Fujairah waives licensing fees and taxes for some businesses amid Covid-19

Fujairah announced tax relief for some businesses in retail and hospitality as the Covid-19 containment measures impacted operations.

The tax relief is aimed at businesses in the northern emirate that are affected as a result of stay-at-home directives which in turn led to their temporary closure, state news agency Wam said on Thursday.

"Some activities shall be exempted for a year, starting from January 1 to December 31, 2020, from licensing fees, such as professions in the popular market, Friday market, meat and poultry stores, tailors, cinemas, gaming centres and stores located in shopping malls, hotels, fitness centres, health clubs, wedding halls, and men's and women's salons,” Wam said, quoting a decree issued by Fujairah’s ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi.

The decree further stated that all hotels and resorts in the northern emirate would also be exempt from “the prescribed local tax”.

The UAE has taken various measures to support businesses hit by the physical distancing measures in place to fight Covid-19.

Earlier this year, Abu Dhabi launched a series of measures to boost the economy and support local businesses. The emirate allocated Dh5 billion to subsidise water and electricity charges for citizens and commercial and industrial activities. It also reduced electricity connection fees for start-ups until the end of this year and exempted all commercial and industrial activities from Tawtheeq fees in 2020.

The state also exempted start-ups from performance guarantees for projects up to Dh50m, reduced industrial land leasing fees by 25 per cent on new contracts, suspended real estate registration fees for the remainder of this year and waived current commercial and industrial penalties.

Other reprieves include waiving annual registration fees for commercial vehicles, exempting all vehicles from traffic tariffs and road tolls this year and suspending tourism and municipality fees in 2020.