Taxpayers

Registration

All QFC firms are expected to register with us. Registration allows us to confirm your contact details, as well as those of your representatives. Registration also allows us to provide you with your firm’s Tax Identification Number (TIN), which we will use in all of your notices and correspondence. The Tax Registration form can be found here.

 

Authorising an Agent to Act for You

You may wish us to correspond with a third party tax agent about your tax liability and may authorise such an agent to act on your behalf by submitting the Tax Agent Authorisation form, which can be found here. You may send us this form at the same time as the Tax Registration form, or at any other time. The form allows us to deal directly with your agent in relation to your tax affairs. The authorisation remains effective until you cancel it.

 

Filing a Return

A tax return is to be filed within 6 months from the end of every accounting period. An accounting period usually corresponds to the period for which you draw up accounts, but may not exceed 12 months. If you are late in filing a return you may have to pay a financial sanction.

You can download a blank tax return from here. We will also send you a return form on request. We expect you to complete all relevant sections of the return, and send it to us together with your accounts, tax computations and any other relevant supporting documentation by the filing date. A return may be filed by hand or by post. There are special rules for filing electronically, for example by email. Tax returns which are sent without having been properly signed and dated will not meet the filing requirement.

 

Paying Tax Due

Tax for an accounting period is due to be paid on the filing date. You may settle your liability either by sending us a cheque payable to the QFCA Finance Department, or by bank transfer. Cash payments will only be accepted under exceptional circumstances.

Enquiries

The QFC tax regime is a self-assessment system. We will normally accept your own calculation of tax payable but we have the right to make an enquiry, normally within 12 months of the filing date. If we do enquire into your return, to check that it is correct, we may ask a simple question regarding one aspect of the return, or undertake a more extensive enquiry. Enquiries are conducted within a statutory framework designed to protect you from an excessive or unduly prolonged investigation whilst preserving our right to obtain information and documents to enable us to determine whether or not your return is correct.

Appeals

You have the right to appeal against most decisions we make. The tax regime includes a dispute resolution process that is accessible, transparent and just. If you disagree with us, and make a formal appeal, initially we will review our own decision, although you have the right to bypass this review and go directly to the next stage. We will notify you of the outcome of our internal review and if you are not satisfied your appeal will be referred to the QFC Regulatory Tribunal for a hearing and decision. The decision of the QFC Regulatory Tribunal may be challenged in front of the QFC Civil and Commercial Court whose decision is final

Complaints

If you are unhappy about the way we have dealt with you (for example because of delays, mistakes or failure to act on information you have given us) you should first complain to the Director of Finance and Tax. If you are dissatisfied with the Director’s response then you may escalate the complaint to the QFCA CEO and Director General. Alternatively you may appeal to the Regulatory Tribunal to review any decision we make quite separately from the tax appeals procedure.

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