The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has announced the launch of a new field campaign to engage business and consumers in the local markets and raise awareness of the legal standards that must exist in tax invoices.
Organised to cover all emirates, the campaign will run throughout Q1 of 2019, under the slogan “Tax Invoices: Your Right and Assurance”. Set to kick off on Monday, the campaign is scheduled to run for 3 days across the Dubai markets, after which it will continue to move from one emirate to another at a rate of 3 days per emirate.
This campaign is part of the FTA’s commitment to increase tax awareness and alert all businesses registered in the VAT system to the importance of submitting tax invoices in protecting consumer rights. The FTA plans to implement in cooperation with all economic development entities and other concerned entities to guarantee consumer rights and boost tax compliance in local markets.
FTA Director General His Excellency Khalid Ali Al Bustani asserted that the Authority prioritises raising awareness among consumers about their rights and obligations in the tax system, in an effort to protect them from any attempts at manipulation. The FTA is also intensifying its efforts to help businesses comply with all tax procedures and obligations, where the Authority considers these businesses to be strategic partners.
“One of our key objectives for the Q1 of this year is to spread the culture of using tax invoices for all sales in the local markets,” HE Al Bustani added. “This campaign will help raise awareness regarding the legal requirements that must be met when preparing tax invoices, and ensure that all consumers receive tax invoices for all purchases to protect their rights. It will also guarantee the country’s rights through the collection of VAT at a rate of 5%, which is one of the lowest in the world, on most goods and services to provide additional financial flows that enable the government to sustain the pace of construction and development of infrastructure towards securing a brighter future.”
Al Bustani said: “Through the ‘Tax Invoices: Your Right and Assurance’ campaign, the FTA aims to achieve a number of key objectives, which include increasing the efficiency of the tax system implementation across all sectors, protecting consumer rights and ensuring that displayed prices match the values paid and included in the invoices. The campaign also aims to ensure that taxable businesses are compliant with the statutory tax rates to eliminate any attempts to exploit the system.”
Al Bustani continued: “The FTA-assigned campaign teams will be conducting awareness tours in shopping centres, supermarkets and retail outlets in all the Emirates.
“The awareness campaign activities will include two main axes. The first is familiarising consumers with the importance of tax invoices in protecting their rights, which means reviewing invoices to check the tax rates and make sure the invoices meet all the legal standards and the tax registration numbers are valid. The other is ensuring that registered businesses are compliant with hanging the campaign posters, and with the legal standards in all their taxable activities, as well as ensuring their displayed prices include the tax rate to spare them the incurred fines.”
