20 June 2016 GCC Ministers of Finance meet to approve introduction of GCC VAT The Finance Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) attended an extraordinary meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on GCC Value Added Tax (VAT) on June 16. Economic integration in the GCC was also on the agenda. Following the meeting, the GCC Chairman, Bahrain's Finance Minister, Sheikh Ahmad bin Mohammed al-Khalifa announced that the Ministers approved the introduction of GCC VAT, adding that some procedural aspects will be discussed in further detail in a future meeting. The Chairman also re-affirmed previous statements made by other GCC Ministry of Finance officials to the effect that the GCC countries would be ready for the first phase of VAT implementation by the beginning of 2018. The VAT Framework Agreement is expected to be finalized at the next meeting of the GCC Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee in October 2016. Document ID: 2016-1070 |
