Disputes desk
When the FTA writes to you, the clock has already started.
Audit notices, assessments and penalties come with short windows and no second attempt. We take the file from the first letter through reconsideration, objection and, where it is worth it, the courts.
- Resolved
- AED 300M+
- Reconsideration window
- 40 business days
- Represented by
- FTA-registered tax agent
- First response
- Within 24 hours
Who this is for
If a letter arrived and nobody is sure what it means.
Most penalties we see were avoidable at the first letter and expensive by the third. The earlier we see the file, the more options are still open.
Send us the notice- Businesses that have received an FTA audit notification
- Companies sitting on penalties they believe are wrong
- Groups that found an error in a filed return
- Entities facing a VAT or excise assessment
- Businesses whose reconsideration was already refused
- Anyone unsure whether to disclose voluntarily
How a dispute runs
Four stages, each with a deadline
-
Assess
Read the file
We work out what is actually being challenged, what the deadline is, and whether the position is defensible before anything is sent.
-
Respond
Answer the authority
Submissions and evidence assembled once, properly, rather than drip-fed in a way that invites more questions.
-
Escalate
Reconsideration and objection
Where the answer is wrong, we escalate through the formal route with the same file, not a rewritten one.
-
Close
Settle or litigate
A written recommendation on whether to pay, settle or go further, with the cost of each set out.
Scope of work
What the engagement covers
We will tell you when a dispute is not worth running. Fighting a correct assessment costs more than paying it.
- FTA audit representation and correspondence
- Voluntary disclosures and error corrections
- Reconsideration requests
- Objections before the tax disputes committee
- Federal court litigation support
- Penalty waiver and instalment applications
Inside this line
What sits under Tax Audit, Dispute & Litigation
9 services on this desk. Most engagements use two or three of them.
Tax Penalty Waiver & Reconsideration
Reducing or removing a penalty already raised
Ask about this
How a review starts
Almost nobody's first contact is a courtroom
It starts with a questionnaire. A short list of transactions, a request for the working papers behind them, and a date to respond by. How that first reply is written decides whether the file closes there or becomes an assessment.
We answer what was asked, in the form it was asked, with the evidence attached. Nothing volunteered, nothing withheld. Most of the files we take over went wrong at this stage rather than at the law.
Median time to respond Under the 20 business days the notice allows
What decides it
Documents, not arguments
A dispute is rarely won on interpretation. It is won on whether the contract, the invoice and the ledger entry describe the same transaction, and whether they existed before the question was asked.
Where a document is missing we say so and price the exposure rather than arguing around it. An honest assessment of what can be defended is worth more than an optimistic one you find out about at the committee.
Before we respond
What we need from you on day one
An FTA letter usually carries a deadline measured in days, not weeks. Having these to hand is what decides whether we answer it properly or ask for an extension.
- The notice or assessment itself, in full
- Returns for the periods under review
- Working papers behind those returns
- Any correspondence already sent to the FTA
- The EmaraTax account access or agent link
- Contracts behind the transactions being questioned
Where it goes wrong
Three things we are asked to fix most
Not theory. These are the ones that arrive as a problem rather than a question.
-
01
Answering before reading the file
The first reply frames everything that follows. A fast answer that concedes a point is expensive to walk back.
-
02
Missing the reconsideration window
The deadline runs from the notice, not from when you found it in the portal.
-
03
Disclosing more than was asked
A helpful attachment can open a period that was never under review.
Questions we get weekly
Disputes, answered plainly.
Usually yes, because a voluntary disclosure carries a lighter penalty than the same error found in an audit. The judgement is on timing and on how the disclosure is framed, which is where the advice matters.
The windows are short and each stage has its own. Deadlines have also moved as the law has developed, so the first thing we do on any file is confirm the date you are actually working to.
Yes, and it happens often. We will read what has been submitted before advising, because a weak earlier submission narrows what can be argued later.
Related
Usually engaged alongside
Talk to the disputes desk
Forward the letter. We will tell you what it actually says.
A first read and a view on your options within twenty-four hours, at no charge. If the deadline is close, say so in the subject line.