The United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) government had, introduced the Corporate Income Tax Law in the country through Federal Decree Law No. 47 of 2022 (the “Law”). Article 51 of the Law had provided that the Federal Tax Authority shall have the power to determine the timeline within which the Taxable Person must register themselves to get a tax registration number. A Taxable Person shall be either a resident or a non-resident person as defined in the Law.
To implement the above, the Federal Tax Authority (“FTA”) had issued the Federal Administrative Decision No. 03 of 2024 (hereinafter the “Decision”) on 26th February 2024, to clearly set out the timelines for the Taxable Person to register themselves.
Resident Legal Persons
Article 3 of the Decision provides that the juridical person, meaning any separate legal entity not including natural persons, who is a resident and was incorporated, established or otherwise licensed before 1st March 2024, must register themselves as per the set deadline provided by the Decision. However, any entity which were licensed in the month of July of any previous years must register itself with the FTA by 30th September. Similarly, entities established in the month of August of any previous years must register themselves with the FTA by 31st October 2024 and so on.
In case a Legal Person has more than one license, than the date of the issue of the earlier license must be taken into account.
However, any Legal Person (including a Free Zone Person) that has received licenses after 1st March 2024 (i.e. after the effective date of this Decision) shall submit a tax registration application within three (3) months from the date of incorporation, establishment or recognition.
Non-Resident Legal Person
Article 4 of the Decision states that a non-resident Legal Person having a permanent establishment in the UAE shall submit a tax registration application within nine (9) months from the date of the permanent establishment. Furthermore, a non-resident Legal person having sufficient nexus in the UAE shall be required to submit the application within three (3) months of this Decision.
Physical Person
A resident natural person practicing business in the UAE, from 2024 onwards, generating a revenue of AED 1 million onwards shall submit for tax registration application before 31st March of the subsequent year. On the other hand, a non-resident person practicing business in the UAE and whose revenue exceeds AED 1 million must register its application with the FTA within 3 months of meeting the conditions for being subject to corporate tax.
Conclusion
FTA has time and again warned that any taxable person not complying with the deadlines shall be subject to heft administrative fines up to AED 20,000 if found in violation to comply with the regulations. The UAE government has worked to make the process seamless by creating an Emirates Tax platform online through which tax registration can be completed within 30 minutes. The Decision of the FTA discussed herein was a necessary step to effectively bring into action the Corporate Tax and hold anybody in violation accountable and liable to fines as stipulated.
For more information, you may contact:
Thomas Paoletti
Francesca Romana Valeri
Fauzia Khan
