Abu Dhabi: The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) hosted a workshop in Abu Dhabi to shed light on Corporate Tax rules for Family Foundations and the conditions needed to categorize an entity as a Family Foundation under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on the Taxation of Corporations and Businesses (“Corporate Tax Law”). This event is part of the FTA’s ongoing campaign to raise awareness on Corporate Tax topics across UAE business sectors, ensuring smooth implementation and encouraging voluntary compliance.

The workshop attracted a large turnout and was attended by 290 of those concerned with the Family Foundations sector, as well as a number of officials from the concerned authorities in the public and private sectors.

During the workshop, the Authority renewed its invitation to taxpayers still unregistered for Corporate Tax to expedite the submission of their Corporate Tax registration applications, to benefit from the initiative to exempt certain categories of Taxable Persons required to register for Corporate Tax with the FTA and waive administrative penalties resulting from the delayed submission of registration applications due within the specified legal period.

The FTA added that the exceptional requirement to benefit from the exemption is to file the Tax Return (or annual declaration) within a period not exceeding seven months from the end of the Tax Period. This applies only to the first Tax Period of the Taxpayer (or Exempt Person required to register for Corporate Tax), regardless of whether the due date of the first Tax Return (or first annual declaration) is before or after the implementation of the new decision.

The workshop addressed several topics related to the treatment of Family Foundations under the Corporate Tax Law. FTA experts explained to the attendees the definition of a Family Foundation under the Corporate Tax Law and how these enterprises are treated for Corporate Tax purposes.

During the current year, the FTA launched a request through the EmaraTax digital tax services platform, allowing eligible Family Foundations to apply to be treated as Unincorporated Partnerships, provided they meet the requirements set out in the Corporate Tax Law, as well as Ministerial Decision No. 261 of 2024 on Unincorporated Partnership, Foreign Partnership and Family Foundation for the purposes of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on the Taxation of Corporations and Businesses.

The FTA explained that Family Foundations that want to submit a request to be treated as an Unincorporated Partnership must be previously registered for Corporate Tax, noting that the request to treat the Family Foundation as such may be submitted by the taxpayer or his tax agent or legal representative. Once the request is approved by the FTA, the Family Foundation will not be obligated to file annual Tax Returns for Corporate Tax.  In addition, individual beneficiaries of the Family Foundation must determine whether they are obligated to register for Corporate Tax and submit a Tax Return for the relevant Tax Period.

The FTA added that for the Family Foundation to apply to be treated as an Unincorporated Partnership, the applicant must verify that they meet the specific conditions as per the Corporate Tax Law and related legislation and decisions, which can be found on the FTA website. The application is submitted by selecting "Corporate Tax" on the EmaraTax digital platform, then selecting the "Corporate Tax – other applications” and requesting for the Family Foundation to be treated as an Unincorporated Partnership and attaching the required documents.

The Federal Tax Authority was established by Federal Decree-Law No. (13) of 2016 to help diversify the national economy and increase non-oil revenues in the UAE through the management and collection of federal taxes based on international best practices and standards, as well as to provide all means of support to enable taxpayers to comply with the tax laws and procedures. Since its inception in 2017, the FTA has been committed to cooperate with the competent authorities to establish a comprehensive and balanced system to make the UAE one of the first countries in the world to implement a fully electronic tax system that encourages voluntary compliance, with simple procedures based on the highest standards of transparency and accuracy – beginning from registration, to the submission of tax returns, to the payment of due taxes through the Authority’s website: www.tax.gov.ae.