UAE Corporate Tax Deadline: Your Filing Date by Financial Year-End (2026)
Your UAE corporate tax deadline is set by your financial year-end. The dates, the new 14% late-payment penalty, and what filing late costs.
People search for "the UAE corporate tax deadline" as if it were one fixed date on a national calendar. It isn't.
Short version: if your financial year ended 31 December 2025, your deadline is 30 September 2026. For any other year-end, it is your year-end plus nine months.
There is no single deadline that applies to every business. Your deadline is set by your own financial year-end, and the same rule produces a different date for a company that closes its books on 31 December than for one that closes on 30 June.
As of 14 April 2026, the penalty for paying late changed, and not in your favour. This article is the reference: how your deadline is calculated, what the current dates are, and what missing them actually costs under the rules now in force.
The one rule behind every deadline
Everything in this article comes from a single rule. You must file your corporate tax return and pay any tax due within nine months of the end of your tax period [1].
Two things sit inside that sentence that businesses tend to miss. First, the nine months covers both filing and payment. The date you submit the return is the same date the money has to be with the Federal Tax Authority (FTA). There is no separate, later payment date. Second, the FTA does not hand out general extensions [2]. If your year-end is fixed, your deadline is fixed.
Your tax period is your financial year. So if you want your deadline, take the last day of your financial year and add nine months. That is it. The rest of this article is just that rule applied to the year-ends most UAE businesses actually use.
Your deadline, by financial year-end
Most UAE companies run a calendar financial year, which means their books close on 31 December. For the year ending 31 December 2025, the corporate tax return and full payment are due by 30 September 2026 [1]. That is the date the majority of the market is working towards this year.
If your year-end is different, the rule does not change. Find your row.
Financial year-end | Return filed and tax paid by |
|---|---|
31 December 2025 | 30 September 2026 |
31 March 2026 | 31 December 2026 |
30 June 2025 | 31 March 2026 |
30 September 2025 | 30 June 2026 |
Any other date | Year-end + 9 months |
One note on first periods. The rules let a first tax period run longer than twelve months in some cases, so a new company's first deadline can sit further out than it expects. The nine-month rule still holds. It just runs from the end of that longer first period.
What it costs to miss the deadline
This is the section most articles get wrong, because the penalty for late payment was reformed this year and a lot of older guidance has not caught up.
There are three separate penalties, and they can run at the same time.
What you miss | Penalty |
|---|---|
Registering for corporate tax on time | AED 10,000, fixed [3] |
Filing the return on time | AED 500 per month for the first 12 months, then AED 1,000 per month [4] |
Paying the tax on time | 14% per year on the unpaid tax, accruing from the day after the deadline, with no cap [5] |
The late payment charge is the one to watch. Under Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, which came into force on 14 April 2026, unpaid corporate tax now accrues a monthly penalty at an annual rate of 14%, calculated on the tax you owe and running until you pay it [5]. There is no ceiling on it.
Say you owe AED 500,000 and you pay three months late. The late payment penalty alone works out to AED 17,500 (500,000 at 14% for a quarter of a year), before you add the monthly late filing charge on top. The tax was always going to be due. The penalty is the part you could have avoided by hitting a date you already knew.
Registration is only a deadline if you are not registered yet
For most businesses, registration is not a 2026 problem. The staggered registration deadlines set out in FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024 ran through 2024 and have passed [3]. If you registered then, this section is not about you.
It still matters in three cases. A newly incorporated company has to register within the window set for new entrants. A natural person running a business has to register once their turnover crosses AED 1 million in a calendar year, with the registration due by 31 March of the following year [6]. And any business that simply never registered is still exposed to the AED 10,000 penalty.
There is one piece of relief worth knowing if you registered late. The FTA's penalty waiver cancels or refunds the AED 10,000 late registration penalty if you file your first return through the EmaraTax platform within seven months of the end of your first tax period, rather than the usual nine [7]. The catch for 2026 is timing. That window is measured from your first period-end, not a national cut-off. For businesses whose first tax period was the 2024 calendar year, the window closed on 31 July 2025. It is still open only if your first period ended more recently. The FTA has said more than 68,600 businesses had used the waiver by early 2026 [7], which tells you how many registered late in the first place.
Small Business Relief now runs to 2029
One more date belongs in any deadline reference, because it decides whether a smaller company pays corporate tax at all, and it has moved.
Small Business Relief lets a resident business with revenue of AED 3 million or less elect to be treated as having no taxable income, so it pays no corporate tax for that period [8]. It was due to end with tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026. Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026, issued on 29 July 2026 and announced by the Ministry of Finance on 7 August 2026, extends it to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029 [9][10]. The AED 3 million threshold is unchanged [10]. For a calendar-year business, the last period that can use it is now the year ending 31 December 2029.
Two things to keep straight. The relief is an election, so you have to claim it in your return rather than receive it automatically. And the AED 3 million test looks at the current period and every earlier one since June 2023. Cross the threshold once and you lose access for good, even if revenue drops again later [8].
Getting the date right is the easy part
The deadline is the simplest part of corporate tax. It is a fixed date, set by a year-end you already know, published well in advance. The hard part is being ready to file something accurate by then: books closed and reconciled, your taxable income worked out properly, and the Small Business Relief decision made on real numbers rather than a guess in September.
That is the work that does not fit into the final month. A penalty is the visible cost of missing a deadline. The quieter cost is a rushed, wrong return filed on time, which the FTA can still question years later.
Corporate tax is also not the only date to track. VAT registration runs on its own clock, covered in Do You Need to Register for VAT in the UAE?, and our tax and compliance work exists to keep all of them off your desk. For quick answers to common questions, see our corporate tax FAQs.
The deadline was never the hard part. Being ready to file something true by it is.
Sources
[1] Federal Tax Authority urges submission of corporate tax returns and settlement of liabilities within nine months from the end of the tax period — Federal Tax Authority (2025). tax.gov.ae
[2] Federal Tax Authority emphasises the need to submit tax returns and settle corporate tax payable within specified deadlines — Federal Tax Authority (2025). tax.gov.ae
[3] UAE Corporate Tax: FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024 – Registration Timeline — PwC Middle East (2024). pwc.com
[4] Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 on the Administrative Penalties for Violations Related to the Application of the Corporate Tax Law — UAE Ministry of Finance (2023). mof.gov.ae
[5] United Arab Emirates: Revised administrative penalty framework for violation of tax laws (Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025) — PwC Middle East (2025). pwc.com
[6] Federal Tax Authority issues public clarification on registration timelines for taxable persons for corporate tax — Federal Tax Authority (2024). tax.gov.ae
[7] Federal Tax Authority to waive penalty for late corporate tax registration — Federal Tax Authority (2025). tax.gov.ae
[8] Ministry of Finance issues decision on Small Business Relief for corporate tax purposes — UAE Ministry of Finance (2023). mof.gov.ae
[9] Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026 Amending Certain Provisions of Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 on Small Business Relief — UAE Ministry of Finance (2026). mof.gov.ae
[10] Ministry of Finance announces extension of Small Business Relief for corporate tax purposes until 31 December 2029 — UAE Ministry of Finance (7 August 2026). mof.gov.ae
Ready to file on time, with numbers you trust?
Finline helps UAE businesses hit the corporate tax deadline without the September scramble: books closed and reconciled, taxable income calculated properly, and the Small Business Relief decision made on real figures. We work the deadline backwards from your year-end so the filing date is the calm part of your year, not the stressful one.
Frequently asked questions
0% on the first AED 375,000 of taxable income and 9% on taxable income above that. On taxable income of AED 500,000, the 9% applies to AED 125,000, not to the full amount.
The AED 375,000 band is a rate band, and a business whose income falls inside it still registers with the FTA and files a return.
Large multinational groups pay a further top-up. Under Cabinet Decision No. 142 of 2024, for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025, the Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax brings the effective rate to 15% for groups with consolidated revenue of EUR 750 million or more in at least two of the four preceding financial years.
See also: Who needs to register for corporate tax in the UAE?
Every UAE company and other juridical person registers with the FTA on EmaraTax, whether or not it expects to pay tax. A foreign company registers if it has a permanent establishment or other taxable presence in the UAE. An individual registers once turnover from business in the UAE exceeds AED 1 million in a calendar year.
Exempt persons follow different routes. A government entity that does not carry on licensed business is exempt without applying. Qualifying investment funds and pension funds are exempt only after they register and the FTA approves their application.
A free zone licence does not take a business outside corporate tax. Free zone entities are taxable persons and register even when they expect to qualify for the 0% rate.
Nine months after the end of your financial year, for both the return and the payment.
If your financial year ends on 31 December 2026, the deadline is 30 September 2027. If it ends on 30 June 2026, the deadline is 31 March 2027.
There are no instalments or advance payments. You file and pay once, by that date. The FTA charges penalties if either is late, so the audited or final accounts need to be ready well inside the nine months.
Small Business Relief (SBR) allows UAE resident businesses with revenue of AED 3 million or less to treat their taxable income as zero for that period.
To qualify, your revenue must stay at or below AED 3 million in the current tax period and in every earlier tax period. You also cannot be part of a multinational enterprise group (consolidated revenue above AED 3.15 billion) or a Qualifying Free Zone Person.
Electing SBR means you forfeit the ability to carry forward tax losses from that period. If your business is currently loss-making and you expect to grow past the AED 3 million threshold soon, preserving those losses for offset against future taxable income may be worth more than the short-term simplification SBR provides.
SBR is temporary. It applies to tax periods starting on or after 1 June 2023 and ending on or before 31 December 2029, after Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026 extended it from the original end date of 31 December 2026. Weigh your growth plans and loss position before electing it each year.
Source: Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026.
Once a mainland or commercial free zone company is licensed, it files its beneficial-owner register and its register of partners or shareholders with the Registrar within 60 days, and files any later change within 15 days (Cabinet Decision 109 of 2023). Corporate Tax registration is due within three months of incorporation (FTA Decision 3 of 2024).
Late Corporate Tax registration carries a fixed AED 10,000 penalty (Cabinet Decision 10 of 2024). The FTA waives it automatically for the first tax period if the company registers and files its first return within seven months of that period ending. Register breaches fall under Cabinet Decision 132 of 2023: a first violation usually brings a written warning with 15 or 30 days to correct it, and repeats bring fines from AED 5,000 to AED 100,000.
ADGM and DIFC entities follow their own register rules. The immigration establishment card and the MOHRE establishment file sit alongside these once the licence is issued.
See also: Who needs to register for corporate tax in the UAE?
A free zone entity that pays 0% corporate tax on its qualifying income and 9% on its other taxable income. To keep the status, it has to meet every one of these conditions in every tax period:
- adequate substance in the free zone
- qualifying income from qualifying activities
- non-qualifying revenue within the de minimis limit
- no election to be taxed at the standard rates
- transfer pricing rules followed, with documentation
- audited financial statements, whatever its revenue
If it fails any one of them, it loses the status from the start of that tax period and for the following four. In those years it pays tax at the standard rates on all its income.
Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, as amended, sets the Corporate Tax penalties. The ones most businesses meet:
- Late registration: AED 10,000.
- Late return: AED 500 for each month or part of a month for the first 12 months, then AED 1,000 a month.
- Late payment: 14% a year, charged monthly on the unpaid tax from the day after the due date.
- Incorrect return: AED 500, unless you correct it before the filing deadline.
- Records not kept: AED 10,000, or AED 20,000 for a repeat within 24 months.
The FTA waives the late registration penalty if you file your first return, or the annual declaration for an exempt person, within seven months of the end of your first tax period. A voluntary disclosure made before the FTA notifies an audit costs 1% a month on the tax difference. After notification, a fixed 15% of the tax difference applies on top of the 1% a month.
AED 500 for each month or part of a month the return is late, for the first 12 months, and AED 1,000 a month from month 13. The return and payment are both due nine months after the end of the tax period.
Paying late is a separate penalty: 14% a year on the unpaid tax, charged monthly from the day after the due date.
Source: Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, as amended.
