The UAE Federal Tax Authority issued Decision No. 1 of 2025 on 17 February 2025. The decision takes effect on 1 March 2025. It sets out the conditions for extending or rejecting requests for tax assessment reviews and reconsiderations.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Tax Authority has decided, after reviewing the Constitution, Federal Decree-Law No. 13 of 2016 on the Establishment of the Federal Tax Authority and its amendments, Federal Decree-Law No. 28 of 2022 on Tax Procedures and its amendments, Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023 on the Executive Regulation of Federal Decree-Law No. 28 of 2022 on Tax Procedures, and following the approval of the Board of Directors on the Authority’s memo regarding the cases for extending deadlines for submitting a Tax Assessment Review request or a request for Reconsideration, during its 36th meeting held on 13 December 2024.

Article 1 – Cases in which the Deadline for Accepting the Submission of a Tax Assessment Review Request or a Request for Reconsideration may be extended The Authority may approve extending the deadline for accepting the submission of a Tax Assessment Review request or a request for Reconsideration, based on the documentary evidence submitted with the extension request, where non-compliance with the specified deadlines was due to one of the following cases:
a. The occurrence of an accident or a serious illness for the authorised signatory.
b. The death of the authorised signatory, including the Legal Representative, or any of his/her family members (of first or second-degree).
c. A temporary Business disruption that is beyond the Person’s control.
d. A damage of records due to a disaster.
e. A general malfunction in the Authority’s systems.
f. A sudden discontinuation of Business or Business records due to the installation of a new computer system.
g. The Authority’s request for additional documents from the Taxpayer, provided that the Taxpayer can prove the inability to obtain such documents within the legally prescribed deadlines.
h. A force majeure to be determined at the Authority’s discretion.

Article 2 – Cases in which the Extension of Deadline for Accepting the Submission of a Tax Assessment Review Request or a Request for Reconsideration is rejected The Authority shall reject extending the deadline for accepting the submission of a Tax Assessment Review request or a request for Reconsideration in any of the following cases:

a. The Taxpayer is unaware of their obligations.
b. The delay was caused by the negligence of a third party on whom the Taxpayer relied, such as a Tax Agent or a Legal Representative.
c. A complexity in the topic of the Tax Assessment Review request or the request for Reconsideration, due to which the Taxpayer could not submit the request on time.
d. The Applicant was busy running their Business.

Article 3 – Implementation of the Decision This Decision shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall come into effect as of 1 March 2025.