The Public Authority for Zakat and Income has introduced a new department specialising in indirect taxation in preparation for implementing the Selective Goods Tax in 2017 and the Value Added Tax (VAT) in 2018, Director General Mefleh Ibrahim said. The authority has appointed a number of employees in the department and has assigned teams specialised in areas related to the technical, procedural, regulatory, legal and awareness of the taxes. The Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf has previously stated that the Finance Ministers of the GCC had completed the VAT-related convention for implementation in 2018, adding that imposing a tax on goods containing sugar and salt has been discussed. (Al Eqtisadiah)