIANCE: BUILDING A UNIFIED, FUTURE-READY DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

Exclusive interview with Debashish Guha Roy, Director, Covoro^TM

COVORO YouCloud marked its presence as Diamond Sponsor at the Tax Technology Summit 2025, held on 06 December in Dubai, where a joint venture between the companies formally showcased its FTA-aligned e-invoicing and tax compliance platform. The event served as a key platform to highlight YouCloud’s unified approach to tax digitisation, featuring seamless ERP integrations, real-time validation, and end-to-end compliance capabilities designed for enterprises preparing for the UAE’s national e-invoicing mandate. With a strong emphasis on local delivery, in-country data hosting, and enterprise-grade security, COVORO YouCloud demonstrated how organisations can transition from standalone invoicing tools to a fully integrated, future-ready compliance ecosystem.

You mentioned that YouCloud offers a one-stop solution covering invoicing, accounts payable, reconciliation, analytics, legislation management, and tax filing. After this event, what key takeaways were you hoping the audience would leave with?

Our primary objective was to formally announce the new joint venture in the UAE market and make it clear that there is now a new local player offering a complete, end-to-end platform.

Many competitors operate in this space, but most of them deliver from outside the country or rely on offshore support models. Our key differentiator is local delivery, local data hosting, and in-country support. We wanted the audience to understand that this is not just an invoicing solution. It is a comprehensive compliance and finance ecosystem.

Another important takeaway was helping enterprises think beyond solving a single problem. Compliance is not static. What starts as invoicing quickly evolves into reconciliation, analytics, filing, litigation management, and financing enablement. That is what we have already built.

The audience at the event was extremely knowledgeable, which made communication easier. They understood the challenges ahead and could immediately see the value of a unified platform.

How do you see the broader GCC tax digitisation journey evolving in 2025 and 2026?

Globally, Europe set the precedent with the PEPPOL standard, which allows interoperability across countries. A similar journey is unfolding in the GCC.

Saudi Arabia follows its own model and is not PEPPOL-based. The UAE has adopted a PEPPOL-based framework, and Oman is expected to follow next. Over time, we will see the emergence of a GCC-wide tax interoperability framework.

This will enable smoother inter-country transactions, simplified VAT refunds, and unified compliance processes. Similar to how consumers today can claim VAT refunds easily when travelling, enterprises will experience a much simpler, more transparent system.

Because transaction records sit with tax authorities, validation becomes easier. This enables cross-border supplier financing, trade financing, and smoother compliance overall.

How do you see technology, especially AI, shaping the next phase of this journey?

Technology, particularly AI, will play a critical role in automating end-to-end compliance. It will significantly reduce errors, remove delays, and improve accuracy.

From a CFO’s perspective, AI-driven systems ensure real-time visibility, timely compliance, and reduced manual intervention. Processes that once required paperwork, reconciliation, and repetitive validation will become automated and real-time.

This directly improves compliance quality and decision-making while lowering risk.

How does YouCloud address security and privacy concerns for large enterprises?

Security and data privacy are foundational for us. YouCloud is ISO certified, GDPR-compliant, and fully aligned with the UAE’s National Information Assurance Framework (NIAF).

From day one, our approach has been sovereign by design. All data is hosted in-country. There is no external cloud hosting, no offshore disaster recovery, and no remote support from outside the UAE.

This has always been a core requirement for us, especially given our long-term presence in the region. Enterprises and government entities need assurance that their data remains within national boundaries and under strict regulatory control.

How does your solution help CFOs and senior decision-makers manage complexity?

• CFOs typically face three major challenges:
• Conducting accurate risk and gap assessments
• Implementing solutions efficiently
• Ensuring scalability for future requirements

By offering a single, end-to-end platform, we significantly reduce this burden. CFOs do not need to evaluate separate tools for invoicing, accounts receivable, analytics, or compliance reporting.

Everything operates within one framework, with one dashboard, one data model, and one compliance architecture. This simplifies decision-making and provides clear, real-time visibility across all financial and compliance functions.

Could you briefly explain how some of your core modules work, such as e-invoicing and accounts payable?

The e-invoicing module collects invoice data from various ERP and accounting systems and converts it into the format required by the Federal Tax Authority (FTA).

Each ERP or accounting system produces data in a different format, while the FTA expects a standardised structure. YouCloud acts as an intelligent adaptor, performing data homogenisation. If mandatory data is missing, the system flags it and sends it back for correction. Only validated, compliant data is submitted to the FTA.

For accounts payable, the focus is on managing input and output VAT accurately. Traditional processes require manual extraction, spreadsheet matching, and reconciliation. Our platform automates this process by validating transactional data in real time, removing the need for manual intervention and reducing reconciliation errors.

Where do you see YouCloud’s growth in the UAE and GCC over the coming years?

In the UAE alone, we are targeting at least a 20% market share, which represents a significant volume of invoices and transactions.

The initial phase focuses on B2B and B2G transactions above the AED 50 million threshold. The next phase will expand to all enterprises, followed by retail and B2C transactions.

Retail presents the most complex compliance challenge due to volume and diversity. To address this, we are developing a hardware-based solution for retailers. Many small retailers are not equipped to manage API integrations, so we provide a simple plug-and-play device that connects to their existing systems and links directly to our backend.

This approach removes complexity for small businesses while ensuring full compliance. The B2C phase will generate the highest invoice volumes and is the most challenging, but it is also where our combined hardware and software strategy will set us apart.