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UAE Corporate Tax: a registration and filing checklist for SMEs

What a UAE SME must confirm, in order, from Corporate Tax registration through to filing a return within nine months of its financial year end.

In short

UAE Corporate Tax applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2023. Taxable income up to AED 375,000 is taxed at 0% and income above that at 9%. Every taxable person, free-zone entities included, must register and obtain a Corporate Tax registration number. The return and any payment fall due within nine months of the end of the tax period, and records must be kept for at least seven years. Small Business Relief may treat a business with revenue of AED 3 million or less as having no taxable income, but it must be elected for each tax period.

By Krest Business · Published 4 September 2026

Last reviewed: September 2026

Does my UAE company need to register for Corporate Tax?

Yes, in almost every case. The Ministry of Finance states that all taxable persons, including free-zone entities, are required to register for Corporate Tax and obtain a Corporate Tax registration number. Registration is a separate step from filing, and it is required whether or not the business expects to pay any tax: a company inside the 0% band still registers and still files.

Two timing rules catch businesses out. A juridical person incorporated abroad but effectively managed and controlled in the UAE on or after 1 March 2024 must apply to register within three months from the end of its financial year. A natural person carrying on business in the UAE must register no later than 31 March of the calendar year following the year in which total turnover exceeded AED 1 million.

What are the Corporate Tax rates and thresholds?

The headline structure is short: 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000, and 9% on taxable income above AED 375,000. Taxable income is accounting profit adjusted for the rules in the Corporate Tax Law, so the figure in the return is rarely identical to the profit in the management accounts.

A separate regime sits above this for very large groups. The UAE Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax applies a 15% minimum rate to members of multinational groups with consolidated revenue of EUR 750 million or more, for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025. An SME is not within that regime, but a UAE subsidiary of a large international group may be.

When is the Corporate Tax return due?

A taxable person must file a Corporate Tax return for each tax period within nine months from the end of that period, and the same deadline generally applies to paying any Corporate Tax due. For a financial year ending 31 December, that places the return and payment in the following September.

Nine months sounds generous and rarely is. The computation depends on closed accounts, agreed fixed-asset and provision schedules, reviewed related-party transactions and a settled position on any relief. Where records are incomplete, the clean-up — not the return itself — is what consumes the time.

Who can use Small Business Relief?

Small Business Relief allows an eligible taxable person to be treated as having no taxable income for the relevant tax period. The Federal Tax Authority states the condition as revenue equal to or less than AED 3,000,000 in both the current and all previous tax periods — so exceeding the figure once removes eligibility for later periods.

The relief must be elected for each tax period; it does not apply automatically. Qualifying Free Zone Persons cannot use it, and neither can members of multinational groups with consolidated group revenue above AED 3.15 billion. Electing the relief does not remove the obligation to register, to file, or to keep records.

The checklist, in order

Work through these in sequence. Each step produces something the next one needs, which is why doing them out of order is what usually causes a late filing.

  1. 01Confirm the tax period — normally the financial year in the licence and the accounts — and write down the resulting filing deadline.
  2. 02Register for Corporate Tax and record the registration number, checking the registration timing rule that applies to the entity.
  3. 03Close the accounts for the period: bank, cash and gateway reconciliations, payables and receivables, accruals and prepayments.
  4. 04Assemble the supporting schedules — fixed assets and depreciation, provisions, leases, loans, and owner or related-party transactions.
  5. 05Assess the position on reliefs, including free-zone status and Small Business Relief, and document the reasoning rather than only the conclusion.
  6. 06Prepare the taxable-income computation from the closed accounts, listing every adjustment to accounting profit.
  7. 07Review, approve and file the return, then pay any Corporate Tax due within the same nine-month deadline.
  8. 08Archive the return, the computation and the underlying records for at least seven years after the end of the tax period.

What records must be kept, and for how long?

In a press release dated 27 August 2025, the Federal Tax Authority stated that both taxable persons and exempt persons must retain relevant records for a period of at least seven years following the end of the tax period to which they relate. The Authority lists transaction documentation, asset records including purchase and disposal details, liability records and share-holding documentation.

Krest Business supports registration, readiness assessment, tax-accounting alignment, the computation and return preparation, working from the accounting records it maintains or reviews. Thresholds, reliefs and deadlines depend on the facts of each business and should be confirmed against current Federal Tax Authority and Ministry of Finance guidance before any position is taken.

Sources

Regulatory statements above are taken from the following official pages, checked in September 2026. Requirements change; confirm the current position before acting on it.

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