• Federal Tax Authority Expands its Awareness Channels by Introducing 9 New Campaigns and Programmes for Different Segments of the Business Community.
  • Khalid Al Bustani: Strengthening Tax Culture will Provide an Environment Conducive to Tax Self-compliance.

Abu Dhabi: The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has announced an expansion of its awareness channels for the year 2023 by introducing several new initiatives and approaches, and intensifying its campaigns delivering over 108 awareness activities in H1. 

FTA announced that the total number of beneficiaries of its outreach activities were over 20,930, who participated in in-person events and via video conferences organised by the FTA in the first half of this year. The overall satisfaction level of the participants was 91%.

In 2023, FTA introduced 9 new innovative awareness campaigns including programmes and activities that met the requirements of various business sectors and the community at large.

His Excellency Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Director General of the Federal Tax Authority, said: "The expansion of our awareness channels is part of the comprehensive plans implemented by the Authority to support the increase in the number of services we provide to enhance tax procedures. These campaigns aim to promote the tax culture and inform taxpayers about the developments in the sector to provide an environment that is conducive to self-compliance."

H.E. Al Bustani added: "FTA is keen to engage with all relevant business sectors through various channels. The campaigns helped in responding to their queries and overcoming any challenges they may face during voluntary tax self-compliance procedures. These activities also provided them with the necessary information without having to visit FTA's headquarters and were carried out by our specialised teams, through in-person events or via video conferencing".

H.E. explained: "The tax sector in the UAE has been evolving and expanding consistently, especially with the start of corporate tax implementation. The FTA has intensified its awareness campaigns, focusing on introducing the corporate tax law and its importance and compliance requirements, in addition to broadening the profile of tax legislation."

Zahra Al Dahmani, Director of Taxpayer Services at the FTA, said: "The first half of 2023 has seen a significant increase in the number of induction seminars and workshops carried out as part of our awareness campaigns. The FTA has also developed a series of diverse awareness-raising programmes that rely on non-traditional approaches to deliver information to enhance accessibility.”

Al Dahmani added: "Indicators have shown that these campaigns have seen a significant turnout of taxpayers and have contributed to the promotion of a healthy tax culture among all segments of the business community."

Additionally, Al Dahmani highlighted FTA’s efforts to launch tax awareness campaigns and diversify activities for stakeholders. These events shall be in-person or via video conferencing.

The campaigns held in 2023 include 25 workshops to promote "UAE Corporate Tax" (22 video conferences and 3 in-person workshops) with the participation of 8,919 business representatives. Four meetings were held as part of the "Customer Council" with the participation of 105 customers to meet their requirements and to continuously upgrade their experiences. In addition, three Q&A sessions were held to provide information and answer specific questions, while the "Tax Support" campaign was held to address taxpayers' inquiries through nine interactive sessions attended by 581 stakeholders.

Al Dahmani added that one of the new events was the "Risk of Tax Evasion" workshop held through video conferencing to raise public awareness about the risks of tax evasion with 88 participants. Two virtual workshops on "e-services" to promote FTA’s services with 3,350 participants, and five other virtual workshops on "Tax information" awareness campaign attended by 306 people were also conducted.

In addition, a campaign was also organised to promote the "Muwafaq Package" to facilitate SME compliance through nine sessions attended by 1,624 SME representatives, in addition to a campaign aimed at advancing the "Specialised Tax Agent" system to facilitate the process of selecting the appropriate tax agent, which received significant participation from the business sectors and certified tax agents.

Several awareness-raising campaigns and programmes have been launched by the FTA over the past years which continue to be implemented this year. In H1 2023, the FTA held six workshops that saw the participation of 211 stakeholders via video conferencing as part of the "Maskani" campaign to raise awareness of the measures to refund VAT incurred on building new homes, as well as the "Mosque Builders" campaign to introduce measures to refund VAT incurred on building and operating mosques.

The Authority held 26 virtual workshops with 5,188 participants, aimed at promoting necessary procedures for implementing transactions via the “EmaraTax” platform, in addition to holding a session within the Tax Agents Forum, during which matters specific to this sector and the updates of legislation and tax procedures were discussed. A workshop was also held to promote tax awareness among school and university students.