The UAE’s Ministry of Finance has announced that registration for businesses for the upcoming value added tax would begin in the second half of the year.

In a series of tweets, the ministry outlined the plans saying businesses with taxable supplies of more than Dhs375,000 will be required to register.

Those will taxable supplies below Dhs375,000 but over Dhs187,000 will also have the option to register but the tax is expected to become mandatory for this group after official implementation on January 1, 2018

The ministry clarified that the 5 per cent rate would apply to supplies, goods and services unless specifically exempted or zero-rated.

Read: How to get started on VAT in the Gulf

A federal tax authority will administer, collect and enforce taxes, perfrom audits and administer penalties in case of non-compliance

Specific guidance for applying VAT will be provided on the authority’s website.

Under the GCC VAT framework, states will either implement the tax on January 1 2018 or January 1 2019, the ministry said.