Digest August – September 2026
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to present the latest issue of our monthly digest of tax and legal news from the GCC, covering the most significant developments across the region in August and September 2026.
In the UAE, the Cabinet amended the VAT Executive Regulations in a package that reworks input tax apportionment onto a turnover basis, tightens the composite supply test, narrows recovery on employee benefits and adds a restriction on recovery where consideration is paid in cash, which will apply once the Minister sets the relevant threshold. The Federal Tax Authority prescribed the supplier and transaction checks a taxable person must perform before deducting input tax, set out the form in which the information in accounting records and commercial books may be held, and issued Public Clarifications VATP046 on the 2024 and 2025 amendments to the VAT legislation and VATP045 on Concerned Goods imported before 2026. It also published two Top-up Tax guides, on scope and registration and on excluded and investment entities, issued a new decision on registration and applications for exemption from Corporate Tax, replacing its 2023 decision, and set out procedures for the disposal of seized and abandoned goods. Dubai Customs raised the duty-free threshold for cross-border e-commerce shipments.
In Saudi Arabia, ZATCA opened a public consultation on the classification of violations and penalties under the Real Estate Transaction Tax regime. Qatar published six decisions completing the compliance framework for the Global and Domestic Minimum Taxes and announced the electronic processing of analysis certificates for sweetened drinks. Bahrain updated both its DMTT Return Filing Manual and its DMTT Computation Guide.
Full analysis is available at the link below: