Business
Federal Tax Authority Reports Great Success for Awareness Campaign on Tax Invoice Requirements in Abu Dhabi Markets
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 16 February 2019: The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has reported great responses from retailers and consumers alike with its campaign to raise awareness about Tax Invoice requirements and urge all registered businesses to issue invoices for all transactions.
Titled Tax Invoices: Your Right and Assurance, the campaign was launched on January 28 to shed light on Tax Invoices and the conditions legally required to issue them, in addition to fostering greater cooperation between the Authority, the various Departments of Economic Development, and other relevant authorities and entities across the UAE.
Over the past two weeks, the campaign organised by the FTA in collaboration with the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi has covered most commercial areas in Abu Dhabi Markets, Mussafah, Al Ain, and Al Dhafra, and is set to continue throughout the first quarter of 2019 to cover all seven emirates on a weekly basis. The field tours have enjoyed a great deal of interaction from staff at shop, restaurants, and hotels, as well as from consumers across the emirate who reported they had greatly benefitted from the information the campaign offers, which will allow them to fully comply with tax laws, in general, and criteria related to Tax Invoices, in particular.
We always strive to be fully compliant with the UAE tax system and the awareness campaign on Tax Invoices was extremely beneficial, said Abhishek Kumar, the supervisor at a restaurant on Abu Dhabis Al Falah Street. The main remark the representative from the Federal Tax Authority emphasized was that prices we list on our menus must be inclusive of tax if we want to avoid violations. The information was new and useful to us and we committed to implementing it immediately. As for other Tax Invoice criteria, the FTA representatives assured us our restaurant was fully compliant with legal requirements.
Saikrishnan, supervisor at a store on Hamdan Street, said: We have sought to be fully compliant with the tax system since its launch. We contacted the Federal Tax Authoritys call centre and referred to its official website to learn what is required of us, which is why the FTAs team had no remarks for our establishment today, but they still provided us with important and useful information about Tax Invoices and the tax system in general.
The campaign is part of the Authoritys efforts to promote the use of Tax Invoices across all commercial transactions, raise awareness of tax procedures among consumers, and introduce them to their rights and obligations to protect them from any attempts at manipulating the system. Primarily targeting retailers, the campaign seeks to verify that all businesses subject to Value Added Tax (VAT) and Excise Tax are complying with the requirement to display prices that are fully inclusive of taxes to avoid administrative penalties.