Residents of the UAE are indignant that they cannot get a small change from their purchase after adding VAT.
Residents of the UAE are concerned about the problem of rounding small change to an integer after the introduction of VAT in the country.
Now, residents of the UAE, when they pay some small purchase: for example, a cup of coffee for 1.50 dirhams, have to pay 5 fils more, and this is absolutely normal practice. After the introduction of VAT, it became almost impossible to receive small change. For example, in a tea bill of 1.50 dirhams, 10 fils you will pay as tax, so your total bill will be 1.60 dirhams. However, if you pay a larger amount for your purchase, you will not receive a change of 10 fils. The thing is the lack of denomination of small coins: 5, 10 and 20 fils.
And if you multiply the number of cups of tea that you drink for a month or even a year, then the amount looms very impressive.
What do the inhabitants of the Emirates say about this:
Ligien Amro, 19-year-old student from Jordan:
“I bought groceries: potatoes, vegetables, etc. At the checkout I had to pay 2.15 dirhams with VAT, but I had to pay 2.25, because they couldn’t let me get 10 fils in the store.”
“It all depends on the store employees, of course,” said Amro. “Sometimes small amounts are forgiving, and sometimes, on the contrary, you pay more than you need, and nobody gives you change.”
Amro goes for groceries once a week, so she will pay 5.60 dirhams more than necessary every year only on a package of potatoes.
Samar Muazen, 18-year-old student from Lebanon:
"I pay 8 dirhams for a croissant, which costs 7.90, and I buy pastries every morning before going on couples, so I pay 10 fils every day."
Every month Samar overpays 3 dirhams, and for a year the amount of extra expenses reaches 36 dirhams.
Sana Hamouda, a Palestinian housewife, buys a goulash that costs AED 30.80, with a woman paying 31 AED.
“For example, once my total purchase amount was 81.65, at the checkout I handed over 100 dirhams, 18.25 dirhams were handed back to me, so I got 10 fils,” Hamuda said.
Hamuda buys meat twice a week, and only on such purchases does a woman spend an extra 22.40 dirhams.
Dina Chan, 26, pays 14 dirhams for a couple of cups of coffee that she drinks during the day. Together with VAT, her purchase is 14.70 dirhams, she gives the cashier 15 dirhams, and they can’t hand over the change to her.
"I used to spend 6 dirhams for breakfast, now it costs me 6.30, and I pay 6.50, because 30 fils do not exist, I can’t get change," said Dina.
Such expenses are accumulated for 9 dirhams every month, and over a year 108 dirhams are accumulated.
This problem applies to every resident of the UAE; on this occasion, activists even created special groups in social networks in which they share their cases of excess overpayments due to the introduction of VAT.
