Corporate Tax
UAE corporate tax applies to business profits for financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023. Registration is mandatory for taxable persons even when no tax is payable, and returns are due within nine months of the financial year end. Here is how the regime works and where companies get caught out.
Corporate tax is charged on accounting profit adjusted for tax purposes. The first AED 375,000 of taxable income is taxed at 0% and the balance at 9%. Large multinational groups in scope of the OECD Pillar Two rules can face a different effective rate. Registration is a separate obligation from payment: a company with no profit still has to register and file.
In practice, almost every licensed UAE entity has a registration obligation.
A free zone entity can access a 0% rate on qualifying income only if it meets the Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions — adequate substance in the free zone, qualifying activities, audited financial statements and staying within the de minimis limits on non-qualifying revenue. Fail a condition and the company is taxed at 9% on all taxable income, so the substance and activity review should happen before the year end, not at filing time.
Several reliefs can reduce or defer the liability, and each carries its own election and record-keeping conditions.
One return covers each tax period and is filed through the federal tax portal within nine months of the financial year end, with payment due by the same date. Late registration, late filing and incorrect returns each attract administrative penalties, and transfer pricing documentation is required for related-party transactions above the disclosure thresholds. Keeping bookkeeping current through the year is what makes the filing routine.
We register your entity, set the tax period against your licence and financial year, keep the books to a standard that supports the return, prepare and file the return, and flag VAT registration where your taxable supplies cross the mandatory threshold. You get one point of contact and a calendar of your obligations.
0% on the first AED 375,000 of taxable income and 9% above that. Large multinational groups within the scope of OECD Pillar Two rules may be subject to a different effective rate.
A free zone entity can qualify for 0% on qualifying income if it meets the Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions, including adequate substance, qualifying activities, audited accounts and the de minimis limits. If a condition fails, the standard 9% applies to its taxable income.
Yes. Registration and filing are obligations for taxable persons regardless of whether tax is payable, and late registration carries a penalty.
Within nine months of the end of the relevant financial year, with any tax payable due by the same deadline.
No. VAT is a 5% transaction tax on supplies with its own registration threshold and periodic returns, while corporate tax is charged annually on business profits. Many companies are registered for both.
Yes. We register the entity, maintain the bookkeeping behind the return, prepare and file it, and manage the VAT position alongside it. Send us your trade licence and financial year end for a scope and quote.
Send us your trade licence, jurisdiction and financial year end. We confirm your registration status, deadlines and whether any relief applies, then quote the work in writing.