The UAE will close down a business for 72 hours and impose a severe financial penalty for value added tax evasion, according to tax consultants who attended a VAT briefing by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The briefing for advisors took place last week ahead of a nationwide awareness campaign by the MoF that will educate various stakeholders on the collection of VAT ahead of its implementation on January 1, 2018.
“Audits will generally be conducted only after five days advance notice, except where fraud is suspected,” MoF officials reportedly said according to consultancy firm EY’s tax update.
“Where fraud is suspected a business may be closed down for 72 hours and penalties of up to 500 percent may be applied on top of the primary VAT owing.” More info
By Parag Deulgaonkar arabianbusiness.com
