Corporate Tax Registration in the UAE

Registration is required of juridical persons incorporated in the UAE, including mainland companies, free zone entities and branches of foreign companies with a UAE presence, as well as natural persons conducting business above the relevant threshold. Free zone entities are not exempt from registering simply because they may qualify for a preferential rate on qualifying income — the registration obligation still applies.

Deadlines are tied to your licence issuance date and entity type, and they have already passed for many categories. If you are unsure whether yours has, send us your licence and we will tell you where you stand.

The application is submitted through the Federal Tax Authority portal and requires licence details, ownership and management information, the authorised signatory and their proof of authority, contact and address details, and your financial year.

Choosing or confirming the financial year matters more than it looks, because it determines your first tax period and therefore your first return deadline. We confirm it against your licence and accounting records rather than accepting the default.

The Federal Tax Authority applies an administrative penalty for failing to register by the applicable deadline. It is a fixed amount, it is applied per entity, and it is avoidable. Where a deadline has already passed, registering now limits further exposure — we will register the entity and set out the position plainly rather than leaving it unaddressed.

Once registered you must maintain accounting records, determine taxable income in accordance with the law, and file a corporate tax return within the prescribed period after each tax period ends. Returns and tax computation are specialist accounting work.

We are clear about the boundary: we handle registration and the documentation around it. For tax computation, return filing and planning you need a qualified accountant or a registered tax agent, and we will refer you to one rather than improvise.