The new online portal for economic substance compliance is now live

Entities subject to Economic Substance (ES) requirements in the Kingdom of Bahrain are now required to file their notification and ES annual report electronically using the new International Tax Information Exchange System (ITIES) portal launched by the National Bureau for Revenue (NBR).

The NBR have announced that the reporting window for the ES submissions for the fiscal year end of 2020 is from 3 May 2021 until 31 May 2021.

The notification and submission of the annual ES return for the fiscal year end of 2019 was previously complete via email to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (MOICT).

The notification and annual ES return template released in the new ITIES portal does not come with major changes in terms of the information to be provided compared to the template included within Appendix 2 of the ES guidelines issued pursuant to Ministerial Order No. (106) of 2018 (Guidelines).

For further information and analysis on the ES Regulations, please click here.

Entities that have already submitted their notification and annual ES return for the fiscal year end of 2020 via email to the MOICT are required to resubmit their notification and annual ES return through the ITIES portal.

Entities can register through the ITIES portal and enter information regarding their businesses by following this link. Entities that are already signed up for Common Reporting Standard (CRS) reporting can use the same account.

Guidance notes and training videos explaining the process are available directly on the portal.

Any entity that fails to report the necessary information within the aforementioned timeframe in accordance with the ES regulations (Ministerial Order No. 106 of 2018 and Directive No. OG/499/2018 issued by the MOICT and the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) respectively) may be deemed non-compliant and may be subject to fines, sanctions and suspension/striking off from the Commercial Register (CR).