UAE corporate tax registration — computed, claimed, defended.

Most UAE SMEs benefit from a corporate tax consultant once they are in scope. Corporate tax at 9% applies to taxable income above AED 375,000, with a 0% band below it and Small Business Relief available up to AED 3 million in revenue until the end of 2026. A corporate tax advisor handles FTA registration by the deadline tied to your licence-issue month, the correct treatment of free-zone qualifying income, related-party and transfer-pricing disclosures, and the return due nine months after your financial year-end. We act as your corporate tax advisors end to end — registration, computation, adjustments and on-time filing — so the AED 10,000 late-registration penalty and late-filing fines never arise.

UAE corporate tax applies from the first financial year starting on or after 1 June 2023, under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022. Calendar-year entities had their first CT period as the year ended 31 December 2024, with the return due by 30 September 2025. The scope covers all UAE companies, free zone entities, branches of foreign companies and individuals carrying on a business with revenue above AED 1 million in a calendar year. Government entities, qualifying public benefit organisations, qualifying investment funds and certain pension funds are exempt or treated specially.

0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% on taxable income above that threshold. Qualifying Free Zone Persons (QFZPs) pay 0% on qualifying income and 9% on non-qualifying income. Multinational enterprise groups within the OECD Pillar Two scope (consolidated revenue above EUR 750 million in two of the previous four years) are subject to the Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax at an effective 15% rate from financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025.

Yes. Every UAE taxable person — including free zone entities — must register for corporate tax and file an annual return, even if the rate ends up being 0% under QFZP rules. The FTA publishes a registration deadline schedule by the month your trade licence was issued, and missing the deadline is an AED 10,000 administrative penalty regardless of whether tax is ultimately due. Branches of foreign companies and partnerships also fall in scope.

Small business relief is an election available to UAE resident taxable persons with revenue at or below AED 3 million in the current tax period and all previous tax periods. When elected, the entity is treated as having no taxable income for the period — no 9% corporate tax, no tax-loss carry-forward, no interest-limitation calculation. The return must still be filed and the election made explicitly inside the CT return. The relief is available for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026, after which the FTA will review whether to extend it.

An AED 10,000 administrative penalty applies for late corporate tax registration. The FTA published a deadline schedule based on trade-licence issuance month — most calendar-year SMEs were already required to register during 2024. Late filing of the corporate tax return carries an additional AED 500 per month penalty for the first 12 months, rising to AED 1,000 per month thereafter (capped), plus interest on any unpaid tax. Registration is done through the EmaraTax portal.

QFZP status requires four conditions: adequate substance in the UAE (employees, physical office, operating expenditure), the income comes from qualifying activities (such as manufacturing, distribution to other free-zone persons, holding shares, fund management) or from transactions with other free-zone persons, non-qualifying income stays within the de-minimis threshold (the lower of AED 5 million or 5% of total revenue), and audited financial statements are prepared. Transfer pricing on related-party transactions must be at arm's length. Failing any condition forfeits QFZP status for the period — and typically the next four periods.

Nine months from the end of the relevant financial year. For a calendar-year entity, that means the 31 December 2024 year-end return is due by 30 September 2025. The return is submitted on the EmaraTax portal, and any corporate tax payable is due by the same deadline. There's no extension mechanism available in the UAE — the deadline is fixed by law. Filing late triggers the AED 500-per-month penalty plus interest on the unpaid tax.

Yes. Tax losses from one period can be carried forward indefinitely and offset against up to 75% of taxable income in future periods — subject to a continuity-of-business test and ownership continuity (no more than 50% change in ownership between the loss-generating period and the offset period, unless the same business continues). Pre-CT losses (from periods ending before 1 June 2023) are not available for carry-forward; the loss clock starts when the entity first becomes subject to UAE corporate tax.

A tax group lets a UAE parent company and its 95%-or-more owned UAE subsidiaries file a single consolidated corporate tax return. Intra-group transactions are eliminated, losses can offset across the group and only one annual return is filed. The group election is made by the parent through EmaraTax and requires all members to have the same financial year-end and apply the same accounting standards. It typically reduces administrative cost for groups with multiple UAE entities and helps optimise loss utilisation across members.