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15 March 2017
By Yasmine Saleh
The United Arab Emirates’ finance ministry said on Wednesday it will start running a series of workshops starting this month to educate the business community on the new value-added tax (VAT) which is expected to be implemented on January 1, 2018.
The ministry said on its website and Twitter account that the first phase of the awareness sessions would cover VAT and excise tax implementation. It said there will be special sessions for small and medium enterprises.
Younis Al-Khouri, under-secretary at the finance ministry told Zawya in an interview last month that a 5 percent VAT is expected to be implemented simultaneously across the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) starting January. He said VAT would apply to companies with annual revenues exceeding $100,000 and anticipated a compliance rate of around 95 percent for companies in the UAE in the initial stage. (Read more here)
Companies can register for the tax awareness workshops through the ministry website. The first session will take place on March 21 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dubai Festival City and other workshops will run in April and May.
According to the ministry website, businesses that meet the requirement criteria will be able to start registering for VAT three months before the new tax is launched.
A source familiar with the workshops told Zawya on Tuesday that companies will be allowed to register as of “the beginning of the fourth quarter or maybe the end of the third one”.
A recent survey by consultancy EY of 500 participants representing businesses operating in the GCC showed that half of those surveyed have not yet started preparations for VAT, while 29 percent have studied some of the new VAT provisions. (Read more here)
The GCC agreed in 2016 to introduce VAT as a means to diversify government revenue sources and reduce reliance on crude oil exports after oil prices took a sharp drop starting mid-2014.
Al-Khouri had said the UAE is expected to generate around 12 billion dirhams ($3.3 billion) in revenue from VAT in the first year, the equivalent of 0.9 percent of the country’s gross domestic product which stood at $371 billion in 2015, according to official data.
Click here for Zawya’s Special Coverage on the introduction of VAT in the GCC
(Additional reporting by Reem Wafai and Megha Merani)
© Zawya 2017
By Yasmine Saleh
The United Arab Emirates’ finance ministry said on Wednesday it will start running a series of workshops starting this month to educate the business community on the new value-added tax (VAT) which is expected to be implemented on January 1, 2018.
The ministry said on its website and Twitter account that the first phase of the awareness sessions would cover VAT and excise tax implementation. It said there will be special sessions for small and medium enterprises.
Younis Al-Khouri, under-secretary at the finance ministry told Zawya in an interview last month that a 5 percent VAT is expected to be implemented simultaneously across the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) starting January. He said VAT would apply to companies with annual revenues exceeding $100,000 and anticipated a compliance rate of around 95 percent for companies in the UAE in the initial stage. (Read more here)
Companies can register for the tax awareness workshops through the ministry website. The first session will take place on March 21 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dubai Festival City and other workshops will run in April and May.
According to the ministry website, businesses that meet the requirement criteria will be able to start registering for VAT three months before the new tax is launched.
A source familiar with the workshops told Zawya on Tuesday that companies will be allowed to register as of “the beginning of the fourth quarter or maybe the end of the third one”.
A recent survey by consultancy EY of 500 participants representing businesses operating in the GCC showed that half of those surveyed have not yet started preparations for VAT, while 29 percent have studied some of the new VAT provisions. (Read more here)
The GCC agreed in 2016 to introduce VAT as a means to diversify government revenue sources and reduce reliance on crude oil exports after oil prices took a sharp drop starting mid-2014.
Al-Khouri had said the UAE is expected to generate around 12 billion dirhams ($3.3 billion) in revenue from VAT in the first year, the equivalent of 0.9 percent of the country’s gross domestic product which stood at $371 billion in 2015, according to official data.
Click here for Zawya’s Special Coverage on the introduction of VAT in the GCC
(Additional reporting by Reem Wafai and Megha Merani)
© Zawya 2017
