Business Leaders Discuss the Impact of VAT on Businesses in UAE

It was also heard that the anticipated low rate of taxation is unlikely to deter foreign direct investment given the country’s overall inverstment attractiveness: its excellent infrastructure, geographical location and political and economic stability. Also foreign investors are typically familiar with these types of taxes.

The imminent arrival of corporation tax is understandably causing concern for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UAE who have been used to operating tax-free. The panel highlighted the potential for tax reliefs and the likelihood of revenue threshold exemptions to be brought to support SMEs. In any event, SME’s prepardenss to adopt to a new tax reality is paramount.

There is a key role that professional bodies and advisory firms can play in building the knowledge, skills and awareness of those who will be impacted asd and when the detail of the legislation is finalised and made available.

Lindsay Degouve de Nuncques, head of ACCA Middle East commented “We believe that ACCA members possess the right competences to get GCC businesses in a state of readiness for any introduction of tax. ACCA members support compliance with tax laws as well as accounting and reporting on taxation according to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The most vulnerable business community is the GCC SMEs. However given ACCA’s training model, we can work with SMEs to very quickly develop and recruit professionals to help mitigate the risk of tardiness.”

At the event, aafaq Islamic Finance was publicly recognised by the ACCA as providing outstanding training and development opportunities for their finance and accounting employees.

The ACCA Professional Development Employer certificate was presented to Mujtaba Naseem, CFO & Deputy CEO at AAFAQ Islamic Finance by the head of ACCA Middle East. The certificate is awarded to leading organisations that offer outstanding development opportunities for young accountants and demonstrate superior professional values, ethics and governance at the workplace.

“The strong work ethic, technical skills and competency of our employees are crucial in delivering value to our clients, including the esteemed UAE government organisations we provide services to. As such, we greatly value ACCA’s recognition of our commitment to the professional growth of our finance and accountancy employees. This is a very important milestone in the relationship we have with ACCA and we look forward to collaborating more with ACCA and host insightful events for the finance community in the UAE, like the successful one we held today.” Naseem said.