FTA launches roadshow to communicate with non-compliant companies

The authority is partnering with economic departments and some municipalities for the initiative

United Arab Emirates -Dubai- July 16, 2009:

ARTS & LIFE: Buyers and vendors keep the Dubai Souq, located in Deira, buys on a Thursday night, July 16, 2009. Amy Leang/The National
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The UAE's Federal Tax Authority has partnered up with economic departments and some of the municipalities in the country to reach out to businesses that have yet to register for VAT.

The government body tasked with the implementation and collection of taxes said it has launched a roadshow to communicate directly with businesses subject to VAT, urging them to take advantage of the April 30 penalty exemption deadline for non-registered firms, it said in a statement on Saturday.

FTA said the new initiative went into effect last week and will run until April 24. Economic departments and some municipalities are helping teams of FTA tax experts and officials from the Tax Registration Department in holding seminars and workshops for representatives of taxable businesses across the country.

The authority also “seeks to listen to taxable businesses that have not yet registered for VAT, in order to identify and address the reasons and obstacles that have prevented them from doing so”, it said in the statement

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More than 275,000 businesses in the UAE, the region’s second biggest economy, have registered for VAT. However, tens of thousands have yet to do so and the government plans to crack down on unregistered businesses, Khalid Al Bustani, the director general of FTA said on Wednesday.

“[275,000] is a good number, however in our opinion there is still a large number yet to register and we are working with relevant authorities to get them to do so,” he told a press conference in Dubai at the time. “We will not tolerate tax evaders, and those people violating the rules and misusing the system. It is public knowledge that the UAE has a VAT, and all companies have an obligation to pay it."

Mr Al Bustani, however, did not reveal the number of businesses that have yet to complete the VAT registration process.

The authority in July last year estimated that around 350,000 would be subject to VAT, which means almost 75,000 companies have yet to come into the federal tax net.