Saif Abdulelah

Saif Abdulelah is a US-qualified bilingual Associate in Al Tamimi & Company’s tax team, focusing on Tax Law. He has been part of the firm’s tax team since 2020 and has close to 3 years of experience advising on taxes across the MENA region.

Saif specialises in advising on corporate tax, withholding tax and VAT aspects of international transactions, corporate restructurings, cross-border M&As and investments across the MENA region. He has acted for clients across a range of industries including banking, technology, oil & gas, real estate, and engineering and construction.

He also handles complex, high-value tax objections and appeals at all stages of disputes, including the Supreme Court (or its equivalent), across the GCC region, with a particular focus on Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

His recent experience includes successfully handling appeals and acting for leading international organisations in multi-million dollar income tax and withholding tax disputes before the Qatari Court of Appeal, Court of Cassation, KSA First Instance Committee and Appellate Committee, and various stages of appeal in the UAE; advising international banks and financial institutions on the tax implications of financing arrangements in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the wider MENA region; advising a high-profile international sports personality on the tax implications of image rights arrangements and the tax structuring of their UAE operations; advising a client on the KSA tax aspects of a multi-billion dollar acquisition of an entity in the oil and gas sector; advising a world-leading Silicon Valley tech company on withholding tax considerations across the Middle East and North Africa; and advising a prominent state-owned multinational media enterprise on the withholding tax implications of its worldwide operations.

He holds an LLB from King’s College London (2020) and was admitted as an Attorney at Law of the New York State Bar in 2023.