March 21, 2021

  Since around September 2020, the tax dispute resolution committee of the Emirate of Dubai has been inoperable (under reformation). Objections that have been filed since then with the Dubai tax dispute resolution committee had not been decided on. On 25 November 2020, the UAE Minister of Justice issued Ministerial Decree No. 691/2020 on the […]

  During the Summer of 2020, the Supreme Court ruled on the validity and priority of ‘hidden’ agreements over fictitious (sham) contracts. A similar case was brought to the Supreme Court earlier in 2015 but was not addressed on merits and was rejected procedurally. The Dubai Cassation Court looked at similar cases in relation to

  An announcement took place on 23 November 2020 that foreign investors can have complete ownership of Emirati companies that are governed by the Federal Commercial Companies Law (“CCL”) otherwise known as “on-shore” companies. The concession is limited to limited liability companies and private joint stock companies, including those owned by a single shareholder. The

  New court On 10 November 2020, His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department issued Resolution No. 35 of 2020 (the “Resolution”). Article 1 of the Resolution states that: “A Court is to be established in the city

  In the late nineties, a contractor sued a government tender committee for AED 65,467,250 in compensation for losses and lost earnings as a result of not being awarded five tenders related to construction and maintenance works that the contractor had bid for. The contractor argued that its five bids contained the lowest prices and

  Issue The first case involving the method of calculating late payment penalties on voluntary disclosures has been adjudicated by the Federal Supreme Court. The Federal Supreme Court has taken a position divergent from that of the tax dispute resolution committees, and the Federal Primary and Federal Appeals Courts on this matter. The judgment is

  Since early 2019, the tax dispute resolution committees, and Federal Primary and Federal Appeals Courts have ordered the invalidity of applying late payment tax penalties capped at 300% retroactively to voluntary disclosures. On 14 October 2020, the Federal Supreme Court overturned the position taken by the committee and Court judges, and ordered that voluntary