Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a Pandemic disease as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) and was identified in Wuhan, China, and has now spread throughout the world.
Dubai, a major business center in the Middle East, has been treated as an economic hub and tax haven for the Investors / Businessmen. The Taxation system is very satisfactory for Businessmen and Investors.
The UAE government, both at a federal and emirate level has been working with banks, regulatory organizations and economic free zones to support residents, and affected businesses
UAE stimulus package brief overview:
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Brief Steps were taken by the UAE Government
| S. No. |
Date | Announcement(s) |
| 1 | 12 March 2020 | Announcement of AED 1.5 billion economic stimulus package to enhance liquidity in light of the COVID-19 outbreak; |
| 2 | 14 March 2020 | The UAE Central Bank (UAECB) launched the Targeted Economic Support Scheme (TESS); |
| 3 | 16 March 2020 | The Abu Dhabi Executive Council launched 16 initiatives to support businesses and the community |
| 4 | 29 March 2020 | Dubai’s Free Zone Council launched a five-point stimulus package worth AED 3.3 Billion |
| 5 | 11 July 2020 | stimulus package worth AED 1.5 Billion |
UAE Tax Reliefs due to COVID-19
The Federal Tax Authority (“FTA”) in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) has extended the due date for :
- filing the Excise tax return and payment of excise tax for the month of March 2020 by one month from 15 April 2020 to 17 May 2020.
- monthly tax period that commenced on 1 March 2020 by one month so that it will now end on 30 April 2020 instead of 31 March 2020.
Economic Stimulus Package
With an aim to enhance liquidity to counter the COVID-19 outbreak, the Dubai government on 12th March 2020 had announced an economic stimulus package which includes:
- Custom Duty Refund: a refund of 20% on the customs fees imposed on imported products sold locally in Dubai markets.
- Minimum refund threshold: Only refunds of AED 100 or more will be processed and disbursed.
- 90% reduction of fees imposed on submission of customs documents;
- Reduction of municipality fees imposed on sales at hotels from 7% to 3.5%;
- Reduction in water and electricity bills by 10%
- Changes to bank guarantees or cash requirement rules.
- Hotel establishments and restaurants will be refunded 50% of the municipality fee on sales, which stands at 7% between July and December 2020.
- Hotel establishments and restaurants will be given half of the ‘Tourism Dirham Fee’ until the end of December 2020.
- Waive off penalties for private schools and allow the free renewal of their commercial and educational licenses until the end of December 2020.
- a freeze on the 2.5% market fees levied on all facilities operating in Dubai
- Reduce the cost of living and doing business: to reduce the cost of living and doing business for citizens, expatriate residents and the business community through 10% reduction in water and electricity bills including those charged in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, for a period of three months.
- UAE Central Bank Increases Its Economic Stimulus Package To AED 256 billion (US$70bn)(consists of AED 50 billion in capital buffer relief, AED 50 billion in zero-cost funding support, AED 95 billion in liquidity buffer relief and an AED 61 billion reduction of cash reserve requirements.)
- Extension of the capital buffer relief to the end of 2021 and allowed an extension of the zero-cost funding facility until December 31, 2020.
- RAKBANK takes measures to support SMEs – RAKBANK Simplify platform’s monthly fee will be waived off for the next three months.
- Dubai Chamber has launched a free service to collect, process, and delivers documents for the issuance of ATA Carnet for the temporary admission of goods and attestation, starting from March 26, 2020.
- DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) has rolled out a business support package to support its 17,000 members, which will be applicable as of April 1, 2020, until June 30, 2020, which includes:
- 100% waiver for late license renewal penalties
- 100% waiver for all Flexi Desk and DMCC Business Centre penalties until the end of 2020
- 100% waiver of the Office Sharing Permit fee,
- 100% waiver of the Company Reinstatement fees
- 30% discount on license renewal,
- waiver of outdoor area rents for JLT retailers with existing contracts
New Cost Reductions Measures as introduced by DMCC for their Members:
DMCC has expanded and extended its business support package which will run until 31 August 2020. New support measures, applicable to DMCC’s existing member companies, include:
- 33% discount on 3-year license renewal (or 1 year for free)
- 25% discount on 2-year license renewal (or 6 months for free)
- 20% discount on 1-year license renewal
- 30% discount on additional license100%
- a waiver on change of address fee for relocating from a physical office to DMCC Business Centre
- 50% on license reinstatement fees if the company license was terminated by an authority due to non-license renewal
- 50% discount on dormancy fees
- 2 months’ rent holiday for Flexi Desk and DMCC Business Centre tenants or monthly/quarterly installments with no discount
- 100% waiver of the Office Sharing Permit fee,
- 100% waiver of the Company Reinstatement fees
Further DMCC has allowed the following reduction on the total company set-up fee if the shareholders are residents of JLT:
- 80% reduction in the total company set-up fee
- up to 50% reduction on the total company set-up fee along with a Flexi Desk for one year,
- flexible payment options for new DMCC Business Centre tenants
- a completely digital process for business set-up from the comfort of their home.
17. DFIC (Dubai International Financial Centre) and other Free- Zones have introduced a series of fiscal easing initiatives from April 1, to June 30, 2020, including deferment or rent-payables for up to six-months and granting installment facilities on the same. Other stimulus by DIFC include :
- 1 % reduction in property registration fees for all transactions effected in between 01st April, 2020 to 30th June,2020, subject to registration within 30 days. (The effective rate will be 4% now).
- Full waiver from Annual Licensing Fees for application for registration/incorporation from 01st April 2020 to 30th June 2020.
- 10 % discount on renewal fees for renewals that are due between 01st April 2020 to 30th June 2020 (This excludes Data Protection Fees and DFSA fees if any)
- To ensure continual growth for tech & start-up community, DIFC fintech Hive will :
- Waive 50% License Fee for renewal of existing licenses until 30th June 2020
- 100% waiver of annual licensing fees for new clients until 30th June 2020
- Deferment of leases until 30th June 2020.
- Further to ensure uninterrupted business, the DIFC Courts shall also go digital with various initiatives including being Remote Court of First Instance (CFI), Remote hearings for Small Claims Tribunal (SCT), online filing and hearing, registration of wills, etc.
18. In collaboration with DFSA (Dubai Financial Services Authority) the following business continuity measures have been adopted by DFIC :
- 50% waiver for remainder application fees for 2020.
- 100% waiver of registration fees.
- Flexible requirements for permanent premises.
- Extension in time-line for application and authorization process.
- Temporary relief from requirements for capital.
19. UAE Securities and Commodities Authority provides various regulatory reliefs including:
Additional 45 days to file their financial statements of the FY 2019 and Q1 of 2020.
(It has issued circular informing traders that they have been allowed a grace period of additional 45 days so that they can report their disclosure statements no later than 14/5/2020 and 30/6/2020 for the FY 2019 and Q1-2020, respectively.)
20. DLD (Dubai Land Department), through its Real Estate Regulatory Agency, launches “Together” CSR initiative
- Supplies free of charge to those in need and affected in many projects and freehold areas across the Emirate.
cancellation of fines for 2019 and 2020. - the provision of flexible installment service for service fees
- Suspension of rent evictions for the month of March and April
- reduction of service costs, and
- Provision of a flexible payment option for air conditioning services.
Other reliefs to the real-estate sector include:
- 5% increase in loan-value ratios on mortgage loans for first-time homebuyers. This is a bid to infuse liquidity and will now ensure more funds to loan-borrowers by way of a loan.
- Permitted an additional 10% increase of exposure to banks for the real-estate sector, subject to enhanced capital holding. This means that now banks can have an exposure of up to 30% in the lending portfolio (instead of 20% previously).
21. Dubai SME allocates AED 20 million for capital guarantee scheme launched by The Mohammed Bin Rashid Fund in partnership with Beehive.
On 11th July 2020: stimulus package AED 1.5 billion has been announced which extends the validity of some of the initiatives announced in the first stimulus package for an additional three months until the end of September
2020 as part of support extended to the private sector is recovering from the crisis.
Further different stimulus packages have been announced by various other authorities/regulators/ associations including Nakheel, Dubai Holding, and Meraas, JAFZA, National Industries Park, Dubai Auto Zone, Abu Dhabi
Global Market (ADGM), Government of Abu Dhabi, etc. to name a few.
