Business & Money | Tuesday 19 April, 2016 3:26 pm |

Family businesses and retail firms in the UAE will need to analyse their operating models and supply chains to assess the impact of proposed tax regimes ahead of the expected implementation of value added tax in the coming years, as discussed at a KPMG Tax conference today at the Capitol Club.

 

KPMG in the UAE held a retail-focused VAT seminar for clients and industry stakeholders to offer insights into how VAT might affect supply chain arrangements, financial systems, transition periods, end customer pricing and other relevant areas. Retail businesses in the UAE - and across the GCC - must assess the impact of VAT, not only to be compliant with the proposed regime, but also to identify and exploit efficiencies when reviewing their business models. Over 50 key stakeholders from the retail community attended the event.

 

Other key recommendations include continually monitoring tax developments and updates, assessing the financial impact of VAT on their business models, internally reviewing financial systems to assess overall tax readiness, upgrading points of sale systems to capture VAT-related information, determining intra-group transactions and dependencies and re-visiting contract clauses dealing with price and taxes.

 

“While VAT will affect all organizations across the GCC, it will have a particularly significant impact on retail businesses in the region, especially the food and beverage segment, where there could be a mix of exempt, zero rated and non-exempt items,” said Nilesh Ashar, Partner – Head of Tax, KPMG in the UAE.