Tax and customs advice for businesses operating in and through Qatar.
The firm advises and represents clients on the tax and customs questions that arise from doing business and transacting in the State of Qatar, under the Income Tax Law issued by Law No. 24 of 2018 and its amendments, the Excise Tax Law No. 25 of 2018 and its amendments, and the Customs Law issued by Law No. 40 of 2002 and its amendments. The scope of work covers registration, compliance and the filing of returns, withholding tax, the tax treatment of transactions, objections to assessments and penalties, together with the classification, valuation and origin of goods, exemptions, customs procedures and customs disputes before the competent authorities, in each case according to the nature of the file and the most recent legislation, regulations and decisions in force.
Taxation and customs in the State of Qatar rest on two distinct bodies of legislation administered by two distinct authorities, and the first task in any matter is to identify which of them governs the question. Direct taxation of income is governed by the Income Tax Law issued by Law No. 24 of 2018 and its executive regulations, while the tax on designated goods is governed by the Excise Tax Law issued by Law No. 25 of 2018. Both are administered by the General Tax Authority, which registers taxpayers, receives returns, conducts audits, issues assessments and imposes the administrative penalties provided for in the legislation. The movement of goods across the borders of the State is governed by the Customs Law issued by Law No. 40 of 2002, applied together with the common customs framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council States and the tariff and decisions in force, and administered by the General Authority of Customs.
The Income Tax Law defines the persons subject to tax, the income falling within the tax base, the costs that may be deducted, the obligations of registration, bookkeeping and filing, and the procedures of assessment, objection and appeal. It applies to income arising in the State, whether realised by a resident taxpayer or by a non-resident with a permanent establishment or a source of income in Qatar. Because the legislation is completed by executive regulations and by decisions of the competent authority, a position taken on the strength of the statute alone is incomplete. Rates, thresholds, filing dates and penalty amounts are those laid down in the law, its executive regulations and the decisions in force, and they are confirmed against the published guidance of the Authority before any advice is given.
How we help
- Corporate income tax and Dhareeba compliance
- Withholding tax
- Customs classification, valuation and exemptions
- Customs disputes and appeals
- Tax aspects of transactions
- Excise and indirect taxes
In Qatar
A recurring source of difficulty is the boundary between the regimes operating within the State. An entity established onshore, an entity licensed in the Qatar Financial Centre and an entity established in a free zone are not in the same position, and an assumption carried from one to another produces liabilities that were never budgeted for. Where a payment or an activity crosses a border, the agreements for the avoidance of double taxation concluded by the State may alter the outcome, but relief under an agreement is claimed through the procedure prescribed for it and is not applied unilaterally by the payer. Establishing the entity's status, its place of establishment and the regime that governs it is therefore the first step, because every later question depends on the answer.
On the customs side, three questions determine the treatment of a consignment: how the goods are classified under the applicable tariff, how their customs value is determined, and where they originate. Each is a legal question decided under the Customs Law and the decisions issued under it, and each is capable of being reviewed after the goods have been released. Exemptions, temporary admission, transit and warehousing are available on the conditions the legislation lays down, and each of them creates continuing obligations that must be discharged rather than assumed. In practice the strength of a tax or customs position depends less on argument than on the record: the contemporaneous documents showing what was supplied, what was paid, what was declared and on what basis.