May 2022 / United Arab Emirates

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has launched a digital public consultation on the federal corporate income tax applicable to financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2023. The objective of the public consultation is to gather feedback from the business community and other interested stakeholders on the design and implementation of the UAE corporate tax regime.

The MOF's public consultation document covers the following aspects:

• taxable persons;
• tax base;
• calculation of taxable income;
• transfer pricing;
• international Tax Developments; and
• administration.

Public comments must be submitted online by 19 May 2022, using the public consultation on corporate tax submission link available here. Comments received after this date or not submitted via the prescribed online submission form will not be considered.

The public consultation on the federal corporate income tax was published on 28 April 2022 on the MoF's official website and is accessible here.

ABU DHABI, 9th May, 2022 (WAM) -- The UAE Cabinet, chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has adopted resolutions and incentives package to enhance the participation of Emirati talents in the private sector.

The resolutions come within NAFIS, the federal program that aims to increase the competitiveness of the Emirati workforce and to facilitate the private sector employment of UAE citizens.

The incentives include reducing the service fees of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation by 80 percent for private sector establishments, which accomplish major achievements in terms of recruitment and training of Emirati citizens.

The Cabinet approved increasing the Emiratisation rate to 2 percent annually from High-skilled jobs in establishments that employ 50 workers or more. The step aims at creating more than 12,000 job opportunities annually for citizens in all economic sectors.

Non-compliant companies will have to pay an amount of AED6,000 monthly, starting from January 2023, for every citizen who has not been employed.

Dr. Abdulrahman Al Awar, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said that the benefits offered by NAFIS support Emirati talents in the private sector.

Dr. Al Awar added that reducing 80 percent of the service fees of the Ministry for establishments that accomplish substantial achievements in terms of recruitment and training of Emirati citizens will further contribute to achieve NAFIS objectives.

Al Awar stressed that the new resolutions will increase the participation of Emirati talents in the private sector by creating more than 12 thousand jobs annually, with an annual increase of 10 percent for the 5 coming years.

Ghannam Al Mazrouei, Secretary-General of the Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council, said that NAFIS ensures the efficiency of the Emiratisation approach, while offering significant incentives to private sector establishments that achieve substantial milestones in terms of recruitment and training of Emirati citizens.

Al Mazrouei expected that private sector establishments will commit to the new resolutions and will increase Emiratisation by 2 percent for high-skilled jobs until achieving the 10 percent target by the 2026, stressing that private sector establishments will benefit from NAFIS.

NAFIS offers various benefits including the Emirati Salary Support Scheme where UAE citizens will be offered a one-year salary support of up to Dh8,000 per month during training and a monthly support of up to Dh5,000 will be paid for up to five years for university graduates.

The program provides UAE citizens specialised in fields such as coders, nurses and accountants with a top-up on their existing salaries.

The program also offers a subsidised five-year government-paid contribution on the company’s behalf against the cost of pension plans for Emirati staff and full support for the Emirati’s contribution across the first five years of their employment.

NAFIS also offers Private Sector Child Allowance Scheme. The scheme is monthly grant made to Emirati staff working in the private sector of up to Dh800 per child up to a maximum of Dh3,200 per month.

Data discussed in the meeting revealed that the total number of new Emiratis who joined the private sector since the launch of NAFIS in September 2021 till March 2022 amounted to 5,558, while the number of companies that hired new employees increased to 1,774.

The NAFIS data indicate that the number of citizens registered on the platform and eligible to benefit from the NAFIS initiatives reached 25,876, and that the number of job opportunities on the platform reached 2,524, while the number of beneficiaries increased to 4,074 people.

To fulfill its goals of boosting the competitiveness and efficiency of UAE citizens, NAFIS developed two bundles of initiatives as part of the "Projects of the 50". The first was released in September 2021, followed by the second in March 2022.

The first bundle included the "Emirati Salary Support Scheme", the "Merit Program", the "Pension Program", the "Child Allowance Scheme", the "Unemployment Benefit", and the "Job Offers Program".

The second bundle of initiatives was launched in March 2022, which focuses on training programs including the "Talent Program" to develop specialised vocational skills for Emiratis through internationally recognised certifications, and the "National Healthcare Program", which aims to upskill 10,000 UAE nationals in the field of nursing and healthcare via paid scholarships. The 'Apprentice Program,' which provides training and professional development opportunities in the private and semi-government sectors, and the 'Vocational Counseling Program,' which provides UAE nationals with access to career coaching and counseling services were also included in this package of initiatives.

Source: wam

DUBAI, 18th May, 2022 (WAM) -- The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2022 concluded last week having attracted more than 23,000 visitors from across the world at its first full-capacity event since the pandemic.

The four-day event, which doubled its visitors from last year, brought together 1,500 exhibitors and attendees from 150 countries, demonstrating Dubai’s growing reputation as the globe’s most open city in the post-pandemic world.

The city’s exceptional handling of the pandemic, its ability to provide one of the world’s safest environments and the gathering pace of its economic growth have made it a preferred international destination for business, tourism and events. The increasing confidence of global travelers in Dubai is borne out by the fact that key indicators in its tourism, hospitality and MICE sectors are now meeting and even exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

According to a report, Dubai welcomed almost four million international overnight visitors between January and March 2022, a massive 214 percent growth from last year, reaffirming its position as the first choice destination for global travellers. The city also ranked No.1 globally in hotel occupancy in the first quarter of 2022, with 82 percent.

Dubai International (DXB) continued to be the world's busiest airport by international passenger numbers for the eighth consecutive year, clocking 29.1 million in annual traffic in 2021. Dubai International also recorded its busiest quarter since 2020, with 13.6 million passengers shuttling through its gateway in the first quarter of 2022. Passenger traffic in the emirate’s airports surpassed the 10 million mark for the second consecutive quarter in Q1 2022. In March this year alone, Dubai International Airport saw 5.5 million visitors.

Popular family-friendly events in the last six months continued to raise Dubai’s profile as a major destination for culture, shopping, and entertainment. The 26th season of Global Village concluded recently with a record-breaking 7.8 million visitors. Its longest season ever, Global Village was open for 194 days, four more than its previous record. In addition, the ongoing Dubai Food Festival, and the 25th edition of Dubai Summer Surprises, the region’s biggest festival of its kind, are set to substantially increase tourist arrivals and strengthen Dubai’s appeal as a summer tourism hotspot.

With 12,000 restaurants and cafes, Dubai has also been steadily growing as a gastronomic hotspot. The city entices food-lovers with its world-renowned chefs, global restaurant brands, street food and home-grown restaurants inspired by the over 200 nationalities living in the emirate.

Earlier this year, Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice 2022 report named Dubai as the world’s most popular travel destination. Furthermore, Dubai’s recent selection as the No.1 destination for ‘City Lovers’ and No. 4 destination for ‘Food Lovers’ in the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2022 validate the city’s enduring appeal for global travellers.

In 2021, Dubai established itself as the world’s leading meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) destination, hosting a number of events that put it at the heart of global conversations on the recovery of key sectors. According to Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, the city has captured a total of 120 events for the year 2021 and beyond that are set to bring together a total of 70,000 opinion leaders, government officials and industry professionals.

Expo 2020 Dubai, the largest event in the history of World Expos, saw 192 participating countries coming together for ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ in a celebration of culture, innovation and science. The six-month mega global extravaganza attracted over 24 million visits by residents and global travellers. Other global events that helped drive international visitation included the Dubai World Cup, Binance Blockchain Week, Gulfood, Dubai International Boat Show, and the iconic Dubai Shopping Festival. This year’s World Government Summit in Dubai brought together more than 4,000 international participants, including top government officials to share ideas for building responsive governments that can deal with the challenges of the future.

In the last six months, Dubai also hosted major industry congresses and conferences including the Congress of the Société Internationale d'Urologie, Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, International Astronautical Congress, World Chambers Congress and Gastech, bringing together industry leaders from all over the world.

Over the past year, Dubai’s sports sector emerged as a key driver of the city’s tourism recovery, attracting both players and fans from around the world and further enhancing Dubai’s position as a multi-faceted destination. Major winners and former champions headlined a star-studded field at the Dubai Desert Classic held at Emirates Golf Club in January this year. The world’s leading tennis stars participated in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (DDFTC) men’s tournament, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in February this year. In November last year, Dubai was also the venue for the majority of the matches and the final of the month-long ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup, followed passionately by billions of cricket fans.

The past year also saw Dubai strengthening its status as one of the world’s top ranked health tourism destinations with 630,000 international health tourists, according to a report released by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). Spending of international patients reached nearly AED730 million in the past year despite the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Dubai’s emergence as one of the most open destinations in the post-pandemic world reflects its ability to reinvent itself in an evolving global environment. The vast international diversity of its visitors also demonstrates Dubai’s growing status as a city that bridges global markets and cultures.

Emirates News Agency