Corporate tax services in Dubai

How UAE corporate tax works

Corporate tax is charged on taxable income at 0% up to AED 375,000 and 9% above that. Taxable income starts with your accounting profit, then adjusts for items the law treats differently, such as non-deductible expenses and exempt income.

Your tax period normally follows your financial year. The return and any tax due must be filed and paid within 9 months of the end of that period. For a year ending 31 December 2025, the deadline was 30 September 2026. For a year ending 31 December 2026, it will be 30 September 2027.

Large multinational groups with consolidated revenue of EUR 750 million or more face a 15% Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025. Most Dubai SMEs are not affected by this, but if you are part of a large foreign group, you should check.

Our corporate tax services

Corporate tax registration is the first step for every company and for individuals with business turnover above AED 1 million. Companies incorporated from 1 March 2024 must register within 3 months of incorporation, and the late registration penalty is AED 10,000. Our registration fee is AED 250 one-off (excl. VAT).

Corporate tax return filing covers the annual return, from SBR and nil returns to full taxable computations. If your revenue has stayed at or below AED 3 million, Small Business Relief may let you report no taxable income for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029. A return with Small Business Relief is AED 500 per year and a regular return is AED 1,000 per year (excl. VAT), assuming you provide your financial statements.

If you also take our Accounting & Bookkeeping and VAT return services, a 10% bundle saving applies to the recurring fees.

Free zone companies have their own regime. A Qualifying Free Zone Person can apply 0% to qualifying income, but only if it meets the conditions every year, including substance, audited financial statements and the de minimis rule. We review each of these before you file.

Corporate tax health check

A health check is a review of your accounts and filings through a tax lens. We look at whether your expenses are deductible, whether income has been classified correctly, and whether reliefs were claimed properly. You get a written report with the issues found and what to do about them.

Common findings include entertainment expenses claimed in full when only 50% is deductible, fines and penalties deducted when they should not be, and payments to owners or directors that are not supported as market value. Each of these can change the tax due.

A health check is most useful before your first return, after a change of accountant, or when your revenue is close to a threshold such as AED 3 million for Small Business Relief.

Transfer pricing basics for SMEs

Transfer pricing rules apply when you deal with related parties, such as companies under common ownership, and with connected persons, such as owners and directors. These transactions must be priced as if the parties were independent, which is known as the arm's length principle.

For many SMEs, the practical work is simple but important. We list your related-party transactions, check that they have a commercial basis, and prepare the disclosure required with the return. Larger groups may also need formal documentation, and we tell you whether that applies.

Transfer pricing compliance is also a condition for Qualifying Free Zone Person status, so free zone groups should treat it as a priority.

Accounts and records behind the return

A corporate tax return is only as good as the financial statements behind it. Every return starts from accounting profit, so books that are late, incomplete or not reconciled lead directly to a return that is wrong or late. Businesses with revenue below AED 50 million can generally use IFRS for SMEs, which keeps the reporting proportionate.

You must keep accounting and tax records for at least 7 years. That includes invoices, contracts, bank statements, employment contracts and the workings behind each return. If you are also VAT registered, the same records support both taxes, so it makes sense to keep them in one well-organised system from the start.