The UAE’s domestic top-up tax has also qualified for the OECD Pillar 2 safe harbour status. EPA
The UAE’s domestic top-up tax has also qualified for the OECD Pillar 2 safe harbour status. EPA
The UAE’s domestic top-up tax has also qualified for the OECD Pillar 2 safe harbour status. EPA
The UAE’s domestic top-up tax has also qualified for the OECD Pillar 2 safe harbour status. EPA

UAE's top-up tax on large multinational companies is given 'transitional qualified status'


Aarti Nagraj
  • English
  • Arabic

The OECD, comprising 38 of the world's largest economies, has included the UAE's 15 per cent tax on large multinational companies in its “transitional qualified status” list.

The move is expected to provide more transparency for companies doing business in the Emirates, the UAE Ministry of Finance has said.

In effect since January 1, the domestic minimum top-up tax (DMTT), applies to multinational enterprises (MNEs) with consolidated global revenue of €750 million ($793 million) or more in at least two of the four financial years immediately preceding the financial year in which the tax applies.

The OECD's Central Record of Legislation with Transitional Qualified Status sets out those jurisdictions whose minimum tax legislation has completed the agreed process and achieved transitional qualified status.

With the qualified status, the UAE’s DMTT “provides certainty to MNE groups that no foreign tax will be applied to UAE profits and acceptance of the UAE top-up tax liability by other countries”, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Monday.

“Other jurisdictions will recognise the top-up tax obligations due in the UAE on these entities, thus minimising risk of complex and costly multilateral audit challenges and disputes,” it added.

The OECD's two-pillar reform programme set up a global minimum corporate tax to ensure large multinational enterprises pay a minimum 15 per cent tax on profits in each country where they operate.

The initiative is aimed at addressing tax challenges arising from the digitalisation and globalisation of the economy and putting a floor on tax competition, according to the OECD.

The proposed global minimum tax is expected to result in annual global revenue gains of around $220 billion, or 9 per cent of global corporate income tax revenue, the OECD said in 2023.

The UAE introduced the federal corporate tax with a standard statutory rate of 9 per cent starting from the financial year beginning on or after June 1, 2023.

It brought the income of companies exceeding Dh375,000 within the taxable bracket. Taxable profits below that level are subject to a tax of zero per cent.

The UAE’s DMTT has also qualified for the OECD Pillar 2 safe harbour, which reduces the administrative burden for both MNEs and the tax administration as top-up calculations are not required to be performed in other jurisdictions, the ministry said.

“Declaring the UAE a safe harbour means that multinational organisations operating in the UAE will not be subject to any additional top-up tax, effectively a penalty that is applied because of tax planning structures being used to gain unfair advantage vis-à-vis competing markets,” said David Daly, partner at Gulf Tax Accounting Group.

“The UAE has focused on satisfying supranational bodies that it is trading internationally fairly and not deploying market distorting tax policies. Today, the OECD has recognised that,” he added.

VEZEETA PROFILE

Date started: 2012

Founder: Amir Barsoum

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: HealthTech / MedTech

Size: 300 employees

Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)

Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC

The specs: 2018 Maxus T60

Price, base / as tested: Dh48,000

Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder

Power: 136hp @ 1,600rpm

Torque: 360Nm @ 1,600 rpm

Transmission: Five-speed manual

Fuel consumption, combined: 9.1L / 100km

Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt

Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure

Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers

Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised

Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels

Silent Hill f

Publisher: Konami

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Rating: 4.5/5

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Director: Scott Cooper

Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong

Rating: 4/5

The Vile

Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah

Director: Majid Al Ansari

Rating: 4/5

It Was Just an Accident

Director: Jafar Panahi

Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

Rating: 4/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
LIVING IN...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

Tips for SMEs to cope
  • Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
  • Make sure you have an online presence
  • Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
  • Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
    Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
Pakistanis%20at%20the%20ILT20%20
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Fire and Fury
By Michael Wolff,
Henry Holt

La Mer lowdown

La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
 

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Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Squads

Australia: Finch (c), Agar, Behrendorff, Carey, Coulter-Nile, Lynn, McDermott, Maxwell, Short, Stanlake, Stoinis, Tye, Zampa

India: Kohli (c), Khaleel, Bumrah, Chahal, Dhawan, Shreyas, Karthik, Kuldeep, Bhuvneshwar, Pandey, Krunal, Pant, Rahul, Sundar, Umesh

What can you do?

Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses

Seek professional advice from a legal expert

You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor

You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline

In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support

MATCH INFO

What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)

SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S23%20ULTRA
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The six points:

1. Ministers should be in the field, instead of always at conferences

2. Foreign diplomacy must be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation

3. Emiratisation is a top priority that will have a renewed push behind it

4. The UAE's economy must continue to thrive and grow

5. Complaints from the public must be addressed, not avoided

6. Have hope for the future, what is yet to come is bigger and better than before

Europe’s rearming plan
  • Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
  • Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
  • Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
  • Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
  • Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital

Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)

  • Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave. 
  • Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
  • Help out around the house.
  • Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
  • Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
  • Offer to strip the bed before you go.
Updated: August 26, 2025, 6:18 AM