The new UAE tax rule aims to clarify the criteria for corporate tax liability within the country

Service charges in Dubai vary depending on the community and property.

I was hoping to start this New Year newsletter by including some forecasts for the 2018 Dubai Property Market. However, after an extensive search through the online news channels, the end of year reports from the property portals and those of the major real estate companies, it is almost impossible to find a consensus of opinion.

Nobody can accurately and consistently forecast the property market and one should not put too much faith in predictions. However, some things can be ‘guesstimated’ with reasonable accuracy. The market will go up and down and investors will rarely ever buy at the bottom of the market and will never sell at the top of the market. The astute property investor must ignore the noise and focus on the basics of property investment:-  location, quality, design and value within a diversified portfolio whilst investing for the long term.

Value Added Tax (VAT) is now a reality, and although residential real estate in general is either exempt or zero-rated, commercial property dealings will attract an extra 5 per cent on top, affecting residential in a more roundabout way.

So what is taxable?

Selected supplies in sectors such as transportation, real estate, financial services will be completely exempt from VAT

The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has announced the supplies that will be subject to Value Added Tax (VAT) as of January 1, 2018, revealing selected sectors that will be assigned zero-rated tax, such as education, healthcare, oil and gas, transportation and real estate.