As part of its agenda for the ‘UAE Innovates 2024’ initiative, held throughout the month of February, the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) signed a collaboration agreement with the 01GOV Platform, in an effort to expand the use of its own TAX 10 platform.

The Authority launched Tax 10 last year to encourage innovation and promote excellence and professional creativity among its employees, in a bid to ultimately upgrade its services, drive sustainable development in both institutional and individual performance, and promote a culture of innovation.

The agreement forms part of the FTA’s community contribution during the monthlong ‘UAE Innovates 2024’ initiative. The Authority aims to encourage cooperation among various government entities, local academic institutions, and tax authorities across the region, in order to enhance innovation in the public sector and provide a model for using advanced technology to upgrade government services.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Director General of the FTA, said: “The Federal Tax Authority is committed to strengthening strategic collaboration frameworks with various entities to promote a culture of innovation and empower individuals in the community. This includes providing knowledge platforms for experts to explore best practices and experiences in the field of government tax services that employ advanced technology.”

“Partnering with the 01GOV Platform will set the stage for game-changing, innovative projects to be implemented that can forecast the future and enable us to achieve our strategic goals and quickly respond to global developments in government innovation, while continuously meeting all requirements to drive a comprehensive digital transformation campaign, and align with the UAE’s national agenda,” H.E. Al Bustani added.

For his part, Jassim Al-Haddad, Head of the FTA’s InnoVATion Team, explained that: “Expanding access to the TAX 10 platform will facilitate regional cooperation, granting licenses to use it to representatives of tax authorities across the GCC countries. Moreover, this will support the government and academic sectors, providing access to representatives from UAE universities and government entities, as well as the community, by offering 100 licenses for community members to use the platform for six months.”

The TAX 10 platform is the first initiative of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, providing rich content regarding government innovation, produced by the Federal Tax Authority gradually over the years. It highlights international best practices in the tax sector, enhances efforts of innovation leaders and teams with specialised digital content and tools, in addition to documenting the FTA’s success stories with high-quality digital content.

The TAX 10 platform is built on the latest technologies and smart programmes used in the field; it provides a framework to encourage the active participation of all FTA employees in designing and developing future tax-related experiences and initiatives, and advancing all aspects of the Authority’s operational and service systems. The platform offers a rich digital observatory featuring over 3,000 documented global government innovation practices across 15 fields, including taxes, financial innovations, government services, and future skills.

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.

Meanwhile as part of its agenda for participating in the monthlong ‘UAE Innovates 2024’ initiative, held throughout the month of February, the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has opened the door for participation in its Hackathon event.

With the Hackathon, the Authority aims to develop innovative technological solutions for the challenges the tax sector faces, in addition to strengthening cooperation and partnership among government, educational, and private institutions to achieve a sustainable impact.

The FTA invited innovators to participate in the event, which offers them an opportunity to generate pioneering solutions that address the challenges facing the tax sector in several aspects, including raising awareness about taxes in the community; employing advanced technology to streamline procedures, such as the submission of tax returns for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and combating tax evasion.