The UAE Cabinet of Ministers issued Resolution No. (82) of 2022, regarding the procedure for recovering the input VAT borne on the construction and operation of Mosques. This resolution is said to take effect 60 days after the date of its publication.
The UAE has adopted another category of refund that will provide financial support to mosques, after refunds to charities, governmental organizations, and Emirati citizens building their own houses, as well as tourist refunds and business visitor reimbursements.
UAE is known for tax refund schemes under various categories such as UAE national building residences, tax incurred on purchases by tourists, charitable activities, and other various government organizations. Through VAT refund schemes, people can claim the amount of VAT paid for a refund through the official website portal of the Federal Tax Authority in UAE.
A mosque is a sacred place where Muslims perform their salah and worship in front of Allah. UAE has a lot of beautiful mosques all around the emirates and Muslims from all over the world visit the UAE and experience their worship at these beautiful mosques.
However, UAE is a country where everything is regulated and monitored under certain ministries and so is the construction and operation of Mosques. Following are the legal factors involved in the construction and operation of a mosque in UAE:
If all of the following requirements are fulfilled, the donor has the right to ask for a refund of the input tax paid to construct the mosque:
For the purposes of this resolution, the construction of the mosque includes, in addition to the actual building process, equipping it, furnishing it, providing it with the necessary equipment and devices, maintaining it, and doing everything else required to carry out all activities authorized for the mosque to be carried out completely prior to the date of operation.
The input tax paid beginning on January 1, 2018, for the mosque’s construction and operation, may be recovered by the donor or operator, as the case may be. However, this decision will be published in the Official Gazette after sixty (60) days from the initial announcement i.e., August 30, 2022.
If the requirements are appropriately completed, the donor may submit a redemption request using a form created by the Authority for this purpose, and the Minister will issue an order outlining the submission dates.
If the donor has any construction-related payments that have been withheld, he must pay them once the appropriate body has issued the operational certificate for the mosque. The refund application is still regarded to be complete despite this.
Once the Authority receives the refund application, it may do the following:
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