The basic tenet of identifying and listing some of the free zones in the UAE as ‘designated zones’ under the country’s’s value-added tax legislation was to make them VAT free and consequently, be consistent with the tradition of keeping free zones typically free from taxes.

Though in intent and spirit it appears the legislation has achieved the objective, in practice, there are still instances and activities that result in the application of VAT on transactions within the designated zones. Consequently, the companies can blindly not apply VAT on any transaction it enters within the designated zones.