UAE Excise Tax Law effective October 1st 2017

The President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has issued a federal decree-law on excise tax, which will be imposed on selected products.

As per Federal Decree-Law No. 07 of 2017, excise tax rates that shall be imposed on the excise goods, which, along with the method of calculating the excise price, are subject to a decision by the council of ministers, upon the recommendation of the minister of finance, provided that the tax rates do not exceed 200 per cent of the excise price.

At its 37th meeting, in December 2016, the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, issued a resolution on excise goods list, which contains tobacco products, energy drinks and certain soft drinks.

"As President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa issues Federal Decree-Law No. 07 of 2017 on excise tax, the UAE takes a great leap forward," Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, said.

"We are making remarkable progress in our plans to establish a sound legislative infrastructure to support the UAE's tax system and make sure it meets and exceeds international best practices."

"The project diversifies the government's revenue streams and boosts its resources, which, in turn, will strengthen the economy and ensure its sustainability," Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid added. "The excise tax, in particular, will help us build a healthier and safer society. This tax is set to discourage the consumption of products that negatively impact the environment and, more importantly, people's health, while the revenues it generates will go towards supporting advanced services for all members of society."

The new legislation requires excise tax to be imposed on certain activities around specific "excise goods", activities such as the production or importation of excise goods in to the UAE, as well as the stockpiling of excise goods in the UAE, where these activities occur in the course of doing business.

As per initial estimates, the tax is forecast to generate up to around AED7 billion in annual revenues for the Federal Budget.

The Decree-Law also determines the specific dates for accounting for the tax, namely: the date on which the Excise Goods are imported, the date on which the Excise Goods were acquired by the Stockholder, if after the Decree-Law came into effect, or the date it came into effect otherwise, and in all other cases the date on which the Excise Goods were released for consumption. The release for consumption shall further be clarified in the Executive Regulation of the Decree-Law

The due tax is, moreover, the responsibility of the person who conducts any of these activities, or, if said person fails to meet their obligations, a person involved in any of the activities. In the event that excise goods are released from a designated zone (and where payable tax has not been paid previously), the onus is on the warehouse keeper to pay the tax.

UAE Residency Visa stickers replaced by New electronic system

UAE residency visa stickers, which are placed on passport pages, could be replaced by a new electronic system, the Ministry of Interior revealed on Saturday. The General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs had discussed the possibility during a meeting held in Ajman last week.

The proposal comes in line with Vision 2021 and is indicative of a general migration to smart digital services that reduce paperwork, time and effort.

During the meeting in Ajman, officials reviewed a similar initiative currently taking place in Ajman, with the pilot phase proving to be a major success so far. Its results show a 50 per cent drop in time taken to apply for and receive a resident visa.

Meanwhile, the ministry has authorised typing centres in Abu Dhabi to print entry permits for the first time since the launch of the new smart visa system. The smart visa system, launched on August 1, allows individuals, establishments and typing centres to obtain entry and residency permits digitally, without having to visit customer service centres.

As per the MoI rules, the individuals can apply visa for their immediate family members and blood relatives.

Online Payment Gateways available In U.A.E

A payment gateway is a merchant service provided by an e-commerce application service provider that authorizes credit card or direct payments processing for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar. The payment gateway is where customers transaction is approved or denied. The payment gateway may be provided by a bank to its customers but can be provided by a specialized financial service provider as a separate service, such as a payment service provider. A payment gateway facilitates a payment transaction by the transfer of information between a payment portal and the front-end processor or acquiring a bank.

Function of payment gateways

An establishment wants to accept credit and card payments on your website. A payment gateway authorizes electronic credit card and Automated Clearing House payments to provide seamless payment processing for businesses. It is similar to a POS terminal found in many retail establishments. Payment gateways encrypt and store sensitive data, including credit card numbers, ACH account numbers, AVV and CVV2 information, ensuring that confidential information is safe while processing payments. These gateways are also responsible for transferring payment information to the customer’s acquiring bank. Payment gateways reduce a business’ liability and ensure that payments are processed securely.

The establishment can automate payment processing by having a secure software vendor communicate with the payment gateway and the acquiring bank to provide seamless payment processing. k-eCommerce Credit Card Extension, a payment processing solution for Microsoft Dynamics users, works with multiple gateways to ensure secure payment processing. This PA-DSS certified solution makes it easy for a business to obtain PCI Compliance and also supports token technology.

 Authorization – This is the first step in the payment gateway. The customer’s credit or debit card data must be encrypted, and then sent to the credit card issuing bank so that the transaction can be approved or denied. In the modern era, this transaction time has gotten extremely efficient with most transactions getting an up or down in an average of 2 seconds. The gateway can also help you set rules on whether or not to check with the card issuing bank if the customer has supplied the correct billing address or CVV -3-digit code on the back of the credit card, to help you prevent credit card fraud. Additional fraud protection measures such as IP blocking and velocity filters can also be enabled.

 Settling – As transactions are authorized during the day, the authorization places a temporary hold on the funds available on a customer’s card. At the end of the day, the gateway will “Settle” all of the previous day’s authorizations; this finalizes the credit card sale. All the transactions from a business day are then sent in one batch together to your processing bank (merchant account), and these funds will then be deposited to your checking account within 2 business days (except over the weekends or holidays of course).

 Reporting – Reporting is where merchants can view their transactions. This is where you can review settlement batch reports, or search for a transaction in case you needed to issue a refund to a customer. Reporting is an effective tool for reconciling monies coming in as the settlement batch report should match the monthly merchant account statement from your processing bank.

Once you’ve received the authorization, your payment interaction with that customer is complete, just have to ship their order now! The authorization will settle later that evening, but once you’ve received the authorization you are clear to ship their order. Visa & MasterCard’s regulations require merchants to ship the products as soon as a transaction is authorized, not wait until the funds are received in your checking account 2 business days later. It is always a good idea to keep accurate records and communication which comes through for every transaction so that you’re always clear about exactly what’s happened with every customer.

CCAvenue

CCAvenue is South Asia's largest payment gateway solution powering thousands of eMerchants worldwide with real time, multi-currency, multiple payment processing services. CCAvenue is the only complete PG solution in the region that has the unique ability to offer the full spectrum of Internet payment options.

Founded in 2001, CCAvenue is the largest Payment Gateway in India today. It currently powers more than 85% of the e-commerce merchants in the country. CCAvenue offers the widest range of payment options which includes 5 Credit Cards, 50+ Debit Cards, 50+ Net Banking, 4 Cash Cards, and 2 Mobile Payments, a bouquet that enables customer choice. CCAvenue is empowered by cutting-edge, scalable IT platform and technology that processed 100 million plus transactions in the last financial year and has the capacity to process 10X more!

NETWORK INTERNATIONAL

Network International is a leading provider of payment solutions in the Middle East. Network International is well-equipped to meet the growing needs of its customers, making payment transactions secure, fast and easy for banks, financial institutions, retailers and their customers.

Established in 1994, Network International has grown to become the region’s most innovative payment solutions provider. Be it credit and debit card processing, ATM management and monitoring, merchant acquiring or consumer finance applications, Network International offers a range of innovative products and services that can be tailored to your specific needs. In addition, Network International provides consultancy services to plan, design and prepare any new card product or programme.

Payfort

PAYFORT is part of Souq Group, established in 2013. PAYFORT is a regional expert in payment processing technology and solutions across major markets in the GCC & Levant countries, operating in UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan and Qatar.

Transaction fees (2.65% +0.75 AED) or (2.65% +0.75 AED for instalment)

CyberSource

CyberSource provides a complete portfolio of services that simplify and automate payment operations. Customers use our CyberSource and Authorize.Net brand solutions to process online payments, streamline fraud management, and simplify payment security.

Born during the dawn of eCommerce in 1994, CyberSource was one of the pioneers in online payment and fraud management services for medium and large-sized merchants.

P.O. Box 25500

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Phone: +971 4 457 7200

Fax: +971 4 457 7299

Email: mea@cybersource.com

Website: www.cybersource.com/mea

Teler

Telr is the one stop e-commerce solution. They provide services critical to the growth of the businesses of all size online merchants.

Transaction fees for 20k to 50 k sales 2.69% +1 AED + 99 AED/ month and 2.49% +0.50AED + 49 AED/ month for sales over 50K

Dubai Office:

Dubai Silicon Oasis

SIT Tower, Office 1310

+9714 314 6999

Checkout

Checkout.com with its UK headquarters has expanded to the Middle East offering payment gateway services. Its key features are a useful guide on how to integrate, a user-friendly informative website with a helpful support page, and affordable processing rates, the lowest one being 2.75 percent accompanied with AED 0.75 transaction fee. Providing profit promising startup options, the company charges payment for a start-up equal to a one-time fee of $500.

Transaction fees  2.75% +0.75 AED

2checkout

2checkout.com operates rather as a payment and product vendor than as a payment gateway provider. Its key advantages are requiring a start cost as low as $49 and transferring money to a bank account hosted in the UAE. However, high transaction rate (5.5 percent) plus a fixed fee are likely to eat into your profit.

Paypal

Paypal.ae is renowned for the simplicity of use and affordable payment system with a setup cost equaling zero. The company’s drawbacks are not supporting AED currency and not transferring money to a bank account opened in the UAE. If you need to get funds in UAE, you’ll have to perform this operation manually transferring money from a US bank account to a UAE one. Alternatively, you may use a VISA original card. In that case, you’re allowed to transfer a limited sum of money (no more than $500 for a $5 fee) to your card and perform funds withdrawal using the same card at any ATM. The limit can increase to $2500 with the fee change to 0.25 percent.

Paytab:

PayTabs is a convenient and secure online B2B payment solution provider that enables businesses to receive payments online through our agile technology suited for the current market. PayTabs caters to growing small and medium enterprises, large corporations and the e-commerce market by empowering them with a range of comprehensive payment solutions. With PayTabs, you can make or receive online payments, create and send online invoices, use API plugins to integrate with your website and even create an online store. PayTabs’ innovative and intuitive services open an opportunity of new possibilities to conduct and grow your business across markets on a local and global scale.

Transaction fees (2.99% +0.50 USD or 3.33%)

 Office No. 3505, Concord Tower, Dubai Media City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates