Keypoint to host free VAT seminar
MANAMA: Keypoint is hosting a free VAT seminar at the Downtown Rotana on September 16.
Ongoing updates from the National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) require VAT functions of businesses to continue to adapt and, in some cases, may require system reconfigurations, according to a leading expert.
Mubeen Khadir, a senior director with the Keypoint group and the head of its tax function, says that updates to a number of the NBR’s guides mean that many companies may need to reorient parts of their VAT function.
“This is particularly likely if businesses have implemented VAT internally and have not had an external review at any stage of the implementation process.
“We are aware of a number of businesses – some of them very large family businesses – where finance functions believed there was sufficient VAT knowledge within the business and sufficient clarity in the national and GCC law to implement internally.
“There are certain industries – such as the real estate and construction and automotive sectors – where there are now significant divergences between the letter of the law and what the NBR has decided is application in practice. Businesses need to understand these changes to ensure they comply with the NBR’s expectations, not simply what is written in black and white in the law.”
Led by the consultancy’s specialist VAT team, the seminar will cover themes such as input tax apportionments; VAT audits – with insight from the Saudi (GAZT), UAE (FTA) and UK (HMRC) tax authorities; VAT disputes and rulings; VAT contractual issues; and the reverse charge mechanism.
Mark Gamble, a senior manager with Keypoint who has advised on VAT and other indirect taxes across the GCC as well as in Australia and the UK, says that it is critical that finance functions at larger businesses – as well as owners and directors at smaller businesses – do not assume that VAT no longer needs to be a focus area.
