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The Tax Disputes Circuits of the Federal Primary Court and Federal Appeals Court were signed into law on 18 March 2019 pursuant to Minister of Justice Decisions No. 237 of 2019 and No. 238 of 2019, respectively. The Tax Disputes Circuit of the Federal Primary Court is responsible to hear

In 1981, the Department of Fatwa (Legal Advice) and Legislation, the Department at the UAE Ministry of Justice responsible for advising government agencies on legal issues, issued an opinion on whether an employee who had been out of the country on a work-related trip and could not return due to a force majeure

Qatar Courts Suspend Hearings for Two Weeks The Supreme Judicial Council of Qatar announced the suspension of hearings of the Appeal Court, the Court of First Instance, labor dispute settlement committees and rental dispute settlement committees as of 15 March 2020, for a period of two weeks. In a press

As the Coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on businesses, many employment relationships are facing disruption, and employers are taking action on a mass-scale, with issues relating to unpaid leave, undue termination, or other actions that may be seen as a breach of contractual or lawful employment rights. Comparatively, employees who

As travel is hindered, staff work from home and general work routines (domestic and global) are disrupted, parties to litigation should consider options for managing trials via e-litigation strategies and technologies pursuant to recent developments in Emirati legislation. On 27 March 2019, Minister of Justice Decisions Nos. 260 and 259

TDRCs from 2019 – 2020 The tax dispute resolution committees (“TDRC” / “TDRCs”) began operation in 2019. There are three TDRCs in the United Arab Emirates: in Abu Dhabi dedicated to taxpayers with a registered address in Abu Dhabi and out-of-State registered taxpayers; in Dubai dedicated to taxpayers with a

Over the years, constitutional appeals have been filed before the Constitutional Circuit of the Federal Supreme Court for a plethora of matters, with the first constitutional judgement having been issued on 29 November 1973. Most recently – in rough figures – four constitutional appeals were filed in 2019, two in

With the disruption to global business and trade due to the Coronavirus pandemic, parties may look to argue hardship events under the law to alleviate extraneous obligations (such as an extraneous increase of cost in concluding the obligation). Hardship events are occurrences that result in changing the equilibrium of a

Scene You are a services or goods provider registered as a taxpayer with the Federal Tax Authority. You are facing liquidity and cash flow difficulties. You have customers; you have issued tax invoices, but your invoices are unpaid. In consequence, due to liquidity issues, you are late in paying your

Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) compliance obligations for multinational entity groups (MNCs or multinational companies) were introduced in the UAE in mid-2019 via Cabinet Resolution No. 32 of 2019, where the first notification and reporting deadline was set for 31 December 2019. There is no shortage of industry experts in the UAE

Background The Executive Regulations to the UAE Civil Procedures Law that came into effect in early 2019 amended the right of persons to appeal to seizure orders limiting the right to only the distrainee (the debtor whom the order is issued against). Prior to this amendment, the distrainee, the judgment

Case facts, arguments, and Federal Supreme Court ruling In late 2018, a complaint was filed before the public prosecution alleging the editing and alteration of an advert video on Snapchat by the accused for purposes of mocking and defaming the advertiser (the complainant/victim). The complaint was filed pursuant to Article

VAT on Liquidated Damages Construction litigation is generally segmented into two claims. The first is a claim for sums that are due but unpaid, whether contractually or on quantum meruit basis, generally for a transaction which has concluded. The second type of claim is compensation for a transaction that has not taken

The case involved a husband (the defendant) who took a video of his wife (the complainant) and sent the video recording to the complainant’s mother instantaneously through the instant messaging application; WhatsApp. The complainant/wife filed a criminal complaint against the defendant/husband for breach of Federal Decree-Law No. 5/2012 on Combating

The tax dispute resolution committees began operation in 2019. There are three tax dispute resolution committees in the United Arab Emirates: one in Abu Dhabi dedicated to taxpayers with a registered address in Abu Dhabi; one in Dubai dedicated to taxpayers with a registered address in Dubai; and one in

In the last quarter of 2019, the United Arab Emirates Federal Supreme Court issued a judgment stating that agreeing to arbitration between parties could occur by electronic means and digital messaging. The judgment confirms Article 7(2)(a) of the Federal Arbitration Law which states that an arbitration agreement is deemed to

In October – November 2019, the Federal Tax Authority issued an updated Clarifications User Guide (USEG001) replacing its predecessor version from June 2018. Item ‘6′, pg. 10, of the previous version of the Clarification stated that: “Once a response is issued by the FTA, you may decide whether to follow

On 28 October 2019, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) ordered the departments of the Abu Dhabi Courts to inspect claims and counterclaims at all levels of the Court to ensure that litigants have quantified their claims/requests in their submissions at the time of filing. Abu Dhabi Law No. 13/2017

Electronic monitoring was introduced earlier this year [2019] via Article 355 of Federal Law No. 35/1992 (Criminal Procedures Law) via the amendments to the Criminal Procedures Law implemented by Federal Decree-Law No. 17/2018. On 4 August 2019, the UAE Cabinet, or more commonly referred to as the Council of Ministers,

In the extremity; when faced with errors in tax filings, taxable persons may be subject to fines amounting to the equivalent of up to 350% of any unpaid taxes. Comparatively, with appropriate record-keeping and diligent filing of a voluntary disclosure(s), the penalty that could apply to errors would only be