VAT registration is mandatory for all businesses in the UAE irrespective of the business domain or size. It came into effect in the UAE and GCC countries by the year 2018. Value-added tax is a consumption tax applied on a good when its value is increased at each stage of its production or distribution. If you are an entrepreneur planning to expand your business in the UAE, you are supposed to have a clear understanding of VAT registration in the UAE. Businesses providing goods or services falling in the taxable category, with annual revenue of over AED 375,000, are supposed to register for VAT. It is not mandatory for companies with annual supplies and imports less than AED 187,500. Free Zones in the UAE are exempted from VAT. Polestar offers VAT advisory services across the UAE right from documentation for VAT registration to its valuation and management.

All businesses must file VAT returns with FTA on a regular basis and usually within 28 days of the end of the ‘tax period’. A ‘tax period’ is a specific period wherein the tax to be paid will be calculated and paid. The standard tax period is:

• quarterly for businesses with an annual turnover below AED150 million.
• monthly for businesses with an annual turnover of AED150 million or above.

The VAT advisory experts at Polestar Advisory Services will advise clients with all the required information related to VAT filing in UAE enabling them to run their businesses smoothly without facing any penalties.

Auditing is a systematic evaluation of a company’s records and accounts by an independent firm, for an assessment or review of its financial health. All financial statements maintained by the business should be accurately reflected in the claimed monetary transactions. Polestar is one of the leading business setup service providers in the UAE offering excellent auditing services in Dubai and across the Emirates.

A business owner needs to know the value of a business – to sell or buy a business, for litigation settlement, capital restructuring or business expansion. Business valuation requires high-level financial analysis and valuation reports need to be prepared by a valuation expert. This careful analysis will help a business owner to negotiate a strategic sale of their business and get a fair price. Polestar Advisory Services have an expert business valuation team who delivers independent valuations depending on the specific requirement of a client.

Nowadays, businesses are no longer restricted to a single geographical location and are spread across the globe. As a result, total income is contributed by different countries and each country has a set of rules for taxing the global income of its residents and the profits earned on that land. To avoid the issue of double taxation and ensure that the business owners are not paying tax twice, countries such as the UAE have entered into a Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA). After this DTAA is signed between two countries, it mandates tax authority to produce a tax residence certificate, which helps investors and individual residents claim the treaty benefits. The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) is the regulatory body that issues the Tax Residency Certificate for taking advantage of the double taxation avoidance agreements signed between the foreign jurisdictions and the UAE. The FTA issues Commercial Activities Certificate that enables applicants to refund the VAT paid in advance outside the UAE, whether DTAAs are applicable. The expert taxation team at Polestar offers advisory services in tax planning and legal consulting to maintain the tax structure for your company and avail the benefits of DTAA by statutory filings.