FTA Decision 1/2024 — Professional standards and black points for tax agents

Factual summary

Approves the Professional Standards Guide for Tax Agents and introduces a black points system for violations of its standards. A table assigns points (from 10 to 200) and an expiry period (12 months, 24 months or permanent) to 37 violations under five principles; accumulated points lead to a notice, a first warning, a second warning and, at 200 points (multiplied by the number of natural person agents for a firm), deregistration. The guide also sets the code of ethics, the duties of tax agents and the delisting cases.

What it means in practice Professional insight

Who: tax agents and tax agency firms. What to check: confidentiality controls, written terms of engagement, response times to FTA requests, quality of technical advice, and the firm's accumulated points against its threshold.

Key provisions

• Art. 2 Approves the annexed Professional Standards Guide for Tax Agents, including its standards, controls, conditions and procedures.
• Art. 3 Black points apply to the natural person Tax Agent who commits a violation; where he works for a juridical person Tax Agent, to both; a violation by a representative of a juridical person Tax Agent that affects the represented client is applied to the appointed natural person Tax Agent and the juridical person, otherwise only to the juridical person.
• Art. 5 Accumulated points: up to 75 — notice of the violations and the need for precautionary measures; up to 149 — first warning; up to 199 — second warning; 200 — deregistration from the register and notice to all linked registrants. For a juridical person each threshold is multiplied by the number of natural person Tax Agents working for it.
• Schedule The attached table sets points and expiry for 37 violations under the principles of confidentiality, integrity, objectivity, professional behaviour and professional competence; e.g. sharing taxpayer information without written consent 100 points (24 months), promoting aggressive tax planning or misappropriating client tax funds 200 points (permanent), inaccurate advice causing a tax loss not exceeding AED 10,000 50 points, above AED 10,000 but less than AED 1,000,000 100 points, and not less than AED 1,000,000 125 points (12 months each). Points expire as the table specifies (Art. 4).
• Section 5.1 The guide's code of ethics rests on five fundamental principles: integrity, objectivity, professional competence, confidentiality and professional behaviour.
• Section 6.3 The FTA may delist a tax agent who can no longer fulfil its duties or meet the registration conditions, whose continued listing would adversely affect the integrity of the tax system, who committed a serious violation or Tax Evasion, or who is a current member of the Tax Disputes Resolution Committee; a delisted agent may not practise in the UAE and is notified within five business days with reasons.
• Art. 6 Published in the Official Gazette; in force as of 1 July 2024.