Jewelry executives in the United Arab Emirates hope their industry will recover from plummeting sales, helped by a partial government U-turn involving value-added tax on businesses that account for about a quarter of all Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade.
On 9 January 2018, the FTA has published two long awaited documents on its website. These documents are cabinet decisions determining the so-called Designated Zones and the medical supplies subject to a zero rate for VAT purposes.
In this article, the authors examine the process of implementing the Gulf Cooperation Council’s Common VAT Agreement and look at the efforts by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to introduce their VAT legislation on January 1, 2018.
The UAE is a regional finance hub with global aspirations. Many international banks are licensed in the UAE and the local and regional banks are very dynamic. Dubai’s DIFC and Abu Dhabi’s ADGM are important financial centres.
Dubai’s status as a world trading hub for gold and diamonds could be
threatened by the introduction of VAT in January 2018, industry leaders warned in the first high-profile protest against
On 4 October 2017, the European Commission has set out how it proposes to reform VAT in the EU (https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/vat/action-plan-vat/single-vat-area_en). These proposed changes should enter into force in 2022 and are amongst others aimed at tackling cross-border VAT fraud.
On September 29, 2017 the Federal Tax Authority (“FTA”) of the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) opened its VAT registration portal to allow businesses to register for VAT. The portal is accessible via www.tax.gov.ae.
With defense spending in KSA and UAE reportedly currently around 100 billion USD a year combined, the introduction of VAT on 1 January 2018 in those countries will have an important impact on businesses active in that segment.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now published its VAT law in its Official Gazette