As a key government exhibitor at the 45th edition of GITEX Global 2025, the world’s largest technology exhibition, the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) witnessed a record number of visitors to its stand from multiple delegations and representatives of local and international government, as well as private sector entities and individuals.
With the event concluding today, the UAE’s tax authority affirmed that the key attractions for visitors to its stand, held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, were its AI-powered tax projects, which proved to be of considerable interest from visitors. GITEX Global 2025 saw visitor numbers in their tens of thousands, representing a mix of local and international companies from over 180 countries.
H.E. Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Director-General of the FTA, expressed his satisfaction with the level of participation and the strong turnout witnessed at the FTA stand, emphasising the Authority’s commitment to being present at this prestigious event, recognised as the largest and most prominent global gathering in the field of information technology. His Excellency further noted that the FTA’s participation aligns with its strategic objectives and ongoing efforts to drive digital transformation, as well as to expand the use of AI in the Authority’s operational systems and services.
Summarising the FTA’s accomplishments at this year’s event, the Director-General stated: “GITEX 2025 has provided a valuable opportunity to present a series of projects, particularly those aimed at Zero Digital Bureaucracy, such as the automatic submission of tax returns and exemption decisions.”
His Excellency added: “Demonstrations were presented on a range of services developed by the Authority, in line with the highest international standards in the tax sector. These included enhancement projects related to Corporate Tax registration, VAT deregistration procedures, and the Tax refund for UAE nationals building new residences.”
His Excellency further noted that among the new projects unveiled by the Authority during the exhibition was the new mechanism for calculating excise tax on sweetened beverages, which is scheduled for implementation at the start of 2026, and will be based on a ‘tiered-volumetric model’.
There was also information available regarding the launch of the ‘Live Tax Connect Channel’, which allows customers to hold direct meetings with FTA representatives via remote video conferencing technology.
During the event, members of the FTA team gave presentations to visitors regarding the Authority’s AI-based projects and the digital services provided by the Authority and their role in facilitating voluntary tax compliance through clear, accurate and convenient mechanisms. In addition, introductory workshops on the Authority’s future projects based on the latest technologies were conducted.
Among the projects showcased on the FTA’s exhibition stand were several innovative initiatives harnessing AI and machine learning (ML) to enhance tax compliance and service efficiency. These included an anti-tax evasion initiative, which involves the design and implementation of AI-based analysis of taxpayer trends and behaviours, assess tax spending data, and detecting potential cases of tax evasion.
Also featured was the “FTAgpt” Smart Search Engine, a digital conversational tool developed using generative AI technology to provide instant responses to tax-related queries internally – for FTA employees.
In addition, the FTA presented its project on Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for automating tax clarification requests, aimed at accelerating processing times and reducing manual intervention.
The exhibition further highlighted the upgraded version of the virtual assistant “TARA”, which now uses AI technologies to directly respond to enquiries on tax procedures and legislation, offering taxpayers more flexibility and an enhanced digital experience.
The FTA team also delivered a presentation on the AI Proof of Concept (PoC) project, which encompasses several components, including the use of AI to segment taxpayers and tailor targeted awareness messages based on behavioural insights to boost compliance rates.
This project allows additional coverage of natural language processing (NLP) to analyse taxpayer complaints and identify trends and service improvement opportunities, along with an AI-supported demand forecasting system that predicts chat and call volumes to optimise staffing and resource planning across taxpayer service channels.
