The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has published the user's guide for the whistleblower programme on tax offences and evasion.
The programme called Raqeeb aims to raise awareness in the community about compliance with tax legislation. The main features of the Raqeeb initiative are set out below.
Whistleblowing is a new mechanism that mandates "the FTA to receive and process leads on non-compliance with tax legislation by natural or legal persons, as well as to offer a monetary reward to whistleblowers when certain conditions are met".
An informant is a natural person who informs the FTA that a natural or legal person:
- is engaged in illegal tax activities; or
- has not fulfilled its tax obligations.
The identity of the informant remains confidential and protected by the FTA and will not be disclosed in the context of legal proceedings against the informant. Nonetheless, it is not permitted or possible to submit anonymous leads to the FCA.
The programme provides informants with monetary rewards if the following conditions are met:
- the information provided is credible, accurate and has not been previously obtained by the FTA;
- the whistleblower form is completed accurately, completely and sufficiently;
- the FTA has collected tax amounts in excess of AED 50,000; and
- the reported person has exhausted all forms of objections and appeals.
The informant is required to provide the information through the FTA's website.
The FTA published the guide for the use of the whistleblower programme in April 2022 on its official website.