UAE Country-by-Country Reporting rules

Background

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Finance (MoF) has issued Cabinet Resolution No. 44 of 2020 on ‘Organizing Reports Submitted by Multinational Companies’, replacing the existing resolution No. 32 of 2019 on the implementation of Country-by-Country reporting. The new resolution sets out Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) obligations for multinational entity groups (MNE groups) headquartered and/or operating in the UAE.

Key changes

The newly issued Cabinet Resolution provides confirmation that only MNE groups headquartered in the UAE will be required to submit a CbC Report and its respective constituent entity (CE) notifications in the UAE.  MNE groups headquartered outside of the UAE were previously required to submit CbC notifications with the Ministry of Finance for all of their UAE constituent
entities. As the new Cabinet Resolution supersedes the original regulation,
the requirement to submit a CbC notification for these UAE constituent
entities now falls away.

This change will come into force from the date of being published in the Official Gazette, 4 June 2020.

Immediate next steps

UAE headquartered MNE Groups:

• CbC Report: MNE groups with total consolidated revenues greater than AED 3.15billion will be obligated to submit their first CbC Report to the Ministry of Finance by no later than twelve months after the last day of the reporting Fiscal year of the MNE Group. (I.e. for fiscal year ending 31 December 2019, the report should be submitted by 31 December 2020).
• CbC notification: The CbC notification should be filed by no later than the last day of the reporting period. (I.e. for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2020, the notification should be submitted by 31 December 2020).
• Penalties: Administrative penalties ranging from United Arab Emirates dirham (AED) 10,000 – AED 1million will apply on any non-compliance with the Cabinet Resolution.

Non-UAE headquartered Groups:

• No action required.
• Please note that if a CbC notification has already been filed for fiscal years 2019/20, no further actions will be required going forward.