Russia, UAE agree on draft tax agreement, aim to implement it in 2026

MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - Russia and the United Arab Emirates have concluded the final round of negotiations on and initialed the draft of a new agreement to avoid double taxation of income and capital and prevent tax evasion.

The document was initialed by Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov and UAE Deputy Finance Minister Younis Haji Al Khoori, Russia's Finance Ministry said in a press release.

The new agreement will cover state companies and institutions, as well as private businesses and individuals.

"We held several rounds of negotiations with our partners from the Arab Emirates and reached understandings on terms of the agreement that satisfy both sides and will stimulate the growth of economic cooperation between our countries," Sazanov said in the release.

The countries agreed to sign the agreement as soon as possible and assured one another that every effort will be made for it to go into effect as of January 1, 2026.

The ministry did not specify the parameters of the reached agreements.

Sazanov said earlier that Russia was continuing talks with the UAE on signing a double taxation agreement, was discussing the terms and expected a decision to be reached in 2025. He announced at the end of 2022 that negotiations might begin on a new agreement.

Russia and the UAE have an agreement on taxation of income from investment that was signed in 2011. The need for such an agreement was attributed to the fact that state-owned investment funds and banks in the UAE were interested in investing in the Russian economy, but the essential absence of taxation of corporate profit and personal income in the UAE made it impossible to sign a standard double taxation agreement. The UAE introduced a corporate profit tax in June 2023.