Tax services in the Middle East
A fully integrated one-stop-shop for legal and tax services
Gateley Middle East is the first and only fully integrated one-stop-shop for legal and tax solutions in the Middle East and home to the largest tax practice within a law firm in the region.
Based in DIFC, we coordinate cross-border tax matters across the Middle East, including international tax matters, the introduction of corporate tax across the region, evolving VAT regimes, transfer pricing and global minimum tax (Pillar Two) matters, so that groups operating across the Middle East region (and beyond) deal with one integrated team. Our experts advise on:
- Corporate tax: advisory and compliance
- International tax: Treaties and structuring
- M&A tax: Deals and due diligence
- Transfer pricing: Policy, documents and filings
- VAT and indirect taxes: advisory and compliance
- Withholding tax: Cross-border flows
- FATCA and CRS: Advisory and compliance
- Pillar Two: Global minimum tax
- Tax structuring: Operating models
- Private wealth: Family offices and high-net-worth individuals
- Financial services tax: Banks and funds
- Tax disputes: End-to-end resolution
- Zakat: Advisory and compliance
More than a law firm. More than the Big Four.
Tax doesn’t sit in a silo. Traditional law firms carry limited tax resource. Advisory firms face regulatory limits on legal work and privilege. We do both and as such we can offer:
- Largest tax team at a law firm in the Middle East
- Full corporate tax, VAT, withholding tax and transfer pricing advisory and compliance
- E-invoicing capabilities, with no regulatory restrictions
- Legal and tax structuring with end-to-end setup plus yearly legal, regulatory and tax compliance
- Full end-to-end support from Tax Authority level all the way up to the Supreme Court. From the first audit query to the highest court, we stay with you the whole way. Advisory firms cannot represent you in the courts; we can.
- Legal privilege over tax advice
Our team works alongside Gateley’s lawyers, so tax is built into the legal work from day one, not bolted on afterwards.
How Gateley Middle East can help:
Advisory
- Corporate and international tax structuring
- Pillar Two readiness
- R&D tax credit determination
- VAT and indirect tax
- Transfer pricing and Pillar Two readiness
- M&A, transactions and restructuring
- Transfer Pricing advisory and operation model
- Governance frameworks and health checks
Compliance
- Corporate tax registration and returns
- VAT registration, returns and reviews
- Transfer pricing documentation and filings
- Withholding tax obligations
- Emirate level tax filings
- Zakat filing reviews
Disputes
- FTA audits, reviews and queries
- Voluntary disclosures and remediation
- Reconsiderations and TDRC
- Penalty mitigation and negotiation
- Litigation to the Federal Supreme Court
Wrapped around three integrated capabilities:
1. Tax structuring
Holding and operating structures, free zones (QFZP) positioning and group reorganisations, tax efficient and defensible.
2. Legal services
Company set-up, execution and ongoing legal, regulatory and tax compliance, by qualified lawyers, not referred out.
3. Technology
E-invoicing readiness, R&D tax credit tooling and tax data solution, the infrastructure behind compliance.
Tax built into legal advice from day one
Tax does not sit in a silo. Our tax specialists work alongside legal teams to ensure tax considerations are integrated into corporate structuring, transactions and workforce planning from the outset.
Bringing tax and legal expertise together helps clients avoid surprises, manage risk and achieve better commercial outcomes across the business lifecycle.
- Corporate structuring and reorganisations: Tax structuring is built into the corporate design from the outset, ensuring the structure works commercially and from a tax perspective.
- Deals and transactions: Tax due diligence on the buy and sell side – and well beyond the diligence report: deal structuring, SPA tax provisions and post-completion integration.
- Workforce and mobility: No personal income tax in the UAE, but employment arrangements drive corporate tax outcomes (wages, related-party and PE risk) and global mobility considerations to avoid unwanted tax exposures in other jurisdictions.