VAT Due Date in UAE — VAT-201 Deadline Tracker

The VAT due date in the UAE is the 28th day following the end of your tax period. Article 64 of Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017 — the Executive Regulation of the VAT Decree-Law — says a Tax Return must be received by the Authority no later than the 28th day after the tax period ends, and clause 3 requires the Payable Tax to reach the Authority by that same date. So the filing deadline and the payment deadline are one date, not two. The FTA's VAT Returns User Guide adds that where that date falls on a weekend or a national holiday, the deadline is extended to the first business day thereafter.

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, the FTA's VAT Returns User Guide states the deadline is extended to the first business day thereafter. 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 a repeat within 24 months. Late payment is charged separately. Under Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017 as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, in force from 14 April 2026, failure to settle the Payable Tax on time carries a monthly penalty of 14% per annum, for each month or part of a month, on the unsettled amount — running from the day after the due date and on the same date each month after that. Both penalties can apply to the same return.

The FTA does not grant routine VAT-201 extensions. The 28-day rule sits in Article 64 of Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017, the Executive Regulation of the VAT Decree-Law, and applies to every taxable person. Weekend and public-holiday adjustments 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.

Take the last day of your tax period and add 28 calendar days — that single date is both your VAT-201 filing deadline and your VAT payment deadline. For the Jan–Mar quarter ending 31 March, day 28 is 28 April. For the Apr–Jun quarter ending 30 June, it is 28 July. For the Jul–Sep quarter ending 30 September, it is 28 October. For the Oct–Dec quarter ending 31 December, it is 28 January. If that day 28 lands on a UAE weekend or a public holiday, the deadline moves to the first business day after it. The tracker above applies this 28-day rule automatically for any period end date you enter.

No — the 28-day window is identical for both. The only difference is how often it recurs. Article 62 of Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017 sets the standard tax period at three calendar months, so most VAT-registered SMEs submit four VAT-201 returns a year, each due 28 days after the quarter ends. The FTA may assign a shorter or longer period at its discretion, which is how monthly filers end up submitting twelve returns a year, each due 28 days after month-end. Whichever cycle you were assigned, the deadline and the AED 375,000 registration threshold behind it stay the same.

For the four standard calendar quarters the VAT due dates are 28 April (Jan–Mar), 28 July (Apr–Jun), 28 October (Jul–Sep) and 28 January of the following year (Oct–Dec). The FTA does not put every business on calendar quarters — it assigns a stagger at registration, so your quarters may end in January, February or another month instead. Check the tax period shown on your VAT certificate and your EmaraTax dashboard, then run that period end date through the tracker above rather than assuming the calendar-quarter dates apply to you.