The Abu Dhabi Tax Executives' Forum Tuesday unveiled consultations to reduce the cost of employing a tax agent on business, ranging from AED 12 to 24,000 for small businesses and higher for larger companies.

The meeting discussed the challenges faced by the tax agents, the standards of tax refund of the added value of citizens' homes, the role of the tax agent in educating consumers and their tax rights, and the face of price competition among agents. He stressed the importance of having dedicated channels with the Federal Tax Authority to respond quickly in thorny situations.

Reduce your cost

According to the General Coordinator of the Third Tax Agents' Forum, Mohamed Helmy, there are consultations among 55 tax agents in the UAE to reduce the cost of using the tax agent during the coming period, taking into account the different cost of business from one emirate to another.

He pointed to the existence of complaints, especially from the owners of small projects, the high cost of hiring tax agents in the state, which is a burden on them.

He explained to Emirates Emirates today on the sidelines of the forum, that the goal is to reach a point of balance between the parties to the relationship, especially as the number of tax agents at the state level is limited compared to the number of registered companies.

He pointed out that the cost of employing a tax agent ranged between 12 and 24 thousand dirhams for small businesses, which is seen by the majority of this category is quite large, pointing out that the cost goes up more for large companies, you need a full team.

He pointed to the existence of key challenges facing the work of the tax agent in the country, the most important how to deal best with the Federal Tax Authority, in addition to competition in the market price.

Price competition

He continued: "The meeting was held in Abu Dhabi in the presence of 55 tax agents out of 176 registered agents with the Federal Tax Authority. The focus was on the role of the tax agent in raising awareness of the business sector in the sense of explaining and interpreting the laws and regulations of VAT for consumers and business sector, Price competition between agents to achieve justice and price balance between the agent on the one hand, and business on the other, depending on the quality of service and quantity ».

He said that the tax agents gathered stressed the need to develop solutions to a number of challenges facing them, in order to improve their ability to exercise their tasks according to the law, the most important of which is the problem of delays in the retrieval of input tax sometimes, and to reach a professional way to deal with administrative fines.

Business challenges

The tax agents discussed during the forum the challenges facing their work in the local market, the most important the best way to deal with administrative fines and rehabilitation, noting that the administrative fines sometimes fall due to technical error, and therefore there must be a professional way to deal with these fines by raising awareness in companies And taxable individuals who are required to register with the state tax system.

The tax agents considered it necessary to allow the system of communication with the Federal Tax Authority to have channels dedicated to quick response to the agent in the thorny situations. They also called on the Authority to organize workshops to renew the expertise of the tax agents and to organize practical workshops to study the clarifications issued by the Commission Tax.

The agenda of the forum included several axes, the most important tasks of the tax agent, the challenges faced by tax agents, and criteria for the recovery of value added tax for citizens' homes.

The cost of employing a tax agent ranged between 12 and 24 thousand dirhams for small businesses

Mohamed Helmy:

«The goal is to reach a point of balance between the parties to the relationship, especially as the number of tax agents limited»