UAE VAT-201 Deadline Tracker

Your VAT-201 return and payment are both due within 28 calendar days from the end of your tax period. For a quarterly filer whose tax period ends 31 March, the deadline is 28 April. For a monthly filer whose period ends 31 January, the deadline is 28 February. If day 28 falls on a UAE weekend (Saturday or Sunday from 2024 onwards) or an official public holiday declared by the UAE Cabinet, the deadline rolls forward to the next business day. Your specific deadline always appears on your EmaraTax dashboard — that is the authoritative source.

Late filing triggers an administrative penalty of AED 1,000 for the first offence and AED 2,000 for any second offence within 24 months. Late payment penalties run separately: 2% of the unpaid tax is charged immediately on day 1, an additional 4% is charged on day 7, then 1% per day applies from day one calendar month after the due date, capped at 300% of the original tax due. Both penalties can apply at once — a return that is filed and paid late attracts the late-filing administrative penalty AND the late-payment percentage penalty.

The FTA does not grant routine VAT-201 extensions. The 28-day rule is fixed by Article 64 of Federal Decree-Law 8/2017 on VAT and applies to every taxable person. Weekend and public-holiday roll-forwards are automatic, not discretionary extensions. In exceptional circumstances — for example a documented EmaraTax portal outage on deadline day — the FTA may issue case-specific guidance. Always retain screenshots and timestamps if the portal is unavailable during the final 24 hours before your deadline.

Yes. A nil VAT-201 return is still a return. If you are VAT-registered, you must file a return for every tax period even when no taxable supplies were made and no input tax is claimed — and you must do so by the same 28-day deadline. Failing to file a nil return attracts the same AED 1,000 late-filing penalty as failing to file a return with figures. Deregistration is the only way to stop the filing obligation, and the deregistration application itself is subject to its own deadlines and penalties.

Document everything — screenshots with system clocks visible, error messages, the URL you tried, and the times. The FTA has historically issued case-by-case relief when widespread portal outages are confirmed on the final day, but relief is never automatic. Best practice is to file at least 3–5 business days before the deadline so that a one-day outage cannot move you into a late-filing position. If you are reading this on deadline day with EmaraTax down, capture evidence first and then keep retrying — the portal usually recovers within hours.