United Arab Emirates: Corporate Tax – Free Zone public consultation document

In brief

The UAE Ministry of Finance has issued a public consultation on certain elements of the corporate tax legislative framework.


Contents

On 19 July 2023, the UAE Ministry of Finance issued a public consultation on certain elements of the corporate tax legislative framework. The public consultation focuses on the determination of Qualifying Activities and Excluded Activities as defined within Ministerial Decision No. 139 of 2023, with the public consultation setting out a number of examples relating to both Qualifying Activities and Excluded Activities. These examples, in due course, could seek to provide businesses with additional guidance as to whether or not their activities can fall within the proposed conditions.

It should be noted that the current public consultation document is non-binding and does not constitute a legislative provision therefore, businesses should not make decisions based upon the issuance of this public consultation document. It is expected that as an outcome of the public consultation, the UAE Ministry of Finance will formally issue a binding document that provides additional guidance.

The public consultation is open until 2 August 2023 and businesses can provide their comments here.

We are open to making a submission on behalf of businesses. Therefore, please do get in touch with any of the Baker McKenzie team if you wish to clarify aspects of the public consultation in further detail, or would like your feedback with included in Baker McKenzie's submission.


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