Corporate tax · United Arab Emirates
Corporate tax registration and filing, before the deadline bites
Every taxable person registers, including free zone companies and businesses making a loss. Returns fall due nine months after the year end. For calendar-year businesses, that is 30 September 2026.
- Registration through EmaraTax
- Return preparation and submission
- Small Business Relief modelled, not assumed
- Free zone income reviewed — 0% is not automatic
- Penalty exposure quantified before you decide anything
Speak to a specialist
Free 30-minute consultation. Written proposal within one business day.
The problem
Registration is not the same obligation as paying tax
Corporate tax applies at 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it. That headline reads as generous, and it leads a large number of small companies to conclude that the regime does not concern them. It does. Registration is mandatory for every taxable person regardless of profit, and the return must be filed whether the result is a profit, a loss or nil.
Under Cabinet Decision 129 of 2025 the penalties stack. Late filing carries a fixed penalty in the region of AED 10,000 per return, with monthly interest of roughly 1% on tax left unpaid, and there is no single cap across registration, filing and payment failures. Small Business Relief — available where revenue is AED 3 million or below — has to be actively elected in the return itself, cannot be reversed once submitted, and applies only to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026.
Next deadline: for a financial year ending 31 December 2025, the corporate tax return and payment are due 30 September 2026. Small Business Relief is available only for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026 — and the election must be made in the return itself.
Scope
What is included
Registration
- Taxable person assessment, including free zone entities
- EmaraTax registration and tax registration number
- Tax period and financial year alignment
- Natural person and sole establishment registration
- Late registration exposure quantified before you file
Annual filing
- Taxable income computation from the financial statements
- Small Business Relief election where it benefits you
- Qualifying Free Zone Person assessment and de minimis testing
- Transfer pricing disclosure and documentation support
- Return submitted and payment scheduled inside the nine-month window
How it works
Four steps
Status assessment
We establish whether you are a taxable person, which tax period applies, and whether free zone qualifying income or Small Business Relief is available.
Registration
Application filed through EmaraTax and the registration number issued.
Computation
Taxable income built from the audited or prepared financial statements, with adjustments and reliefs applied.
Filed and paid
Return submitted and the payment scheduled before the nine-month deadline.
Pricing
What it costs
Published, fixed, and quoted in writing before we start. All fees exclude 5% UAE VAT.
| Service | Basis | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax registration | One-off | AED 500 |
| Return under Small Business Relief | Per return, no financial statements | AED 500 |
| Return with financial statements | Per return | AED 2,000 |
| Return, turnover above AED 3 million | Per return | from AED 3,000 |
| Free zone qualifying income assessment | Project | from AED 3,500 |
| Included in Essential package and above | Monthly | from AED 1,000/month |
Questions
Corporate Tax Registration & Filing — frequently asked
Do I have to register if my company makes no profit?
Yes. Registration and filing are obligations that sit independently of whether tax is payable. A company with nil income still registers and still files. The 0% band up to AED 375,000 reduces the tax to zero; it does not remove the return.
Do free zone companies pay corporate tax?
Free zone entities must register. A Qualifying Free Zone Person can apply 0% to qualifying income, but that status has to be earned and maintained: adequate substance in the zone, audited financial statements prepared under IFRS, transfer pricing documentation, and non-qualifying revenue kept below the de minimis thresholds. Fail any of those and the 9% rate applies to all income.
What is Small Business Relief and do I qualify?
Where revenue is AED 3 million or below in the relevant and all previous tax periods, a resident taxable person can elect to be treated as having no taxable income. The election is made in the return, it cannot be reversed, and it is available only for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029, extended from 2026 by Ministerial Decision 131 of 2026. Electing it also forfeits the ability to carry forward tax losses from that period, which is why it is worth modelling rather than assuming.
When exactly is my return due?
Nine months after the last day of your financial year. A 31 December 2025 year end means 30 September 2026. A 31 March 2026 year end means 31 December 2026. The same date applies to the payment, not just the filing.
I have not registered yet. How bad is it?
Registration deadlines were staggered by licence issue date, and natural persons whose 2025 UAE turnover exceeded AED 1 million had to register by 31 March 2026. Late registration carries an administrative penalty. It does not compound the way unpaid tax does, so the practical answer is to register now and deal with the penalty rather than let filing deadlines accumulate on top of it.
Do I need audited accounts to file?
Audited financial statements are required above the relevant revenue threshold and for any entity claiming Qualifying Free Zone Person status. Below those thresholds, properly prepared financial statements are sufficient — but they must be capable of supporting the figures in the return if the FTA asks.
Next step
Thirty minutes, no obligation
Tell us where you are. We will tell you what is required, what it costs, and whether anything is already overdue — before you have paid us anything.
Prefer to see numbers first? Take the 3-minute assessment — package, indicative fee and your own filing deadlines, no contact details required.
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