Tax Publications

As at October 2026, Qatar has not yet introduced VAT and no implementation date has been officially announced. Together with the other GCC States, Qatar has signed up to the Common VAT Agreement of the States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (the GCC VAT Framework) and has committed to implement the common VAT system through national VAT legislation. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman have already done so, leaving Qatar and Kuwait as the only GCC States without VAT.

Qatar has amended more of its tax framework in the past twelve months than in the several years before it. A capital gains relief for corporate restructurings, a new mechanism allowing treaty relief to be applied directl...

Under the UAE’s Corporate Tax Law, investment funds that meet certain conditions may be treated as Qualifying Investment Funds (QIFs) and benefit from an exemption from Corporate Tax (CIT). The fund itself is treated as an Exempt Person, while at the investor level, natural persons may fall within the personal investment income exclusion, UAE corporate investors may avail of the participation exemption, and distributions to foreign investors are generally subject to a 0% withholding tax rate.

The UAE Ministry of Finance has introduced the first dedicated research and development tax incentive under the UAE Corporate Tax framework. Here is what businesses need to understand before the 2026 tax year gets underway.

The pace of e-invoicing reform across the Gulf Cooperation Council ("GCC") has accelerated significantly during the first half of 2026. Three member states, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, now have active or imminent mandates, while Qatar has taken its first legislative step, and Bahrain and Kuwait continue their preparatory work.