Qatar Chamber (QC) has urged all Qatari companies to abide by the General Tax Authority’s circular which calls for the tax return for the taxable year 2020 before the end of the extension period on December 31 to avoid financial penalties as per the Income Tax Law and its executive regulations.
The circular has also specified that companies and establishments owned by citizens of Qatar and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries that are exempted from income tax, whose share capital is less than $274,649 and their annual revenue are less than $1.3 million, should submit the tax return before that deadline.
Companies that fail to abide by such procedures alongside the submission of financial statements will be prone to pay financial penalties, according to the 24 Article of the Income Tax Law.
Further, QC has called on businessmen who own “permanently inactive companies” to cancel the commercial registration of these firms. The Chamber has also mentioned the requirements of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) regarding the cancellation of commercial registration for 100 percent Qatari companies, indicating that cancellation is made through the MoCI directly without referring to the General Tax Authority.
Similarly, as for Qatari companies with a foreign partner but do not operate and do not have a commercial license and for companies that have a foreign partner, and the commercial registration has not been renewed for more than 10 years, the cancellation shall be made through the MoCI directly without referring to the General Authority for Taxes.
For Qatari companies operating with a foreign partner and having a commercial license, they must submit the tax returns for the last fiscal year, pay all tax obligations, if any, and submit a tax clearance request through the electronic tax portal.
The statement from QC also noted that the cancellation shall be made in the presence of commercial registration and the absence of a commercial license, but in the case of an expired commercial register and an expired commercial license, the cancellation shall take place after bringing a sealed statement from the Ministry of Labour that there is no employment in the company. For the expired commercial registration for a Qatari company with a GCC partner, the cancellation shall be made through the MoCI.
