Corporate Tax Return Filing in UAE

What filing actually involves

A Corporate Tax return is not your profit figure copied into a form. Accounting profit has to be adjusted into taxable income — disallowed expenses added back, exempt income removed, related-party transactions disclosed, and reliefs applied. Tax is 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it, so the accuracy of that computation decides what you actually pay.

• Review of your books and clean-up of the trial balance before computation
• Full tax computation with add-backs, exempt income and adjustments
• Small Business Relief eligibility check
• Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP) assessment where relevant
• Related-party and connected-person disclosures
• EmaraTax submission with filing confirmation sent to you
• Record-keeping setup for the seven-year retention requirement

The nine-month deadline

Your return is due within nine months of the end of your financial year. A company with a 31 December year end files by 30 September the following year. Late submission carries a penalty of AED 500 for each of the first twelve months and AED 1,000 per month after that — and the clock does not stop until the return is filed.

Zero tax still means filing

A loss-making company, a dormant company, and a Free Zone company on the 0% qualifying rate all file a return. Filing is what proves your position to the FTA; skipping it is what turns a zero-tax year into a penalty.

📄 Documents Required

For Corporate Tax Return Filing — have these ready and we can move the same day.

• Corporate Tax registration certificate (CT TRN)
• Audited financial statements or final trial balance for the tax period
• General ledger and full-year bank statements
• Fixed asset register with depreciation schedule
• Related-party and connected-person transaction details
• Free zone qualifying income breakdown, if claiming QFZP status
• Supporting schedules for disallowables — entertainment, interest, provisions
• Prior year CT return, if this is not your first filing