MUSCAT – Bank Muscat and Oman Tax Authority (OTA), held a seminar to educate corporate and SMEs customers in Salalah, Dhofar Governorate about Value Added Tax (VAT).
The seminar comes within a sequence of educational sessions held by both institutions to familiarize customers with tax procedures, improve their understanding of its application and taxable categories, promote awareness about VAT, and motivate taxpayers to meet their tax responsibilities.
Recently, the Bank and OTA have been hosting comparable seminars for corporate customers in Sohar, Batinah North, and also for customers in the Muscat Governorate, focusing on illuminating VAT and its basics in Oman.
The seminar was attended by officials from the Authority, Bank Muscat and a group of companies’ representatives and entrepreneurs. The participants exchanged ideas and presented various experiences related to the latest practices in the financial sector in general and the banking sector in particular
The seminar addressed a number of issues like tax rates, tax fundamentals, related businesses, excluded commodities, included services and goods, tax returns and others. Besides, it touched upon input tax, the importance of the tax return, tax payment method and the importance of keeping tax records. The seminar also included a session to raise awareness on the suite of Transaction Banking and Trade Corporate solutions available digitally for payments, collections, receivables, liquidity management, account management and much more.
On the occasion, Ibrahim bin Khamis Al Balushi, Senior Assistant General Manager, SMEs, Bank Muscat, explained that VAT mainly contributes to enhancing the general revenues of the government, which in turn leads to an increase in spending on public interests and social services, such as education, health, maintenance of basic infrastructure, and securing the social protection network. This eventually results in achieving the socio-economic goal of the country.
Al Balushi added: “These seminars boost customers’ understanding about the requirements of the tax, its conditions, the importance of tax compliance and other aspects. This aids in structuring the job market and attaining the intended advantages from implementing the tax. I would like to express gratitude and appreciation to the Tax Authority officials for their collaboration in arranging these productive seminars. I also extend thanks to the customers for their participation and valuable contributions that enriched the seminar discussions”.
Bank Muscat accords great importance to stay updated with the continuous changes in the market and keep its customers well-informed about the banking sector updates at the local and international levels. These meets are very beneficial to exchange ideas and suggestions related to economic trends and business assumptions. The Bank will continue to organize such momentous events targeting customers from various governorates.
In July 2021, the Bank partnered with leading full-service audit, tax and business advisory firm, Morison Muscat Charted Accountants, to help Bank Muscat and Meethaq SME customers comply with the Value Added Tax. In the same year, the Bank dedicated a special desk in the Head Office to provide consultancy services on VAT for its corporate customers and entrepreneurs.
This comes as part of the Bank’s endeavour to organize workshops and seminars with the aim to exchange knowledge and experiences in businesses in general and banking sector in particular. Over the past period, it organized many VAT related initiatives, provided consultations and technical support to its customers.
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