The Oman Tax Authority (TA) has issued Decision No. 27/2020, published in the Official Gazette on 7 June 2020, and further to Royal Decree (RD) No. 9/2017 and Ministerial Decree (MD) No. 14/2019 that states that from 1st July 2020 all companies in Oman must apply for an obtain a tax card.
The purpose of the tax card is to have an identification number on all correspondence, invoices, bills and contracts entered into by the taxpayer.
The tax card requirement is for all companies in Oman - SAOCs, SAOGs, LLCs, SMEs and branches of foreign companies. In addition all Oman ministries, government bodies and other companies owned by the government are required to obtain a copy of the tax card before dealing with any taxpayer.
Once the tax card provisions become effective, the requirement for obtaining a Tax Clearance Certificate (which is currently required for various purposes, such as obtaining a visa clearance from the Ministry of Manpower, tender submission, etc.) is likely to be done away with, which will be more convenient for the TA as well as the taxpayer.
It will be mandatory to quote a tax card number on all correspondence by taxpayers. The requirement to obtain a copy of tax cards by the ministries and other public bodies from tax payers would result in increased tax transparency and compel all taxpayers to be registered with the TA and comply with the provisions of the tax law.
Failure to comply with the relevant provisions carries a fine of between OMR 200 to OMR 5,000 on taxpayers who fail to obtain a tax card.
There is no set deadline for which the taxpayers must apply for a tax card however applications for the tax card are now open effective 1 July 2020 with the Tax Authority and we recommend companies apply and obtain their card at the earliest opportunity.