Pay your UAE taxes by Feb 28 to avoid penalty: FTA
The Federal Tax Authority on Monday called on all businesses registered for the value-added tax (VAT) to submit their tax returns and pay their due taxes no later than February 28 in order to avoid administrative penalties.
Khalid Al Bustani, director-general, FTA, said the authority has provided a simplified process to submit VAT returns and pay due taxes for registered businesses, encouraging them to comply and use the advanced online system to complete the procedures and pay their taxes accurately with four steps through the e-Services portal on the Authority's website.
He said businesses, whose first tax periods end on January 31, 2018, can pay due tax through 77 bank branches, exchange offices and finance companies around the UAE. A simple four-step online procedure has been introduced to ensure speed and accuracy.
On Monday, the Central Bank of the UAE said it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the FTA to facilitate tax collection through the UAE Funds Transfer System that offers a timely processing of fund transfers between bank accounts.
Mohammed Ali bin Zayed Al Falasi, deputy governor of the UAE Central Bank, said the MoU would enable taxpayers to make their payments electronically via their bank accounts using the UAEFTS, through the selection of fund transfer as a payment option.
Al Falasi said CBUAE has provided the required support to FTA in order to streamline the process of tax collection. He also added that CBUAE, being the operator of the UAE Funds Transfer System (UAEFTS), has undertaken the necessary steps towards enabling the use of the system by taxpayers to proceed with their payments in a very safe and efficient manner.
According to FTA, taxable persons can submit their tax returns and process the payments 24/7 by visiting www.tax.gov.ae, going on to the e-Services portal and pressing the VAT tab to access the returns form. Users can then enter the data after thorough review, then press "Submit" and pay the due tax through the "My Payments" tab.
Al Bustani confirmed that various electronic channels and mechanisms have been activated to facilitate paying tax fees through a wide network of banks, exchange offices and finance companies in the state. Registrants also can pay the taxes through UAEFTS, main money transfer system, which offers direct linkage between the Central Bank of the UAE and the 'Federal Tax Authority. This allows immediate transactions of tax payments to entities covered by the system, through bank accounts and from 77 bank branches, exchange offices and finance companies around the UAE.
"Expanding payment channels further facilitates tax payment procedures," Al Bustani noted.
In an effort to streamline the process for taxable persons, the FTA provided seven different payment methods to process any payable tax to the Authority through the E-Dirham platform in the e-Services portal on its website.
The FTA chief called on businesses registered for VAT to create e-Dirham accounts as soon as possible if they do not already have one, stressing that the e-Dirham is a safe method to pay for government services and VAT. Issued by the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with First Abu Dhabi Bank, the system covers seven channels including e-Dirham Cards, Point of Sales (POS) terminals, ATMs, CDMs, Self-Service Kiosks, Mobile Payment Services, Digital Wallet and Online Direct Transfer Services that enable customers to top-up their e-Dirham cards through their bank accounts.
