GTL Summary:

Article 1 provides a comprehensive list of legal definitions essential for the application of Qatar's Income Tax Law, extensively updated by Law No. 11 of 2022. Key terms defined include 'Resident', 'Permanent Establishment', 'Actual Place of Management (APoM)', and 'Arm's Length Principle'. The article distinguishes between Qatari and Foreign projects and defines 'Non-Profit Organisations' based on strict religious, charitable, or social welfare criteria. It also clarifies financial terminology such as Gross Income, Net Income, Taxable Income, and various payment types including Royalties, Interest, and Fees for Technical Services to ensure consistent regulatory interpretation.

Document Type: Tax Law Article
Law: Income Tax Law 24 of 2018
Article Number: 1
Country: 🇶🇦 Qatar
Location: Section 1 - Definitions
Order: 1
Last updated at: 2026-02-23 12:13:40 UTC

SECTION 1 - DEFINITIONS

Article 1 [2]

In applying the provisions of this Law and its executive Regulations, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings assigned to them unless the context requires otherwise:

Minister

:

The Minister of Finance.

Authority

:

The General Tax Authority.

President

:

The President of the Authority.

Tax

:

Income tax.

[Person

:

Any individual, company, or any other body of persons.][G3]

[Entity

:

Any legal person, or any legal arrangement that maintains separate financial accounts.][G4]

Activity

:

A profession, craft, trade, industry, venture, or any work aimed at profit or income, including the exploitation of movable and immovable property.

Responsible Person

:

The chairman of the board, the managing director, the authorized manager, or any person representing the company, entity, or establishment, or managing its business, as the case may be.

[Non-Profit Organization

:

Any entity that meets the following criteria:

  1. It is established and operates in the state or in a foreign country where it is resident for tax purposes, in either of the following cases:

    1. Exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, artistic, cultural, sports, educational, or other similar purposes.

    2. As a professional organization, business association, chamber of commerce, labor organization, agricultural organization, or civil association working exclusively to promote social welfare.

  2. It is exempt in the state or in the foreign country where it is resident for tax purposes, from income tax on income resulting from the activities mentioned in the previous clause.

  3. It has no shareholders or members with ownership or beneficial rights in its income or assets.

  4. No private person or profit-making entity claims its income or assets, and it does not distribute its income or assets to any private person or profit-making entity, except in accordance with the administration of the charity's activities, reasonable compensation for services rendered, use of property or capital of the entity, or payment representing the fair market value of the property purchased by the entity.

  5. All assets of the entity, upon its termination, dissolution, or liquidation, are distributed or returned to a nonprofit organization, the government, or any political (administrative or regional) subdivision or governmental entity, as the case may be, in the state or in the foreign country where it is resident for tax purposes, and not distributed or returned to any entity that conducts business unrelated directly to the purposes for which the entity was established. This includes private associations and institutions, charities, and private institutions of public benefit.][G5]

[Project

:

Conducting any work that generates income or profit.] [G6]

[Qatari Project

:

A project managed by a resident in the state.] [G7]

[Foreign Project

:

A project managed by a resident in a foreign country.] [G8]

[Business

:

Performing professional services and other independent activities.] [G9]

[Permanent Establishment

:

A fixed place of business through which the project conducts its activities, wholly or partially.] [G10]

[Immovable Property

:

Real estate, including buildings and lands, and property rights, including rights to payments for the exploitation of natural resources and related rights.] [G11]

[Distributed Profits

:

  1. Income from shares, usufruct shares, mining shares, founders' shares, or other rights to participate in profits, excluding claims for debts.
  2. Income from other rights in companies subject to the same tax treatment as income from shares under the laws of the state where the distributing company resides.] [G12]

[Interest

:

  1. Income from debt claims of any kind, whether secured by a mortgage or not, whether carrying a right to participate in the debtor's profits or not, particularly income from government securities and income from bonds and debentures, including premiums and prizes associated with these securities or bonds or debentures.
  2. Income from Islamic financial instruments where the essence of the contract is akin to a loan, similar to Murabaha, Istisna, Mudaraba, Musharaka, Ijara, and Sukuk contracts.] [G13]

[Royalties

:

Payments of any kind received as consideration for:

  1. The use of or the right to use any copyright of literary, artistic, or scientific works, including cinematographic films or films or tapes used for radio or television broadcasting, or any patent, trademark, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, or for the use of or the right to use industrial, commercial, or scientific equipment.
  2. The use of or the right to use information concerning industrial, commercial, or scientific expertise.] [G14]

[Fees for Technical Services

:

Any payments for any service of an administrative, technical, or consultancy nature.] [G15]

[Resident

:

Every individual who has a permanent home available to him in the state, or who has stayed in the state continuously or intermittently for more than one hundred eighty-three (183) days in the year, or who holds Qatari nationality, and any entity that has its place of establishment in the state, provided that its main and actual place of management and control is in the state.] [G16]

[Tax Return

:

A declaration of income, expenses, exemptions, and due tax submitted by a person according to the form approved by the Authority.] [G17]

[Arm's Length Principle

:

The principle under which transactions between related entities are recorded by reference to the terms that would have been obtained between independent enterprises in similar transactions and under similar circumstances.] [G18]

[Foreign Tax

:

Tax actually paid to a foreign country.] [G19]

[Financial Year

:

The accounting period for which the project prepares its financial statements, which is the calendar year or twelve (12) consecutive months ending on the last day of any month except December, with the President's authorization.] [G20]

Gross Income

:

The total income of the taxpayer in the financial year.

Net Income

:

Gross income after deducting the allowable deductions under this Law.

Taxable Income

:

Net income after deducting losses in accordance with this Law.

[Actual Place of Management (APoM)

:

The place where the executives and senior management employees of the entity make strategic, commercial, administrative, financial, and operational decisions for the entity, or where they perform their daily work, and where employees and other staff conduct the daily activities necessary to operate the entity.] [G21]

Taxpayer

:

Every natural or legal person or any other entity obliged to pay tax or perform other tax duties stipulated by this Law and the relevant Regulations and decisions.

Regulation

:

The executive regulation of this Law.

Footnotes

[2](Amended by Law 11/2022)

GTL Notes

[G3]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G4]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G5]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G6]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G7]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G8]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G9]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G10]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G11]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G12]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G13]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G14]This paragraph was amended, vide Amending Law No. (11) of 2022. Prior to its amendment, it read as follows:

"Royalties: Payments of any kind made as a consideration for the use of, or the right to use, any copyright of literary, artistic or scientific work including cinematograph films, films or discs used for radio or television broadcasting, any patent, trademark, drawing, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, or for the use of or the right to use, industrial, commercial or scientific equipment or for information concerning industrial, commercial or scientific experience."

[G15]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G16]This paragraph was amended, vide Amending Law No. (11) of 2022. Prior to its amendment, it read as follows:

"Resident:

  1. Natural person who satisfies any of the following requirements:

    1. Has a permanent home in the State.

    2. Has been in the State for more than one hundred and eighty-three (183) consecutive or separate days during any twelve (12) month period.

    3. Has his center of vital interests in the State.

  2. Legal person who satisfies any of the following requirements:

    1. It is incorporated under Qatari legislations.

    2. Its head office is situated in the State of Qatar.

    3. Its place of effective management is situated in the State of Qatar."

[G17]This paragraph was amended, vide Amending Law No. (11) of 2022. Prior to its amendment, it read as follows:

"Return: A statement in which the taxpayer acknowledges the amount of taxable income and the tax due, according to the form prepared for this purpose."

[G18]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G19]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G20]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

[G21]Inserted by Amending Law No. (11) of 2022.

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