UAE Corporate Tax Filing
The return and the payment are both due nine months after your financial year ends. For a 31 December 2025 year end that date is 30 September 2026 — and it applies whether you owe AED 400,000 or nothing at all.
Starts at AED 249 professional fees, FTA charges at actuals
What the 30 September date actually covers
Under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, a taxable person files its corporate tax return and settles any tax due within nine months of the end of its tax period. There is no separate, later payment date. For the large majority of UAE companies, which run a calendar financial year, the 2025 tax period closed on 31 December 2025 and the nine months expire on 30 September 2026.
The Federal Tax Authority restated this publicly on 2 September 2026 and named the calendar-year case explicitly. No extension has been announced. Representations do not move a statutory date; only an FTA or Cabinet instrument does.
The point most businesses get wrong is scope. Filing is not triggered by having tax to pay. It is triggered by being a taxable person. A company with taxable income of AED 200,000 pays nothing, because the first AED 375,000 is taxed at zero — and still has to file. A company claiming Small Business Relief has to file to claim it. A dormant company with no activity at all has to file a nil return.
Why businesses bring this to us
Where the books are closed and reconciled, we prepare, review and submit inside a working week.
Qualifying Free Zone Person, Small Business Relief or the standard 9 per cent — the position is documented, not assumed.
Trial balance through to EmaraTax submission, including the adjustments and disclosures the portal asks for.
You deal with the person doing the work, not a ticket queue or a form.
Documents required
Core documents
- Valid trade licence
- Corporate tax registration certificate with TRN
- Financial statements or trial balance for the tax period
- General ledger for the full year
- Bank statements covering the full financial year
Where relevant
- Depreciation and fixed asset schedule
- Related party transaction details
- Loan agreements, for interest deduction claims
- Free zone qualifying income workings
- Prior period return and tax computation
Not sure which package fits?
A specialist will map your situation to the right plan in one call.
How a filing runs
- Scope callDay 1
We confirm the year end, the registration status, and whether Small Business Relief or free zone treatment is in play.
- Documents inDay 1-2
Trial balance, ledgers and bank statements, sent once on a secure link.
- ComputationDay 2-4
Accounting profit adjusted to taxable income, reliefs applied, the position written down.
- Your reviewDay 4-5
You see the computation and the return before anything is submitted.
- Filed on EmaraTaxDay 5-7
Return submitted, payment instruction confirmed, acknowledgement sent to you.
Transparent pricing
Small Business Relief
AED 249
Revenue within the relief threshold, or a nil return
- Eligibility checked against the relief conditions
- Simplified return prepared and filed
- EmaraTax submission and acknowledgement
- Penalty exposure reviewed and quantified
- Email and WhatsApp support
Standard Return
AED 499
Mainland or free zone, books closed
- Accounting profit to taxable income computation
- All adjustments and disclosures documented
- Reliefs and exemptions assessed and evidenced
- Return prepared, reviewed with you, then filed
- Payment instruction and acknowledgement
- Written position note you keep on file
Free Zone & Complex
Custom
Quoted after the scope call, before any work starts
- Everything in Standard Return
- Qualifying Free Zone Person analysis with workings
- Qualifying and excluded activity mapping
- Related party and transfer pricing disclosures
- De minimis testing
- Group and multi-entity coordination
Professional fees in AED, confirmed in writing after the scope call and before any work starts. Free zone, group and related-party filings are quoted individually because the work varies too much to price off a list. FTA charges, audit fees and any corporate tax payable are separate, and are settled by you directly with the authority.
What applies to whom
| Your position | Must you file? | What is due on 30 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable income above AED 375,000 | Yes | Return, plus corporate tax at 9 per cent on income above the threshold |
| Taxable income below AED 375,000 | Yes | Return. The first AED 375,000 is taxed at 0 per cent, so often nothing to pay |
| Revenue within Small Business Relief | Yes | Simplified return. The relief is claimed in the return — it is not automatic |
| Free zone company | Yes | Return. Qualifying Free Zone Person status has to be established, not assumed |
| Dormant, or no activity in the year | Yes | Nil return. The penalty attaches to the missing return, not to unpaid tax |
Where your financial year ends on a date other than 31 December, your deadline is nine months after that date instead. A 30 June year end falls due on 31 March 2027.
The penalties, stated plainly
These are administrative penalties under Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024. They run in parallel, not instead of one another.
- Late filing — AED 500 for each month or part month for the first twelve months, rising to AED 1,000 per month from the thirteenth. The clock starts the day after the deadline, so a return that slips by a single day still costs AED 500 — twice the cost of filing it with us on time.
- Late payment — 14 per cent per annum on the unpaid tax, charged monthly, with no cap.
- Late registration — a fixed AED 10,000.
One clarification worth having, because it is being reported incorrectly. Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, in force from 14 April 2026, rewrote the penalty framework for VAT and Excise — not for corporate tax. Corporate tax penalties continue under Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023. If an adviser quotes you a flat AED 1,000 late-filing penalty for a corporate tax return, they are reading the wrong instrument.
A second point on timing. The FTA initiative that waived the AED 10,000 late-registration penalty required the first corporate tax return to be filed within seven months of the end of the first tax period. For a first tax period that ended on 31 December 2025, that window closed on 31 July 2026. It is no longer available, and any firm still offering it as a benefit has not checked.
If 30 September has already passed
The position is recoverable and it is worth acting on quickly, because the charge is monthly. A return filed in the first week of October carries AED 500. The same return filed in December carries AED 1,500. The penalty stops accruing when the return is filed, so the single most valuable thing you can do is file, even if the numbers then need correcting.
Where figures were wrong rather than missing, a voluntary disclosure is the route. Corporate tax voluntary disclosures carry 1 per cent of the tax difference per month, which again rewards moving early, and a further fixed charge if the disclosure follows an audit notification rather than preceding it.
We take on late and remediation filings as readily as timely ones. There is no lecture attached.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to file if my company made a loss, or had no activity at all?
Yes. The obligation is to file, not to pay. A loss-making company files and carries the loss forward. A dormant company files a nil return. The AED 500 per month penalty attaches to the missing return, so a nil return filed late costs exactly as much as a profitable one filed late — and twice what it costs to file on time.
My revenue is small. Does Small Business Relief mean I can skip the return?
No, and this is the most expensive misunderstanding in the market. Small Business Relief is claimed in a return. If you do not file, you have not claimed it, and you accrue the late-filing penalty on top. The FTA said so explicitly in its 2 September 2026 reminder.
We are a free zone company. Are we not exempt?
Free zone companies are within the corporate tax regime and must file. What a free zone can offer is a 0 per cent rate on qualifying income, but only where Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions are met — qualifying activities, adequate substance, de minimis limits and transfer pricing compliance. That status has to be established with workings, not assumed from the licence. This is why free zone filings are quoted individually rather than priced off a list.
Can you actually file before 30 September if I come to you now?
It depends entirely on the state of the books. If your FY2025 accounts are closed and reconciled, yes — that is a matter of days. If they are not, we will tell you that at the scope call rather than on 29 September, and we will price the late route honestly instead of promising a date we cannot hold.
You are an Indian firm. Why would I use you for a UAE filing?
Because a large share of UAE corporate tax work sits on the India corridor — Indian-owned entities, ODI structures, related party flows between an Indian parent and a UAE subsidiary, and Schedule FA and residency questions on the other side. Handling one side without the other is how positions come apart. Our fees also reflect an Indian cost base, which is how a named chartered accountant costs what an automated portal costs.
What does it cost, and when do I know?
AED 249 for a Small Business Relief or nil return and AED 499 for a standard mainland or free zone return. Free zone Qualifying Free Zone Person work, tax groups and related-party filings are quoted individually after the scope call, always in writing and always before any work starts. FTA charges and any corporate tax payable are separate and paid by you directly.
Founders also file these.
Official references
The statutory sources behind this page. We keep our guidance aligned to them — verify anything time-sensitive directly.
- Reserve Bank of IndiaFEMA, remittances and foreign investment reporting
- Income Tax DepartmentReturns, forms, rates and e-filing utilities
- DPIITStartup recognition and FDI policy
Content on this page is reviewed by a chartered accountant or advocate at LexVerge LLP. It is general guidance, not advice on your specific facts.