Corporate Tax Return Filing in Dubai

The annual Corporate Tax return

What we prepare and file

• Taxable income worked out from your financial statements, and the tax due
• Small Business Relief: whether you are inside the conditions, and the election in the return
• Nil returns for a company that did not trade in the period
• The return prepared on EmaraTax, reviewed with you, and filed
• Payment reference and the filing confirmation sent to you
• A late-filing penalty review and the FTA correspondence that follows

Who files, and when

• Every registered company, at the end of each tax period
• Small businesses that want to elect the relief rather than compute tax
• Dormant companies that still have to file
• Free zone companies, whose return carries the qualifying-income position: Free Zone Corporate Tax
• Companies that missed a return and need it filed and the penalty position reviewed

What we need from your books

• Your Tax Registration Number and EmaraTax access
• Bank statements for the tax period
• Financial statements for the period: profit and loss and balance sheet, where you have them
• Sales and purchase invoices, where we prepare the figures from them
• Details of income and expenses not in the books
• For a nil return: the bank statements showing no activity

We confirm the final list with you at quotation; where your books are not ready, see Bookkeeping & Accounting.

How a return is prepared

1. We read your registration to confirm the tax period and the return date.
2. A written quote for the return.
3. Figures: taxable income and the tax due, or the relief position, from your accounts.
4. Review with you, line by line, before anything is entered as final.
5. Filing on EmaraTax once you approve.
6. Confirmation and payment details sent to you, and next year's date noted.

The deadline, the relief and the records

• Return and payment: "no later than (9) nine months from the end of the relevant Tax Period" (Article 53)
• Small Business Relief for "annual revenue not exceeding AED 3 million", now to tax periods "ending on or before 31 December 2029" under "Ministerial Decision No. (131)" (MoF, 7 August 2026); the FTA's conditions: "Election for each Tax Period", and the relief is not available to "A Qualifying Free Zone Person" (FTA, body dated 6 May 2024)
• Records: a taxable person "shall maintain all records and documents for a period of (7) seven years" (Article 56)
• Penalties are set by Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 and its amendments (Ministry of Finance)

Fees: Quote on request. Our service fee is quoted in writing after a short review of your file, and any authority charge is listed separately in your quote.

Corporate Tax return questions