UPDATE: Qatar to launch 5% VAT from January 2020

8 March 2019

Qatar is now expected to be the fourth Arab Gulf state to introduce VAT at 5% from January 2020, this follows Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Qatar is part of the UAE Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) consisting of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. All of these countries had originally agreed to implement a harmonised VAT regime by 2018, however, only the UAE and Saudi Arabia managed to implement a VAT system by this deadline, with Bahrain following in 2019.