Payfort e-commerce online digital payments UAE dubai
This step comes with the aim of digitising all internal and external government transactions and making them paperless. Image Credit: Gulf News Archives

Dubai: Dubai’s Department of Finance (DOF) cancelled the commission on payment of all government transaction fees that customers incur while paying through the smart Dubai portal (e-Pay).

DOF explained that no commission will be collected when government customers pay the service fees towards any Dubai government entity through the e-Pay portal, confirming that “the commission collection has now become invalid”.

“Exceeding Dh150 million annually, DOF will bear the costs of commissions paid to the authorised collectors of government fees through smart channels, on behalf of customers, being individuals or companies,” said Abdulrahman Saleh Al Saleh, Director General of DOF.

Strategic goals

Jamal Hamed Al Marri, Executive Director of the Central Accounts Sector at DOF, said that customers’ payments of government services fees through credit cards “continues to occupy the largest share among the government-approved smart payment channels. This is attributed to the ease of using credit cards and the privileges that banks offer their holders.”

Later this year, Dubai intends to make the smart payment service available through linking the e-Pay portal with the UAE Central Bank platform for direct debit, which includes more than 14 banks.

The Dubai government allows customers to pay fees for more than 1,200 services through the e-Pay portal, which is managed by the Dubai Digital Authority. Payments can be made through credit cards and direct debit cards from bank accounts, in addition to ‘noqodi’ e-wallet.