Market Report: The impact of VAT on the UAE’s hospitality industry

As of February 2017, all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have signed the Unified Value Added Tax (VAT) Agreement. The framework will form the basis for national legislation, which will be introduced in each GCC country.

Although there has been very limited official information released regarding the specifics of how the VAT system to be introduced will operate, the expectation is that the GCC Countries will replicate a lot of the features of the European Union VAT System.

In the latest Special Market Report from Horwath HTL, Kim Drubbel, Managing Director of Horwath HTL UAE and Oman, explores whether the introduction of VAT might be a limitation for the industry and not in the interest of the sector’s sustained growth prospects.