UAE corporate tax: who registers, and when.

The basics

• 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000, and 9% above it. Very large multinational groups pay a different rate.
• It applies from each business’s first financial year starting on or after 1 June 2023.
• Registration is free and online, on the FTA’s EmaraTax platform with UAE PASS.

Sources: u.ae: Corporate tax (CT); Federal Tax Authority: Corporate Tax registration service

Who must register

• Every company subject to corporate tax, on the mainland or in a free zone, whatever its profit.
• Individuals running a business (for example a sole establishment or a freelancer) whose business turnover is more than AED 1 million in a calendar year. Salary, personal investment income and income from real estate investment don’t count towards it.
• Some exempt organisations, if the FTA asks them to.

A UAE branch of a UAE company doesn’t register separately.

Sources: Federal Tax Authority: Corporate Tax registration service; Federal Tax Authority: Natural persons and the AED 1 million threshold

Registration deadlines

Sources: Federal Tax Authority: Decision No. 3 of 2024 on registration timeframes; Federal Tax Authority: Natural persons and the AED 1 million threshold

If you register late

Late registration carries a penalty of AED 10,000.

The FTA waives it if you submit your first tax return (or annual declaration, for exempt persons) within 7 months of the end of your first tax period. If you already paid it, the amount is credited back to your tax account once you meet that condition.

Source: Federal Tax Authority: Corporate Tax registration service

Filing and paying

The tax return is filed, and any tax paid, within 9 months of the end of your tax period. For a financial year ending on 31 December 2025, that was 30 September 2026. For a year ending on 31 December 2026, it is 30 September 2027.

You must file even if you owe nothing, and keep the records that back up your return. Missing either brings penalties.

Source: Federal Tax Authority: 30 September 2026 filing deadline

Small Business Relief

If your revenue is AED 3 million or less in the tax period and in every period before it, you can choose Small Business Relief and be treated as having no taxable income.

• You still register, file a return, and choose the relief in it.
• In August 2026 the Ministry of Finance extended it to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029.
• Qualifying Free Zone Persons and members of large multinational groups can’t use it.

Sources: Federal Tax Authority: Small Business Relief; Ministry of Finance: Small Business Relief extended to 31 December 2029; Federal Tax Authority: 30 September 2026 filing deadline

Free zone companies

A Qualifying Free Zone Person pays 0% on qualifying income and 9% on other taxable income. To keep that status it must have real substance in the free zone, keep non-qualifying revenue under 5% of total revenue or AED 5 million (whichever is lower), follow transfer pricing rules and prepare audited financial statements every year. It doesn’t get the 0% band on the first AED 375,000.

More in Mainland vs Free Zone.

Source: Federal Tax Authority: Free Zone Persons Corporate Tax guide (PDF)

Your checklist

• Register within three months of getting your licence
• Keep proper books from day one
• Know when your financial year ends: your return is due nine months later
• Check whether Small Business Relief applies to you
• In a free zone, plan for an audit every year