Benefit from penalty re-determination, FTA tells taxpayers

The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) is calling on registered taxpayers to benefit from the facility to re-determine administrative penalties on tax violations to be 30 percent of the total outstanding amount of administrative penalties that were not paid before June  28, 2021.

The FTA stressed that the facility has a set deadline and that taxpayers who are eligible to benefit from the decision must complete all related procedures through the EmaraTax portal before 31st December, 2022, to be able to benefit from these facilities.

The Authority explained that after the deadline, tax registrants who have outstanding administrative penalties from before 28th June, 2021, will not be eligible to avail the re-determination facility and will be required to pay their penalties in total, instead of just 30 percent of them, if met the required conditions within the deadline set by the Cabinet Decision on Re-Determining Administrative Penalties on Tax Violations in the UAE.

The Decision outlined three conditions that need to be met in order to benefit from the re-determination of administrative penalties imposed before 28th June, 2021. First, the administrative penalty must be imposed under Cabinet Decision No. (40) of 2017 before 28th June, 2021, and remain outstanding. Second, the tax registrant needs to have settled all due Payable Tax by 31st December, 2022, with no remaining outstanding taxes by end of 2022. And third, the tax registrant must have paid 30 percent of the total unsettled administrative penalties imposed before 28th June, 2021, no later than 31st December, 2022.

Registrants can visit their Amnesty Dashboard on their EmaraTax accounts and follow the process to make the payment. Upon going to the payments screen on EmaraTax, registrants may select Administrative Penalties unpaid before the date of 28th June, 2021. Registrants may either pay 30 percent for each of the Administrative Penalty line item or select such line items (either full or partial) that equate to 30 percent of such unpaid Administrative Penalties. Where the required conditions are met, the new value of the penalties will be equal to 30 percent of the total unpaid penalties, which will appear on the registrant’s account on the EmaraTax portal after 31st, December 2022.

The Federal Tax Authority indicated that the Cabinet Decision aims to support registrants in the tax system to fulfil their tax obligations, providing a great opportunity to assist businesses in re-determining administrative penalties to be equal to 30 percent of total unpaid fines, according to the conditions set in the Decision.

The Authority explained that in order to ensure the smooth and accurate implementation of the mechanism to re-determine administrative fines, those concerned can view the general clarification issued about the Decision on the FTA website, which includes a detailed explanation supported by examples regarding the procedure for re-determining administrative penalties imposed before 28th June, 2021.

Corporate Tax Public Awareness: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has launched a Corporate Tax Public Awareness Programme following the issuance of the Federal Decree-Law on Taxation of Corporations and Businesses.

The launch of the programme was announced during a media briefing held today by the Ministry to raise public awareness of corporate tax in the UAE and abroad.

The session was led by a group of experts from the Ministry of Finance including Shabana Begum, Executive Director, Tax Policy Sector; Fatima Alsheikh, Director of Tax Policies and Legislations Department; Azza Ali Aljassmi, Acting Director Of Government Communication Department; and Rasha Soubhi Haj Hussein, Tax Policies and Legislations Expert.

The Ministry announced that the inaugural corporate tax public awareness session will be held on 9th January in Abu Dhabi, with more sessions to be hosted in-person across the various emirates as well as virtually through an awareness digital platform.

The programme has been designed to raise awareness of the UAE corporate tax law amongst the largest audience possible. While the sessions are open to the public, the primary target audience includes business leaders from all sectors, including but not limited to, chief financial officers, tax directors and managers legal advisors and counsels, and business owners.

The Corporate Tax public awareness sessions will be led by tax experts from the Ministry of Finance and are designed to raise awareness and provide a trusted platform for transparent discussions and address questions and queries from the various business sectors. The sessions reflect the Ministry of Finance’s commitment to engage and educate the business sectors about key features of the UAE corporate tax regime.