EY tax partner Ahmed Eldessouky joins Qatar office from Kuwait

EY tax partner Ahmed Eldessouky has joined the firm’s Qatar office after seven years with EY in Kuwait.

Following seven years of service in the Kuwait office of Big Four professional services leader Ernst & Young, local tax partner Ahmed Eldessouky has crossed to the firm’s Qatar branch, bringing with him altogether more than 23 years of tax consulting experience in the US and Middle East. Eldessouky first joined EY in 2012, prior to which he worked in the New York office of Deloitte.

Initially kicking off his career as an auditor upon earning a BSc in Accounting and Finance from Alexandria University in 1996 (since augmented with a Masters in Taxation from New York’s Pace University), Eldessouky later spent six years as an Assistant Vice President of Tax at Lehman Brothers in New York, from there joining the local office of Deloitte as an International Tax Senior Manager.

Now, Eldessouky joins a diverse team of 65 tax professionals at EY Qatar (with specialisations across an array of tax sub-service lines), among the local firm’s 300-plus employees – with EY Qatar the oldest established audit and accountancy practice in Qatar, its roots dating back to the middle of last century. Altogether EY has a headcount of more than 7,500 in the MENA region, including nearly 220 partners.According to Eldessouky, who is CPA accredited and a member of the New York State Society of CPAs, Qatar’s tax environment is one that is quickly progressing, with a number of recent reforms. Over the past year, the government has newly implemented the General Tax Authority (GTA), as well as ‘sin-taxes’ on a range of harmful consumer products, with the introduction of VAT still to come.

With the introduction the GTA, which is the authority for state tax matters and a successor to the Qatar Tax Department, Qatar has pushed to redevelop their state tax laws and regulations, while also implementing state of the art compliance mechanisms. GCC Value-Added Tax (VAT) implementation initiatives in Qatar are currently in the works, following roll-outs in other nations of the GCC.

“With the tax landscape evolving so rapidly, EY Qatar’s tax teams have invested significant amounts of time and effort to stay ahead of the ever so changing field,” stated Eldessouky upon joining the local branch. “This in-turn has allowed us to constantly keep our expertise and service offerings up to date, making this an exciting time for tax in Qatar.

Eldessouky will also bring to EY's Qatar office a conviction for Corporate Social Responsibility – and a belief in the role of companies in raising awareness of such matters – having at a personal level contributed to the American Juvenile Diabetes Association and the New Jersey Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Walk.