The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has been intensifying its awareness activities and events in 2024, organised to highlight the importance, objectives, procedures, and requirements for complying with the Corporate Tax Law, which came into effect last year and applies to financial years beginning on or after June 1, 2023, a report said.

FTA said that the number of participants joining corporate tax awareness activities increased to 8,220 in-person and virtual attendees across all emirates in the first six months of 2024, compared to 7,520 participants in the same period of 2023, marking a 9.23% increase, Emirates News Agency, WAM, said.

Moreover, the FTA confirmed a notable rise in demand for and engagement with Corporate Tax awareness activities, revealing that it had run surveys that indicated a surge in participant satisfaction rates with these events to 97.5% in the first half of 2024, up from 93% in the same period last year.

The authority went on to add that a significant number of new awareness programmes and activities have been introduced to educate business sectors about corporate tax and related topics, in line with their requirements.

The FTA explained that the number of awareness events it has organised in H1 2024 increased substantially to 40 in-person and virtual events, compared to just 17 in the same period of 2023, indicating a strong growth of 135.29%.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Director-General of the FTA, said: “This expansion and diversification in corporate tax awareness activities reflect our commitment at the Federal Tax Authority to promoting a tax culture, in general – and focusing on Corporate Tax, in particular – across all business sectors using all available means and channels, while enabling businesses to save time and effort when engaging with the Authority.”

“The FTA will continue with its efforts to expand the scope of beneficiaries from its Corporate Tax awareness activities, organising in-person workshops nationwide, while also offering a comprehensive set of virtual workshops through our website, which also provides a wide range of guides, videos, infographics, and materials explaining the legislation, decisions, and procedures related to Corporate Tax,” Al Bustani added.

Key events introduced in 2024 include launching the second phase of the FTA’s comprehensive Corporate Tax awareness campaign for business sectors, which covers various tax-related topics, offers awareness programmes that are tailored for each category, employs the latest technologies to ensure easy access to information for taxpayers, and supports the business community to implement the Corporate Tax Law efficiently and accurately.

Six workshops were held in the first half of 2024, targeting corporate tax service focus groups, along with workshops for focus groups centred around the Zero Government Bureaucracy Programme as it relates to corporate tax, and a series of virtual workshops to clarify corporate tax updates.

The FTA highlighted a series of key topics covered in corporate tax awareness events during the first half of 2024, which included corporate tax registration; the FTA decision regarding timelines for submitting tax registration applications, as per the Federal Decree-Law on Corporate and Business Tax and its amendments; creating tax groups; general principles of Corporate Tax; registering free zone companies, and Corporate Tax services available through the EmaraTax digital tax services platform.