Bookkeeping Services in Dubai
Books kept so your Corporate Tax and VAT returns can be filed from them.
Books your tax returns can stand on
Both tax returns are only as good as the records behind them. We keep your books through the year, sales and purchases recorded against bank statements, so that the VAT return each quarter and the Corporate Tax return each year are prepared from figures that are already in order.
The law sets how long the records stay: a taxable person “shall maintain all records and documents for a period of (7) seven years” (Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, Article 56, consolidated text, Ministry of Finance), records that “Enable the Taxable Person’s Taxable Income to be readily ascertained by the Authority.”
What we keep for you
- Bookkeeping: sales, purchases and expenses recorded through the period
- Bank reconciliation of the records against your statements
- VAT-ready records: invoices kept so each return can be supported
- Figures for your returns: the period's numbers handed to the VAT and Corporate Tax filings
- Records organised for the seven-year rule, in a folder you hold
Get this quoted
Itemised in writing, government charges shown separately, before anything is filed.
Which one do you need?
Who uses it
- Small companies without an accountant, filing VAT and Corporate Tax
- Companies whose books fell behind and need a period brought up to date before a return
- New companies setting the records up right from the first month
- Owners who want one desk for the books and the filings
What you send us
- Bank statements for the period
- Sales invoices and purchase and expense invoices
- Any loan, lease or contract that moves money through the accounts
- The opening balances, or last year's accounts if there are any
We confirm the final list, and how often you send it, with you at quotation.
How the books are kept
- A look at the books as they are now.
- A written quote, monthly or for a catch-up period.
- Records in: statements and invoices sent each period through one channel.
- Recording and reconciliation against the bank.
- Figures to the returns: the VAT and Corporate Tax filings prepared from the same books.
- Kept for seven years, in a folder the company holds.
What the law asks of your records
The record rule, Article 56(1) (Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, consolidated text): records "shall" be maintained "for a period of (7) seven years", records that:
- "Support the information to be provided in a Tax Return or in any other document to be filed with the Authority."
- "Enable the Taxable Person's Taxable Income to be readily ascertained by the Authority."
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.
The books
Every period starts from the bank statement. Each line is matched to an invoice or a contract, and what cannot be matched is asked about while the period is still fresh, not at year-end when the return is due.
The seven-year rule
Article 56 does not ask for a format; it asks that the records support the return and let the FTA see the taxable income. Kept that way, a question from the FTA is answered from the folder, not reconstructed.
Not published officially
- A required software or template. The article quoted here sets what the records must do, not how they are kept.
Bookkeeping questions
How long must a company keep its records?
"for a period of (7) seven years" (Article 56).
What must the records do?
"Support the information to be provided in a Tax Return" and "Enable the Taxable Person's Taxable Income to be readily ascertained by the Authority" (Article 56).
Do you keep the books monthly?
Monthly or quarterly, matched to your VAT period; agreed at quotation.
My books are a year behind. Can you catch up?
Yes, period by period from the bank statements, before the next return falls due.
Do you prepare the returns from the same books?
Yes: VAT Return Filing and Corporate Tax Return Filing.
Do you prepare the financial statements too?
Yes, as a separate service: Accounting & Financial Statements. Where an audit is required, a licensed auditor carries it out: Audit Support.
Which software do you use?
We work from your statements and invoices and agree the format with you at quotation.
Who holds the records?
You do. We keep them organised in a folder the company controls.
Every rule, deadline and threshold above names the authority that published it and the date shown on its page when we read it on 14 November 2026: the Federal Tax Authority (tax.gov.ae), the Ministry of Finance (mof.gov.ae) and the federal portal u.ae. Tax rules, fees and processing times are set by the authorities and can change without notice; confirm with the FTA before you rely on them. AL HUDHUD prepares and files on your instructions; your position is confirmed with you at quotation, and every decision rests with the Federal Tax Authority.
Last updated: November 2026.
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