VAT Update: Registration Deadline and Power of Attorney.

1. Registration with FTA

On October 9, 2017 the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) announced the VAT registration deadlines for businesses.

The first deadline for businesses with an annual turnover exceeding AED 150 million already passed on 31 October 2017. However, there are two further deadlines which should be observed:

[if !supportLists]· [endif]Businesses with an annual turnover exceeding AED 10 million should register before 30 November 2017.

[if !supportLists]· [endif]All other businesses should submit their registration applications before 4 December 2017 to minimize the risk of not being registered in time for the introduction of VAT in 2018.

Companies should adhere to these deadlines to avoid potential late registration fines. Registration can be done online through the e-Services portal on the FTA website. Should you require any assistance regarding the implementation of VAT, please do not hesitate to contact ZenFinance team.

2. Power of Attorney

It is important to also ensure that the concerned persons within your organization hold the requisite authorizations to submit tax declarations and, in general, to deal with the FTA and tax service providers. Since the introduction of VAT is the first time, tax matters become relevant in the UAE to all businesses (as opposed to other GCC states like KSA and Qatar), powers of attorney issued to directors of UAE companies will typically not include provisions regarding tax matters and will not mention the FTA.

During the registration process with the FTA an authorized signatory needs to be specified, however, it seems that specific authorizations are not being checked by the FTA; in some cases, registrations have been completed even though existing powers of attorney did not include specific VAT or FTA-references.

Nevertheless, it is highly recommend reviewing your existing powers of attorney and ensuring that adequate VAT clauses will be included.