"Federal tax" The decision to amend administrative fines for violating tax legislation comes into effect
Abu Dhabi, April 15, 2017 – The Federal Tax Authority began implementing Cabinet Resolution No. (129) of 2025 amending some provisions of Cabinet Resolution No. (40) of 2017 regarding administrative fines imposed on violations of tax laws in the country, due to it entering into force on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
The Authority confirmed in a statement today that the new decision aims to support and support those subject to tax, reduce their burdens, help them fulfill their obligations, and correct their situations in the event of any errors or tax violations, in a way that enhances the state’s competitiveness in the field of doing business.
The Authority indicated that the new amendments provide more facilities to those registered with it for the purposes of value-added tax and excise tax, and encourage voluntary compliance and updating their tax records without delay and correcting their data with the Authority in cases that require updating and correcting the conditions.
His Excellency Abdulaziz Mohammed Al Mulla, Director General of the Authority, said that the new amendment, which includes reducing many of the administrative fines imposed for violating tax laws, comes within the framework of the wise leadership’s directives to implement the tax system in accordance with the best standards to maintain the continued strong growth of the national economy, and achieve transparency by establishing an ideal tax legislative environment, characterized by flexibility and keeping pace with changes through continuous review and sustainable development of tax legislation in accordance with interim requirements.
He called on those registered for tax, in the event of any violations of tax legislation, to take advantage of the great advantages provided by the decision, which provides more facilities to reduce the tax burden on business sectors, to enable them to enhance their pivotal role in consolidating the UAE’s leading position as a global financial and economic center.
He pointed out that the new amendments help taxable people to comply voluntarily and correct the situation in the event of violations, and encourage registrants to inform the Authority of any cases that may require amending the information on their tax records maintained by the Authority, and encourage expediting voluntary declaration in cases that require declaration, without being exposed to high fines.
The Federal Tax Authority explained that under the new decision to amend some provisions of the Council of Ministers’ decision regarding administrative fines imposed for violations of tax laws, the mechanism for calculating many types of administrative fines has been reduced or modified, so that the reduction includes many administrative violations related to the application of the federal decree law regarding tax procedures, the federal decree law regarding selective tax, and the federal decree law regarding value-added tax.
The Authority stated that, according to the new amendments, the administrative fine for the violation of failure to submit tax-related data, records, and documents in the Arabic language to the Authority upon request was reduced from 20,000 dirhams previously to 5,000 dirhams, and the fine for the violation of the registrant’s failure to inform the Authority of any case that might require amending the information regarding his tax record kept with the Authority was reduced from 5,000 for the first time and 10,000 in the case of repetition, to now impose one of two fines, the first of a thousand dirhams for each violation and the second of 5,000. dirhams in the event of repeating the violation within a period of 24 months from the date of the last violation. The fine for the violation of the failure of the legal representative of the taxable person to report his appointment as a legal representative within the specified dates was reduced from 10 thousand dirhams previously to one thousand dirhams in accordance with the new decision, provided that the fines in this case are from the legal representative’s own funds.
The Authority indicated that the amendments also included administrative fines related to violations of “the taxable person’s failure to pay the value of the tax due within the period specified in the tax law,” “the registered person’s submission of an incorrect tax return,” “the taxable person’s or the tax payer’s failure to submit a voluntary declaration about errors in the tax return, the tax assessment, or the tax refund request,” and “the taxable person’s or the tax payer’s failure to submit a voluntary declaration about an error in the tax return, the tax assessment, or the tax refund request before Notifying him that the Authority has conducted a tax audit on him” and “that the registered person does not calculate the tax on behalf of another person when the registered taxable person is obligated to do so in accordance with the tax law.
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