The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has set up integrated electronic systems to allow Taxable Persons to register, file tax returns and pay their due taxes seamlessly, asserted FTA Director General His Excellency Khalid Ali Al Bustani.

The system encourages voluntary compliance, H.E. Al Bustani said, calling on all businesses registered with the Authority – whose first Tax Period ends on January 31, 2018 – to file their returns for the first Tax Period no later than February 28, 2018. The FTA Director General reiterated the importance of early preparation for submitting tax returns within the set timeframes, reminding registered businesses to submit their tax returns on a monthly or quarterly basis, as determined by the FTA based on their annual revenue, and within the deadlines set in Federal Decree-Law No. (8) of 2017 on Value Added Tax, as well as its Executive Regulation.

H.E. Al Bustani noted that the Federal Tax Authority had made some exceptional adjustments to the first tax periods for VAT in order to afford more flexibility to businesses following requests from a large number of businesses subject to VAT, which entered into effect in the UAE on January 1, 2018. These exceptional adjustments included extending Tax Periods from one to three months for some businesses at the beginning of implementation in 2018, with Tax Periods returning to a monthly basis later on.

The first quarterly Tax Period – which was meant to expire by the end of January or February 2018 – was extended, H.E. reminded, by merging it with the following period, making the first Tax Period four months for some businesses and five for others. Meanwhile, businesses whose first Tax Period was three months ending in March 2018 were not included in these adjustments.