UAE Corporate Tax Registration: Who Must Register and Deadlines
Every juridical person subject to UAE Corporate Tax must register with the Federal Tax Authority and obtain a Corporate Tax Registration Number — including free zone companies, and including businesses that will pay nothing. Natural persons only register once their business turnover passes AED 1 million in a calendar year. Missing the registration deadline carries an administrative penalty of AED 10,000.
Registration is separate from paying tax. A company with taxable income below AED 375,000 pays 0%, but it still has to be registered and still has to file. This guide sets out who must register, by when, what happens if you were late, and how the waiver initiative works.
Who must register
The Federal Tax Authority states that all juridical persons subject to Corporate Tax are required to register. The Ministry of Finance defines that scope as:
- UAE companies and other juridical persons incorporated, or effectively managed and controlled, in the UAE;
- natural persons conducting a business or business activity in the UAE;
- non-resident juridical persons with a permanent establishment in the UAE.
Free zone entities are not outside the regime. The Ministry is explicit that juridical persons established in a UAE free zone are within the scope of Corporate Tax. A free zone company that meets the conditions to be a Qualifying Free Zone Person benefits from a 0% rate on its qualifying income — but it registers like everyone else, and profits attributable to a permanent establishment outside the free zone are taxed at 9%.
Natural persons and the AED 1 million test
A natural person becomes a taxable person only where they conduct a business in the UAE and total turnover from it exceeds AED 1 million within a Gregorian calendar year, applying from calendar year 2024 onwards. Below that threshold, the FTA’s position is that you should not register.
Three income types are expressly excluded from the calculation: wages, personal investment income and real estate investment income. Salary and personal property income do not push a person over the line.
The registration deadlines
Timelines are fixed by FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024. For a resident juridical person incorporated before 1 March 2024, the deadline depended on the month its licence was issued — irrespective of the year of issuance:
- January or February — 31 May 2024
- March or April — 30 June 2024
- May — 31 July 2024
- June — 31 August 2024
- July — 30 September 2024
- August or September — 31 October 2024
- October or November — 30 November 2024
- December — 31 December 2024
Where a business holds more than one licence, the deadline follows the licence with the earliest issuance date. A company incorporated before 1 March 2024 holding no licence had to register by 31 May 2024.
For everything created since, the rules are ongoing rather than one-off:
- Resident juridical persons incorporated on or after 1 March 2024 — within three months of incorporation, establishment or recognition.
- Non-resident with a permanent establishment existing before 1 March 2024 — within nine months of the date the PE came into existence.
- Non-resident with a permanent establishment arising on or after 1 March 2024 — within six months.
- Non-resident establishing a nexus on or after 1 March 2024 — within three months.
- Natural persons — by 31 March of the calendar year following the year turnover exceeded AED 1 million.
If you hold a Dubai trade licence issued this year, the three-month clock is the one that applies to you — DET’s own licensing pages now carry that reminder. Our guide to trade licence renewal in Dubai covers the licensing side.
The AED 10,000 penalty — and the waiver
Failure to submit a registration application within the FTA’s timeframe carries an administrative penalty of AED 10,000, set by Cabinet Decision No. (75) of 2023 as amended by Cabinet Decision No. (10) of 2024.
There is a genuine way out. Under an official FTA initiative, the late-registration penalty is waived where the person submits their first tax return or annual declaration within seven months from the end of their first tax period — rather than the usual nine. If the penalty has already been paid and the conditions are met, the amount is credited back to the FTA account. The FTA publishes an eligibility check for this.
If you registered late, that seven-month filing date is the most important date in your calendar.
Rates, and Small Business Relief
Corporate Tax applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2023. The rate is 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it.
Small Business Relief is available to resident persons — natural and juridical — whose revenue is AED 3,000,000 or less in the current and all previous tax periods. It must be elected for each tax period, and it is not available to Qualifying Free Zone Persons, nor to members of a multinational group with consolidated revenues above AED 3.15 billion.
It has an end date. The relief is governed by Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023, and the Ministry of Finance states that it applies to “tax periods starting on or after 1 June 2023 and will only continue to apply to subsequent tax periods that end before or on 31 December 2026”. For most businesses on a calendar year, that makes the year ending 31 December 2026 the last one in which the relief can be claimed.
No official source we could find states what replaces it, or whether it will be extended. If you have been relying on the relief, the tax period beginning 1 January 2027 is the one to plan for.
How to register
Registration is done on the FTA’s EmaraTax platform, available 24/7, and no registration fee applies. The flow is:
- Register and activate an EmaraTax account.
- Open the dashboard and create a Taxable Person profile.
- Open that profile and choose the Corporate Tax “Action” menu.
- Click Register, complete the application and submit it.
The FTA estimates about 25 minutes to submit, and processes a completed application within 20 business days. A Corporate Tax Registration Number is issued on success.
After registration: filing and payment
Tax returns — or annual declarations — must be submitted within nine months from the end of the tax period, and the tax payable must be settled by the same deadline. For a tax period ending 31 December 2024, that meant the end of September 2025.
Businesses that elected Small Business Relief still file, using simplified returns, within the same legal deadline. Payment is treated as made when it reaches the FTA, so late transfers attract an overdue payment penalty even if initiated on time.
Frequently asked questions
Do free zone companies have to register for corporate tax?
Yes. The Ministry of Finance states that juridical persons established in a UAE free zone are within the scope of Corporate Tax. Qualifying Free Zone Person status affects the rate on qualifying income, not the obligation to register.
My company has no profit. Do I still register?
Yes. Registration follows from being a taxable person, not from having taxable income. The 0% band up to AED 375,000 applies after you are registered and filing.
I am a freelancer. When do I have to register?
Only once your turnover from business activity in the UAE exceeds AED 1 million in a calendar year, and then by 31 March of the following year. Wages, personal investment income and real estate investment income do not count towards the threshold.
What is the penalty for registering late?
AED 10,000, under Cabinet Decision No. (75) of 2023 as amended. It can be waived if you file your first return or annual declaration within seven months of the end of your first tax period, and refunded if already paid.
How long does the FTA take to process registration?
Twenty business days from receipt of a completed application, per the FTA’s service page. Submission itself takes roughly 25 minutes on EmaraTax and is free.
Does Small Business Relief expire?
Yes. The Ministry of Finance states it applies to tax periods starting on or after 1 June 2023 and continues only for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026. Nothing official has been published about what applies after that date.
When is the corporate tax return due?
Within nine months from the end of your tax period. The payment is due by the same date.