The Government of the United Arab Emirates has said it is “surprised and disappointed” that it has been included by the European Union as a tax jurisdiction of non-compliance.
The Ministry of Finance says it remains “fully committed to maintaining the highest international standards of financial oversight and tax regulation”, and will continue to work with its international partners to deliver this.
The UAE’s undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Younis Haji Al-Khouri, said, “The UAE has worked to meet the European Union’s requirements in terms of exchanging tax-related information. We have committed to a reform process which will be finalised by October 2018, and we are absolutely confident this will ensure the UAE is swiftly removed from the list. We look forward to moving into the next phase of cooperation with our EU partners on the important issue of tax regulation.”
The statement from the Ministry of Finance on the non-compliance said, “Since early 2017, the UAE has worked transparently with its European Union counterparts to ensure that we meet the criteria laid down by European Union member states.
“As the European Union has itself noted, we have addressed each and every issue the EU has raised. We have drafted, legislated and implemented significant reforms to ensure that we remain in lock-step with our OECD partners and international best practice.
“The sole outstanding issue is the implementation of the BEPS Minimum Standard, which we have committed to finalise by October 2018 and ratify by March 2019 – giving our federal structure sufficient time to allow for ratification across the seven Emirates. We stand by this realistic timeline.
“We will continue to work with our international partners on this issue, and are confident that we will be recognised as an internationally compliant partner at the EU’s next review.”
