The UAE's Federal Tax Authority (FTA) revealed that more than 103,500 participants have attended the 260 in-person and virtual awareness events it had organised in 2023 and the first half of 2024 (H1 2024), a report said.

The authority asserted that satisfaction rates with its events remained high, growing to 94% this year, up from 92% in 2023 and 88% in 2022, Emirates News Agency, WAM, said.

FTA noted that the number of participants in its tax awareness activities saw a significant increase in H1 2024, surpassing 30,500 participants in 70 events, including in-person and virtual.

This marks a notable uptick of over 61% from the approximately 19,000 participants who joined the 80 events organised during the same period in 2023.

The authority has thus expanded the scope of its beneficiaries by 11,600 more participants than in the first half of 2023.

More specifically, the FTA revealed that the number of beneficiaries from the 27 in-person events organised in H1 2024 was around 3,000, compared to the 2,280 participants in 23 in-person events during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, nearly 27,600 participants joined the Authority’s 43 virtual events in the first half of this year, up from just 16,670 participants in 57 virtual events in H1 2023.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Director-General of FTA, said: “The Federal Tax Authority is committed to diversifying its awareness channels and tools to reach stakeholders in the business community across all emirates.

“One of our key focus areas this year has been to engage business sectors and consider their suggestions for the sustainable development of our services, to keep pace with the Zero Government Bureaucracy Programme, which aims to enhance efficiency, quality, and flexibility, while streamlining government procedures, and eliminating unnecessary requirements.”

“The Authority recognises the need to maintain regular communication with government and private-sector entities, understand the views of business sector representatives, and enhance their contributions to the FTA’s plans for the sustainable development of its services,” Al Bustani explained.

“We have launched a range of initiatives to expedite tax procedures, in line with the Zero Government Bureaucracy Programme, all while catering to the requirements of our plans to spearhead the digital transformation of our tax services, as per the government’s priorities and directives.”

The FTA Director-General asserted that the authority’s various awareness campaigns aim to highlight these plans and the continuous development processes it implements to enhance the legislative and procedural tax environment.

Furthermore, these campaigns serve to introduce participants to the various transformational projects the FTA has launched to develop digital services, expedite service delivery, reduce paper consumption, and minimise the number of required documents, among other facilities offered to make a tangible impact in a short period.

The Federal Tax Authority clarified that it has continued to launch awareness campaigns and programmes to introduce its new services and initiatives while maintaining and expanding the scope of the existing awareness activities it has been organising for years.

Key awareness initiatives launched in the first half of 2024 include the Registration Culture Workshops, which benefitted a combined total of 641 participants. Moreover, six workshops focusing on the Zero Government Bureaucracy Programme were held, bringing together 93 participants, and scoring a 100% satisfaction rate, in addition to a series of Corporate Tax workshops held in H1 2024 registering 8,220 participants.

On a similar note, the Authority organised a range of workshops under the Tax Residency Certificate campaign, benefiting 1,190 participants; the Tax Support campaign, which sought to answer queries from tax system stakeholders and counted 223 participants; and the Schools and Universities campaign with 203 participants.