• Khaled Al-Bustani: Various initiatives for digital transformation in the tax sector to contribute to efforts to eliminate bureaucracy and make customers happy

Dubai, UAE – His Excellency Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Director General of the Federal Tax Authority, confirmed that 2024 is a distinguished year in the Authority’s journey, noting that many development and modernization projects have been implemented for its services in line with the country’s strategy for digital transformation, and electronic connectivity with its partners has been expanded to enhance the integration of services and facilitate the exchange of information. The current year has also witnessed significant progress in the implementation of corporate tax, as hundreds of thousands of those subject to corporate tax have been registered, in light of the continuation of the comprehensive awareness campaign to highlight the importance and requirements of tax compliance.

This came during the second forum of the Federal Tax Authority’s strategic partners for the year 2024, which was held in Dubai, during which more than 60 strategic partners of the Authority in the public and private sectors were honored.

His Excellency Khalid Ali Al Bustani said that the Authority continues to launch and implement various projects and initiatives in the field of digital transformation in the tax sector to keep pace with the government’s strategy for smart transformation of all services based on smooth and proactive digital procedures, which supports the efforts made to eliminate bureaucracy and continue to maintain high levels of customer happiness, explaining that the Authority’s plans have achieved good results towards achieving its goal of implementing 70 bureaucracy-free operations in its services during the next phase.

H.E. added in his speech during the second forum of the Authority’s strategic partners: “The UAE has succeeded in establishing an advanced tax system in terms of legislation, procedures and technology, which keeps pace with and interacts with local and external variables, and encourages smooth self-tax compliance with fully electronic mechanisms in accordance with the best standards. The strategic partnerships established by the Authority and consolidated over a period of about 7 years have been distinguished by integration, dynamism and positive association with the public and private sectors, which played a fundamental role in the successful implementation of the tax system, whose customer base is expanding rapidly.”

Al Bustani explained: “Thanks to these partnerships, the Authority has been able to strengthen its position in the Emirati community and achieve its goals, which include the most important of which is the effective contribution to diversifying sources of income, economic and social development, and achieving the vision of the wise leadership in developing government services to make society happy and raise the level of well-being of its members. The Authority has taken a set of basic steps, the first of which is providing the finest technological services to encourage taxpayers to adopt the self-compliance model, within the policies aimed at encouraging creativity and innovation based on a clear understanding of the needs of all customers and in a way that meets their aspirations. The Authority implements an integrated strategy to continuously raise the level of tax awareness.

H.E. stressed the Authority’s keenness to enhance cooperation with all stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of its strategic and operational plan that extends for the next two years, the most important objectives of which are developing appropriate and efficient tax policies, continuing to improve procedural systems, and intensifying efforts to combat tax evasion.

His Excellency the Director General of the Federal Tax Authority honored the representatives of the Authority’s strategic partners, thanking them for their efforts and constructive cooperation to contribute to the advancement and leadership of the UAE.

The Federal Tax Authority was established by Federal Decree-Law No. (13) of 2016 to help diversify the national economy and increase non-oil revenues in the UAE through the management and collection of federal taxes based on international best practices and standards, as well as to provide all means of support to enable taxpayers to comply with the tax laws and procedures. Since its inception in 2017, the FTA has been committed to cooperate with the competent authorities to establish a comprehensive and balanced system to make the UAE one of the first countries in the world to implement a fully electronic tax system that encourages voluntary compliance, with simple procedures based on the highest standards of transparency and accuracy – beginning from registration, to the submission of tax returns, to the payment of due taxes through the Authority’s website: www.tax.gov.ae