A trade license is a business permit that designates most of the commercial activities that can be carried out across the UAE. It’s mandatory by law for an enterprise to have a trade license in order to conduct business activities. This trade license is issued by the Department of Economic Development (DED). When there are any changes in the information on the license, they must be notified to the Federal Tax Authority (FTA).
The Federal Tax Authority UAE is a government body responsible for administrating, collecting, and enforcing federal taxes. VAT (Value added tax) registration is essential to carry out any business activities in Emirates. Making changes to some form fields on your enterprise’s trade license doesn’t require approval, while some of the critical sections do.
Depending on the sensitivity of the information, the FTA has divided the information into three categories. If you have registered your company for VAT and want to update this information with the FTA, here’s a detailed blog post on how you can amend your records.
For Changes that don’t require approval from the FTA
To update trade license information such as ‘business activities of the applicant section,’ ‘GCC activities section,’ and ‘customs registration information section,’ you don’t need approval from the FTA. By clicking on the edit button below the subsections, the respective fields can be amended in the ‘about the VAT registration‘ section of the application. Amendments in these sections can be made rather easily online by logging in to the Federal Tax Authority UAE portal. Follow the instructions given below to update the trade license:
- Visit the online portal of the FTA
- Under the dashboard tab, find your approved registration application
- Click on edit, a dropdown menu appears with the following options:
- Business activities of the applicant (change the primary category or add a new one)
- GCC activities (providing TRN, GCC member state, or an estimate of the imports and exports values)
- Customer registration information section (CRN number, the Emirate’s name, or uploading a new file)
- Carefully review all the information entered on the form. Once you are certain that all the changes you have made are correct, click on the ‘submit changes’ button at the bottom right corner of the screen.
You can check your profile instantly to see if the information has been updated successfully. If the sections mentioned above are amended through the edit option, then FTA approval is not required.
For Changes that require approval from the FTA
Some critical sections of the trade license such as details of the applicant, contact details, banking details, business relationships, etc., require approval from the FTA post modifications. Any changes made to the information mentioned here through the amendment option will require approval from the Federal Tax Authority UAE. To make changes to any of these sections of your trade license, follow the instructions given below:
- Visit the online portal of the Federal Tax Administration in your browser
- Open the registered form of your enterprise using username and password
- Click on the ‘Amendment’ button to edit any of the information mentioned above
- Once you have edited the information, click on ‘Review and Submit’ to proceed
Any changes made to the information mentioned above will reflect on your profile after the FTA has approved your amendments. Also, while reviewing your application for any amendments, the FTA might ask you for more information. The details that already exist for all the above-mentioned fields will be automatically filled and you’ll be able to update the trade license details.
Sections that are restricted from direct amendments
Although the online portal of the FTA is very comprehensive, there are some sections that cannot be edited online. They include:
- About the applicant section
- Communication preferences section
- Exception from VAT registration section
- Notification language change in the declaration section
The fields listed above are restricted from making direct changes through the FTA’s online portal. However, if you need to make changes in any of the above-listed sections, you can call the FTA’s office or initiate a request on their official website.
Reviewing the progress of your license amendment application
You can check the status of your amendment application online on the Federal Tax Authority UAE portal only. Click on the dashboard tab and look next to status to review the progress:
- Pending: the amendment form has been received by the authorities and they are waiting on more information from you to proceed further.
- Drafted: you have not completely filled the information in the form and some information is yet to be filled in the amendment application.
- Rejected: the amendment request has been rejected by the FTA and you need to re-apply on their portal to make any amendments again.
- Approved: the amendments requested by you have been approved by the FTA and your tax records have been updated successfully. You can check the updated information in your profile on the portal.
If the amendment form is in the drafted or pending state, you’ll not be able to make another update trade license request until the previous one is approved or rejected. You should consult with a legal advisor in Dubai if you’re unsure of any step.
Administrative penalty incurred on failing to inform the FTA
It’s a taxable person’s responsibility to ensure that the information upon which their enterprise is based is correct and up to date. In case of any changes in the business information, be it a change in the office address or any business circumstances, the taxable person should inform the Federal Tax Authority UAE as soon as possible. It’s a legal obligation to inform the FTA of any updates concerning your enterprise.
Failing to inform the FTA of any changes in business details could lead to a penalty being levied. The administrative penalty for failing to inform the FTA of any circumstance that requires amendment of the information in the tax records is AED 5,000 for the first time and AED 15,000 if repeated. Therefore, it’s advised that the concerned persons inform the FTA in the event of an update in the trade license information.
Consult with Shuraa
The Federal Tax Authority UAE has laid down a straightforward procedure to update the trade license details. However, mistakes can still happen from your end if you’re not familiar with the portal or the documents required to make the amendments. Therefore, you should get in touch with Shuraa Business Setup and we’ll help you do the same. The business consultants at Shuraa assist in updating the trade license information and also provide valuable insights on how to go about it in the future.
To book a free consultation, call on +971 44081900. You can also send a WhatsApp message at +971 50 777 5554. To connect over email, send us your query at [email protected].
Read Also: https://www.shuraa.com/blog/category/trade-licenses
