Inayat-ur-Rahman, Gulf Today

The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) announced on Monday that the total value of tax liabilities related to the seizures performed during inspection campaigns reached Dhs2.74 million.

The necessary legal measures have been implemented on violators to ensure that violations are not repeated.

The Authority revealed on Monday that the field visits carried out during January and February resulted in the discovery of more than 14 thousand kilograms of water pipe tobacco were seized in addition to 897 packages of electrically heated cigarettes not bearing a digital tax stamp.

Khalid Ali Al-Bustani, Director-General of the Federal Tax Authority, declared that the application of the ‘Marking Tobacco and Tobacco Products Scheme’ has contributed to tightening control over local markets in line with the best standards and practices to ensure both tax compliance and verification of conformity with the quality and safety of products in the local markets.

He said that these inspection visits follow up and confirm the importance of the market’s full commitment to the application of the ‘Marking Tobacco and Tobacco Products Scheme’.

He reiterated his satisfaction at the FTA’s interest in enhancing cooperation and coordination with the concerned federal and local government departments in a manner that ensures the maintenance of high levels of tax compliance, as well as simultaneously ensuring the protection of consumers and preserving stability and order in the commercial movement of these goods in the marketplace.

The Federal Tax Authority has carried out a series of field inspection campaigns, in cooperation with the concerned authorities, to verify compliance with the regulations that prohibit the supply, transportation, storage and possession of all types of water pipe tobacco and electrically heated cigarettes that are not marked with the ‘digital tax stamps’, DTS.

Mandatory implementation of the DTS system began at the beginning of 2021 following the timeline set for the second phase of the ‘Marking Tobacco and Tobacco Products Scheme’, which aims to protect consumers from commercial fraud and low-quality products. The initiative will mitigate health and environmental risks and combat tax evasion, while ensuring full commitment to the due Excise Tax on these goods.

The Federal Tax Authority called on all merchants and producers in the local markets to adhere to the system put in place according to Cabinet Decision No. (42) of 2018 regarding the ‘Marking Tobacco and Tobacco Products Scheme’, emphasizing that the digital tax stamps allow efficient tracking of tobacco packages and products digitally from their point of production until they reach the final consumer.

This is to ensure conformity with the approved standard specifications and to fulfill obligations related to the excise tax. The Authority also called on consumers to  ensure that there are digital tax stamps on tobacco packages that they are buying and inform the competent regulatory authorities should they discover any violating dealers.

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.

Meanwhile, Tally Solutions, the leading international business management software provider has announced the launch of its Value Added Tax (VAT) software – TallyPrime Release 1.1.3 to assist the Oman business owners towards an easy transition to the new tax regime.

While TallyPrime will enable businesses to set-up the software quickly and record and print VAT bills in Arabic and English with ease, it will also allow them to start their VAT compliance journey from day one. The software’s unique in-built error detection and correction capability ensures accurate data, so businesses always remain compliant.

“We are pleased to introduce the latest release of VAT compatible TallyPrime for Oman, as the Sultanate gears to welcome VAT in a couple of weeks. TallyPrime is equipped with all essentials for VAT and will serve as an accelerator to help businesses in the country transition to VAT smoothly. The product has been meticulously designed keeping the user experience at core, which will ensure legendry speed, simplicity and flexibility for business owners to comfortably manage and grow their business without needing to know the finer nuances of accounting or technology,” said Vikas Panchal, Business Head- Middle East, Tally Solutions