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Press Release

UAE to introduce federal corporate tax

31 Jan 2022 5 min read

The UAE's Ministry of Finance (MoF) today, 31 January 2022, finally announced the much anticipated introduction of a federal Corporate Tax (CT) on business profits under a prospective CT regime  in the UAE.

Key Fundamental takeaways:

Legislative framework

The relevant legislation for the CT regime is currently being finalised and will be subsequently promulgated. Once promulgated, the UAE CT Law will provide more details and guidance on several critical aspects.

Effective date

The UAE CT regime will become effective for financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023.

Scope and Application

The UAE CT shall be a Federal level corporate taxation. Thus, all UAE businesses, corporations and entities engaged in and licensed to undertaken commercial activities shall be subject to the UAE CT.

Businesses engaged in the extraction of natural resources will be exempt from the UAE CT as such businesses shall continue to be subject to Emirate level taxation.

Tax Base

The UAE CT shall be levied on taxable income which shall mean the accounting net profit of a business adjusted for certain items is to be specified under the UAE CT Law.

Rate

In general, the UAE CT shall be levied at a standard statutory tax rate of 9% of taxable income above AED 375,000. Additional provisions include:

  • The application of 0% rate on taxable income up to AED 375,000; and
  • A different tax rate for large multinationals that meet specific criteria set with reference to Global Minimum Tax rate under the “Pillar Two” of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS IF)

Exemptions

There are certain exemptions suggested in the FAQs. However, these would have to be earned subject adjudication of their accurate applicability and to due compliance with the conditions attached to such privileges.

Introduction of Transfer Pricing

Under the CT regime, UAE businesses will be required to comply with transfer pricing rules and documentation requirements as set out in the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines

Grandfathering provisions

Free zone businesses will be subject to UAE CT, the UAE CT regime will continue to honour the CT incentives currently being offered to free zone businesses that comply with all regulatory requirements and that do not conduct business with mainland UAE.

Tax grouping, tax loss utilisation and foreign tax credits

In-scope UAE businesses should be able to avail conditional application of these prominent tax attributes.

Need of the hour for UAE businesses

  1. Embrace the new corporate tax (CT) profile of the UAE as a Federal
  2. Contextualize the application and impact of the new UAE CT Law on the:
    • UAE entity(ies) and/or operations
    • Revenue booked under Mainland UAE versus Free Trade Zone setups
    • Economic substance profile and/or CbCR filings
    • Group structure
    • Inter-company transactions
    • Investment/Holding structures
  3. Be prepared to adopt new tax and transfer pricing compliances (where applicable).

We would like to have a discussion with you on how we can support you in preparation for the introduction of UAE CT, which is upon us. For more details with respect to this alert, please feel free to contact GT UAE International tax team led by Anuj R. Kapoor, and ably his team of international tax and transfer pricing experts: Oluwaseyi Abimbola, Tamer Elkhatib and Amisha Anil.

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