Guide · UAE corporate tax · rules as of 20 October 2026
UAE corporate tax deadlines
Three clocks run for every UAE company: registering, filing the return, and paying the tax. Here is each one, from the law itself, with what missing it costs.
Clock 1 · Registration
Register within three months of incorporation.
A company incorporated in the UAE on or after 1 March 2024 — Free Zone companies included — must apply for corporate tax registration within three months of the date it was incorporated (FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024, Article 3). An individual whose business turnover passes the threshold in a calendar year registers by 31 March of the following year (Article 5).
Late registration
AED 10,000 — unless the first return is early.
Registering late carries an AED 10,000 penalty. The FTA waives it when the first tax return is filed within seven months of the end of the first tax period — two months before the normal deadline (FTA, 16 July 2025).
Clocks 2 and 3 · Return and payment
Both due nine months after the year end.
The corporate tax return and the tax itself are due within nine months from the end of the tax period (Corporate Tax Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, Articles 48 and 53). There is no separate payment date: file and pay by the same day.
Worked dates · year end → return and payment due
Count nine months, land on the month end.
- Year end 31 December 2025 → due 30 September 2026.
- Year end 31 March 2026 → due 31 December 2026.
- Year end 30 June 2026 → due 31 March 2027.
- Year end 31 December 2026 → due 30 September 2027.
What being late costs
AED 500 a month, then AED 1,000 — plus 14% a year.
Late return: AED 500 for each month or part of a month for the first twelve months, then AED 1,000 for each month after that (Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, as amended). Late payment: 14% a year, charged monthly on the tax still unpaid, from the day after the due date. A part month counts as a month — one day late is a full month. A return three months late costs AED 1,500 before any tax penalty.
While you are here · the rate
0% up to AED 375,000, 9% above it.
Taxable income up to AED 375,000 is taxed at 0% and the rest at 9% (Cabinet Decision No. 116 of 2022). Small Business Relief: a business with revenue of AED 3 million or less can elect to be treated as having no taxable income, for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029 (Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026). It is an election made in the return — you still register and file — and it is not open to Qualifying Free Zone Persons or members of large multinational groups.
How we use these rules
Our audit software keeps this clock.
BRev Audit drafts the corporate tax computation from a company’s trial balance, using these rules as written, and flags the nine-month deadline and the penalty once it has passed.
What BRev Audit doesSources · read 20 October 2026
Check every rule at its source.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 (Corporate Tax Law) — Articles 48 and 53
- Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, as amended — penalties
- Cabinet Decision No. 116 of 2022 — the AED 375,000 threshold
- Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 — Small Business Relief, extended to 2029 by Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026
- FTA news, 16 July 2025 — the late-registration penalty waiver
- FTA legislation library — FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024 on registration timelines
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