Treating free zone status as automatic exemption
The 0% rate belongs to qualifying income, not to an address. Companies that assumed otherwise are the single most common re-work we are asked to do.
UAE corporate tax: who pays, what it costs, and what you must file
Registration, computation, return preparation and filing — handled by people who do this every week, from books we maintain rather than a spreadsheet handed over in month nine.
- Registration & filing
- Free zone entities
- Missed-deadline support
Already late registering? Start here instead — it is fixable.
Dubai-based since 2015Office in Barsha Heights, Dubai
Formation to filingOne firm across the whole company lifecycle
Fees stated upfrontYou see the number before work starts
A named contactYou know who is handling your file
Verify Regulator-conferred credentials and a live Google review rating are the two highest-value additions to this strip. Neither is displayed until Aizaa supplies evidence.
What’s included
- Corporate tax registration and issue of your Tax Registration Number
- Assessment of your tax period and first filing date
- Free zone qualifying-income assessment, where relevant, with the reasoning documented
- Small Business Relief eligibility review and the election where it applies
- Review of accounting records against the basis the return requires
- Preparation of the tax computation and supporting schedules
- Preparation and submission of the corporate tax return through the FTA portal
- Transfer pricing documentation review where related-party transactions exist
- Support with penalties, voluntary disclosures and reconsideration requests
- A written summary of your position after filing, in plain language
Who this is for
- Mainland LLCs and sole establishments
- Free zone companies, including those expecting to qualify for the 0% rate
- Branches of foreign companies registered in the UAE
- Companies that have missed registration and want it regularised
- Companies whose books are not currently in a state a return can be built from
Who it is not for
We would rather say so now than three weeks in.
- Individuals with employment income only — there is no personal income tax in the UAE
- Companies looking for a scheme to avoid a liability that is properly due
- Anyone wanting a filing signed off without seeing the underlying records
Process
How it works
Each step says what we do and what we need from you, so nothing stalls on an unasked question.
Position assessment
We establish your tax period, registration status and whether free zone treatment or Small Business Relief is in play. You provide the trade licence and, if you have one, the FTA registration.
Registration
If you are not registered, we register you and confirm the Tax Registration Number. If registration is late, we deal with that at the same time rather than leaving it hanging.
Records review
We check the accounting records against what the return needs. Where there are gaps, we quote the clean-up separately and openly before doing any of it.
Computation
We prepare the computation with the adjustments and reliefs applied, and send it to you with the reasoning attached — not just a number.
Filing
We submit through the FTA portal once you have approved the computation, and send you the confirmation the same day.
After filing
We diarise the next period, keep the supporting file, and handle any FTA query that follows.
Ready to start? We can open the file this week.
The rules
The rules, as published by the authorities
These are the figures that decide most UAE corporate tax questions. Each is taken from the issuing authority's own publication, linked at the foot of this page.
| Item | Position | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Rate on taxable income up to and including AED 375,000 | 0% | Ministry of Finance |
| Rate on taxable income above AED 375,000 | 9% | Ministry of Finance |
| Qualifying Free Zone Person — qualifying income | 0% | Ministry of Finance |
| Qualifying Free Zone Person — non-qualifying income | 9% | Ministry of Finance |
| Small Business Relief revenue threshold | AED 3 million or below in the relevant and previous tax periods | Ministry of Finance |
| Small Business Relief availability | Tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026 | Ministry of Finance |
| Registration | Required of all taxable persons, including free zone persons | Ministry of Finance |
| Return filing deadline | Within 9 months of the end of the relevant tax period | Ministry of Finance |
| Regime effective from | Financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023 | Ministry of Finance |
Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.
What free zone status actually means
Free zone registration does not by itself produce a 0% rate. A Qualifying Free Zone Person gets 0% on income from qualifying activities and from transactions with other free zone persons; income outside that is taxed at 9%. The test is about what the company does and with whom, not about the address on the licence — which is why the assessment has to be documented rather than assumed.
Small Business Relief
A business with revenue of AED 3 million or below, in the relevant tax period and in all previous ones, may elect to be treated as having no taxable income, with simplified compliance. As published, the relief runs to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026 — so companies relying on it should be planning now for the period after it.
This is general guidance, not advice
Thresholds and treatments depend on facts specific to your company. Confirm your own position with a qualified adviser, or with us, before acting on anything here.
Dates that carry consequences
Deadlines and penalties
Corporate tax deadlines follow your tax period rather than the calendar, which is why two companies in the same building can have different dates.
| Tax period ends | Return due (9 months later) |
|---|---|
| 31 December 2025 | 30 September 2026 |
| 31 March 2026 | 31 December 2026 |
| 30 June 2026 | 31 March 2027 |
| 31 December 2026 | 30 September 2027 |
Derived from the 9-month rule published by the Ministry of Finance. Confirm your own dates against your FTA portal record.
Penalties
Administrative penalties apply to late registration, late filing, late payment and to records that cannot be produced when asked. The amounts are set by Cabinet Decision and have been amended more than once since the regime began.
Requires verification Penalty amounts
Specific penalty figures are deliberately not published on this page until each one has been checked against the current Cabinet Decision on the date of review. If you have received a penalty notice, send it to us and we will tell you exactly what it is and what can be done about it — including whether a reconsideration request is worth making.
What goes wrong
Common mistakes
These are the ones we are asked to unpick most often.
Registering and then stopping
A Tax Registration Number is the beginning of the obligation, not the end of it. The return still has to be filed within nine months of the period end.
Filing from unreconciled books
A computation built on a ledger nobody has reconciled produces a number nobody can defend if it is queried.
Missing the Small Business Relief election
The relief is elected, not automatic, and it is available only while the published window is open.
Ignoring related-party transactions
Transactions with owners, group companies and connected persons carry their own documentation requirements, and they are the first thing looked at in a review.
Leaving it to the last month
Nearly every expensive corporate tax problem we see started as a cheap one in month three.
Why Aizaa
Four reasons you can check
The return is built from books we keep
When Aizaa does your accounting, the computation comes out of a ledger we have maintained and reconciled all year — not a spreadsheet emailed over in month nine.
We will tell you when the answer is unwelcome
If you are late, exposed, or have been relying on a treatment that does not hold, you will hear it from us in the first call rather than after the engagement letter is signed.
Fees in writing before work starts
Registration, computation and filing are quoted up front. Clean-up, if the records need it, is quoted separately so you can see what is what.
We are still here in year three
Formation firms move on after the licence. Corporate tax is an annual obligation, and the value of an adviser is that they already know your history when the next one falls due.
Who handles this
Your named specialist
Assigned when your file opens
Every Aizaa engagement has one named person responsible for it. You get their direct line — not a shared inbox and not a ticket number. If they are away, you are told who is covering and when they are back.
Verify Photograph, credential and direct contact details to be supplied before this page is published. Nothing is asserted here that Aizaa has not confirmed.
Sources and review
Every figure on this page was checked against the issuing authority’s own publication:
- Ministry of Finance — Corporate Tax
- Ministry of Finance — Corporate Tax FAQ
- Federal Tax Authority
- UAE Government portal — Taxation
Last reviewed 22 September 2026 by named reviewer required.
Keep reading
Related services
Answers
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The Ministry of Finance states that all taxable persons, including free zone persons, are required to register and obtain a Corporate Tax Registration Number. Registration and rate are two different questions — a free zone company can be registered and still pay 0% on qualifying income.
0% on taxable income up to and including AED 375,000, and 9% above that, as published by the Ministry of Finance. A Qualifying Free Zone Person pays 0% on qualifying income and 9% on income that does not qualify.
Within nine months of the end of your tax period. A period ending 31 December 2025 is due by 30 September 2026. Your tax period follows your financial year, so check it rather than assuming the calendar year.
A business with revenue of AED 3 million or below in the relevant tax period and all previous periods may elect to be treated as having no taxable income. As published, it applies to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026. It is an election, so it has to be made — it does not apply by default.
You register, and you deal with the late-registration position at the same time. Administrative penalties apply, and in some circumstances a reconsideration request is appropriate. It is a great deal cheaper to raise it yourself than to be asked about it. Send us the trade licence and we will tell you where you stand.
Yes. The filing obligation attaches to being a taxable person, not to having made a profit. A loss-making company still files, and carrying the loss forward correctly is itself worth doing properly.
Yes, and it is common. We take the trial balance and ledgers as they stand, review them against what the return needs, and tell you before we start whether anything has to be corrected. There is no advantage to waiting for a year end.
Audit requirements come from your licence and jurisdiction rather than from the tax return. Many free zones require audited financial statements for renewal, and where that applies the audit and the return should be planned together rather than sequentially.
Records supporting the return have to be kept and produced if requested. In practice this means complete ledgers, bank statements, invoices and contracts for the period, held in a form someone else could follow. We keep a supporting file for every return we prepare.
They can. Transactions with owners, group entities and connected persons carry transfer-pricing documentation requirements and are the first area examined in a review. If your company has them, they need to be identified and documented rather than netted off.
It is quoted on scope, in writing, before anything starts. Registration, computation and filing are quoted together; any records clean-up is quoted separately so that the two are not confused.
No — they are separate taxes with separate registrations, separate thresholds and separate deadlines. A company can be registered for one and not the other. Our VAT page covers the second one.
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Page last reviewed 22 September 2026. Regulatory content on this page is reviewed at least quarterly and whenever the issuing authority publishes a change. Read our content disclaimer.