Can exempt person or Qualifying Free Zone persons form a tax group?

No, Exempt Person or a Qualifying Free Zone Person cannot form or join a Tax Group

However, a juridical Resident Person that is a Free Zone Person but not a Qualifying Free Zone Person can be a member of a Tax Group, whether as a Parent Company or as a Subsidiary, if the other conditions for forming or joining a Tax Group are met.

Furthermore, where a member of a Tax Group becomes an Exempt Person during the relevant Tax Period, the relevant member of the Tax Group shall be treated as leaving the Tax Group from the beginning of the Tax Period In which such member becomes an exempt person.

In case the Parent Company becomes an Exempt Person, the Tax Group ceases to exist from the beginning of the Tax Period in which it becomes an Exempt Person and all members of the Tax Group will be subject to Corporate Tax on a standalone basis.