Tax refund scheme for tourists received 2.38m applications in its first year

Abu Dhabi: The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) on Tuesday announced that it had processed a total of 2.83 million applications through its electronic system for the tax refunds for tourists scheme.

According to the FTA, the average daily number of applications doubled to 7,730 requests per day in only its second month. The FTA also revealed that over 12,000 retail stores across the UAE were signed up to their electronic tax refund scheme for tourists.

“All evidence point to a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction with the electronic system for the Tax Refunds for Tourists Scheme, which is available at 12 ports of entry, including six airports, two maritime ports, and four land border crossings,” said Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director general of the FTA.

“Tourists have hailed the system’s speed, where a request for refund is processed seamlessly and in under two minutes,” he added.

Al Bustani also said that the number of self-service kiosks for tax refunds grew by 55.2 per cent since the end of July to a total of 45.