VAT Refund for Business Visitors to the UAE

VAT Refund for Business Visitors to the UAE

The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has just updated its Refund for Business Visitors Guide Value Added Tax (VATGRB1). This process help business that is not resident of the UAE (Foreign Businesses) and is not registered for VAT in the UAE, to recover and refund any VAT paid in the UAE.

The update on the Guide is mainly on the following areas:

1. The effective date from which a Foreign Business can claim VAT refunds when athe country is added to the List of Countries with Reciprocal Agreements for the Business Visitors VAT Refunds.
2. The documents required when completing the VAT refund form. Certificate of Incorporation no longer required whereas a self-declaration is required where a business is not entitled to full input tax recovery in its own country unless an official letter stating the extent of input tax recovery (%) is obtained from the Tax Authority in the business’ country.
3. To clarify that tax invoices will also be accepted as ‘hard copy’ tax invoices or sent by email for purposes of submitting a VAT refund claim. Furthermore, hard-copy documents will only be retained by the FTA for six months, after which the documents will be disposed of unless prepaid envelopes were provided with the application.
4. List of Countries with Reciprocal Agreements for the Business Visitors VAT Refunds was removed from the Guide as the list will be published separately and updated as and when required.