VAT to be implemented in UAE 'next year'
Officials have said the UAE will get a VAT scheme in 2009, although no exact date has been set. Dubai Customs’ executive director Abdul Rahman Al Saleh said value added tax would arrive in 2009 and would strengthen the region’s economy.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has previously said the implementation could raise inflation. Quoted by Gulf News, Al Saleh said:
“It is well known globally that implementing VAT in many countries has significantly contributed to boosting the economy’s sustainability, as VAT is considered the ideal tax for already strong economies.”
According to some reports these comments came after Mohsen Khan, the IMF’s Middle Eastern Director, said the arrival of VAT would mean inflation in UAE would go up by bewtween one and two per cent.
When it arrives the rate is expected to be between two and five per cent and will be imposed on consumer goods and services. Dubai’s current inflation rate is already high, with estimates ranging from around nine to as high as 12 per cent.
Earlier this month Dunbai Customs released details of the ‘Dubai Declaration’, a set of recommendations on how it intends to combat piracy and counterfeiting.
