Guide
After set-up
Accounting services in Dubai: keeping the books and the deadlines
Since corporate tax came into force, a UAE company has the same bookkeeping, filing and record-keeping obligations as anywhere else. What changes is the dates — and they are what costs money when they go unnoticed.
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6 deadlines Six different triggers
- VAT on most supplies of goods and services
- 5%
- Made in the UAE, above the registration threshold
- To file and pay VAT
- 28 days
- After the end of each tax period
- To file the corporate tax return
- 9 months
- After the end of the tax period
- Retention of supporting documents
- 7 years
- After the end of the tax period concerned
Deadlines and rates as we apply them in our files, to be rechecked with the tax authority before each year-end.
Three separate obligations, often confused
Accounting and tax obligations start as soon as the licence is issued, straight after company formation in Dubai: this is the part of the project that first budgets underestimate most, because it recurs and stays invisible until something goes wrong.
Key point
Bookkeeping, VAT and corporate tax are three separate obligations, with three different calendars. A company can be fully up to date with its VAT and still be penalised for late corporate tax registration, even though the tax itself is nil.
Depending on the free zone and the legal form, there is also an audit requirement on which the licence renewal depends — and therefore the residence visas that rely on it. Four chains of dates, one company: coordination is the real work.
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is no longer a side issue
Before corporate tax, many small structures made do with a spreadsheet and bank statements. That is no longer tenable. Financial statements must be available for every tax period, backed by documents kept for seven years after the end of the period concerned. The accounts are kept in dirhams, which requires a documented conversion method when you invoice in euros or dollars.
Three mistakes come up again and again in the files we take over. Mixing the director’s personal account with the company account, which makes reconstruction costly and weakens the position in an audit. Failing to document flows between related entities, although they are the first to be examined. And letting twelve months of documents pile up to deal with everything before year-end, which guarantees missing evidence and disallowed expenses.
VAT
VAT: registration, returns, refunds
UAE VAT is charged at 5% on most supplies of goods and services made in the UAE. There are two thresholds: a mandatory registration threshold, assessed on taxable turnover over the past twelve months or expected over the next thirty days, and a lower voluntary threshold that lets you recover input VAT before reaching the first.
Two points cost money. First, late registration: the company remains liable for the VAT it should have charged since the date registration became due, whether or not it invoiced it to its clients — so it pays it out of its margin. Second, the regime for exported services: a service supplied to a foreign client may be zero-rated, but the conditions are precise and must be documented contract by contract. A loose application backfires at the first audit.
Registration, return periods and special cases are covered in detail on the page VAT in the United Arab Emirates.
Corporate tax
Corporate tax: registration first, the return second
Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 subjects UAE companies to tax at 9% on taxable profit above AED 375,000, and 0% below it, the scale being marginal. A free zone company may qualify for the Qualifying Person regime and have its qualifying income taxed at 0%, under strict conditions set out on the page free zone company.
The practical sequence is always the same. Registration with the tax authority comes first: it flows from holding a licence, not from making a profit, and its deadline is individual, set by the month the licence was issued. The return comes next, within nine months of the end of the tax period, with payment due within the same period.
Watch out
A company with a nil result, or whose profit stays below the threshold, still has to register and file. The late-registration penalty is fixed: it is due even when the final tax comes to zero. It is the penalty small structures most often incur.
Depending on your situation, a relief scheme for small businesses may apply, by election and subject to a turnover cap. Its duration has been set in law and it does not cover future periods indefinitely: it is a point to recheck every financial year rather than a business-plan assumption.
Audit
The audit: who must have one, and why it helps anyway
The audit requirement does not come from the tax: it comes from the free zone, the legal form and sometimes the size of the company. Some zones require it every year and make the licence renewal conditional on receiving the report. Others do not ask for it.
Having accounts audited when it is not required is often still sensible, for three reasons we see in practice: the bank asks for financial statements at the annual file review and treats a signed report better than a spreadsheet; a Qualifying Free Zone Person position requires audited accounts; and any sale of shares, new investor or financing request will start with that document.
The audit is carried out by a firm on the list approved by the zone concerned or by the competent authority, and we prepare the file it receives.
The table
The calendar that catches people out
Six deadlines, six different triggers. None depends on goodwill: each is triggered on a date, regardless of the company’s actual activity.
| Obligation | Trigger | Deadline | If it is missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| VAT registration | Crossing the mandatory taxable turnover threshold | Within 30 days of crossing it | Fixed penalty, plus the VAT that should have been charged since the date registration became due |
| VAT return and payment | End of each tax period, monthly or quarterly depending on turnover | 28 days after the end of the period | Late-filing penalty, then a late-payment penalty that grows over time |
| Corporate tax registration | Holding a licence, even with no profit and even at the 0% rate | Individual deadline set by the tax authority according to the month the licence was issued | Fixed penalty, due even when the final tax is nil |
| Corporate tax return | End of the tax period | 9 months after the end of the period | Late-filing and late-payment penalties, cumulative |
| Filing audited accounts | Requirement specific to the free zone or the legal form | Before the licence renewal | Renewal blocked, and the visas tied to it blocked in turn |
| Retention of supporting documents | Every financial year | Seven years after the end of the tax period concerned | Expenses disallowed for lack of evidence in an audit |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Deadlines and penalty amounts change by administrative decision. The values above are the ones we apply in our files, and they are rechecked with the tax authority before each year-end, for your situation.
Our scope
What we take care of
We handle bookkeeping, the preparation of financial statements, VAT registration and returns, corporate tax registration and returns, preparation of the audit file, and tracking of licence and visa renewal deadlines. The useful work is mostly keeping a single calendar for obligations that each run to their own rhythm.
Signing the audit report is for an approved auditor, and analysing the tax rules of your country of residence is for a local adviser: we coordinate these two strands with them rather than in their place. On subjects that depend on your personal situation, we say so rather than decide.
Frequently asked questions about accounting for a UAE company
Does a UAE company really have to keep accounts?
Yes, and the obligation depends neither on turnover nor on the regime. Since corporate tax came into force, financial statements must be available for every tax period, and supporting documents kept for several years. Free zones that require audited accounts check this at licence renewal.
Do I have to register for corporate tax even with no profit?
Yes. Registration is a separate formality from filing and payment: it applies as soon as you hold a licence, including when the result is nil or the company falls under the 0% rate. Late registration is sanctioned by a fixed penalty, regardless of the tax due.
From what amount do I have to register for VAT?
The law sets a mandatory registration threshold based on taxable turnover over the past twelve months or expected over the next thirty days, and a lower voluntary threshold. Check the exact amounts with the tax authority before any decision: they determine a retroactive adjustment if you register late.
Is an audit mandatory for every company?
No: the obligation depends on the free zone, the legal form and sometimes the size. Many companies nevertheless have their accounts audited without being required to, because the bank asks for it at the annual file review and because a buyer or an investor will require it anyway.
In which currency must the accounts be kept?
Financial statements for the UAE tax authority are prepared in dirhams. A company that invoices in euros or dollars must therefore manage the conversion and document the rates used. It is a point of method to settle at the first year-end, not at the time of an audit.
What happens if a deadline has already been missed?
The useful reflex is to regularise quickly rather than wait: late-payment penalties build up over time, whereas the late-filing penalty is generally fixed. Depending on the situation, a request for waiver may be considered, but it requires a documented file and a regularisation already made.
Further reading in this guide
Structure
Free zone company in Dubai
Structure
Mainland company and local licence
Go further
Corporate tax in the UAE
Go further
VAT in the United Arab Emirates
Tool
Corporate tax and VAT calculator
Independent advice
Review your deadlines before the next year-end
Tell us your licence date, your year-end date and your VAT position. We will send back the calendar of obligations that apply to your company and what needs to be regularised.