With reference to Ministerial Resolution No. 100 of 2020 on issuing directives for implementing the provisions of the Cabinet Resolution No. (57) of 2020 regarding the determination of economic substance requirements, the Ministry of Economy issued requirements and deadlines for submitting notifications and reports of economic substance activities.
All Notifications and Economic Substance Reports must move forward only be submitted electronically on the Ministry of Finance Portal. Licensees and/or Exempted Licensees can commence filing on the Ministry of Finance portal once it goes live, which is scheduled for the first week of December 2020. All Notifications must be submitted within six months from the end of the Financial Year. Licensees that already submitted a Notification directly to their Regulatory Authorities are required to re-submit this Notification on the Ministry of Finance Portal once available.
The filing deadline for Notifications that are due before the Ministry of Finance Portal is available will be extended to 31 December 2020. For example, in respect of a Licensee with a 31 March 2020 financial year end, which under Article 4.4 of Ministerial Decision 100 would be required to file by 30 September (i.e. before the Ministry of Finance Portal goes live), this Licensee would be required to file by no later than 31 December 2020 on the Ministry of Finance Portal.
Licensees and/or Exempted Licensees that fail to submit their Notification along with the required supporting documents by 31 December 2020 will be issued a penalty of AED 20,000 under Article 13 of Decision 57 for failure to provide a Notification.
The filing deadline for Economic Substance Reports for a Financial Year commencing on or after 1 January 2019 and ending on or before 31 December 2019 shall be 31 December 2020. This deadline also applies to Licensees and Exempted Licensees (where applicable) that have a short Financial Year ending on or before 31 December 2019. For example, in respect of a Licensee or Exempted Licensee (where applicable) with a short financial year commencing on 1 April 2019 and ending on 31 October 2019, which under Article 8.4 of Decision 57 would be required to file by 31 October, this Licensee or Exempted Licensee (where applicable) would be required to file the Economic Substance Report by no later than 31 December 2020 on the Ministry of Finance Portal.
Licensees and/or Exempted Licensees (where applicable) that fail to submit their Economic Substance Report within the aforementioned period shall be subject to a penalty of AED 50,000 under Article 14 of Decision 57 for failure to provide an ESR.
