The Oman Tax Authority (OTA) has issued Decision No. 456 of 2022, amending the VAT Executive Regulations.
What are the key changes?
Issue time of the tax invoice
The previous regulation did not specify a timeline for the tax invoice issuance. Now, the law states that tax invoices must be issued within 15 days following the various cases stipulated in article (143).
Penalties
Article (202) of the “Administrative Sanctions” was amended to include that failing to issue valid tax invoices within the given timeframe may lead to penalties from OMR 500 to OMR 5 000 (ca. EUR 1320-13 200).
Exemption from VAT
Article (79) of the “Tax-exempt Supplies” was extended to enclose financial services, such as loans, credits, life insurance services, etc.
Electronic invoicing
A new paragraph has been added to article (1) to define the Electronic Tax Invoice as “a tax invoice that is generated in a structured format by electronic means, has the details specified in the VAT Executive Regulations at the minimum and shall comply with any other requirements that may be stipulated by the tax authority”.
Failure to issue the electronic tax invoice as per requirements to be determined by the tax authority may also lead to penalties from OMR 500 to OMR 5 000.
Impact and important considerations
The amendments also touch upon several vital areas, such as the recovery of input VAT, place of supply for the provision of telecommunication services and more. Businesses operating in Oman are highly encouraged to look at the overall amendments and carefully evaluate their VAT position to determine what impact these changes might have from the regulatory perspective. Moreover, resident taxpayers should be aware that Oman has set sights on introducing mandatory e-invoicing.
Implementation timelines and the scope of the mandate are expected to be announced in the near future. Stay tuned with Pagero.
