UAE Corporate Tax and VAT, handled by senior specialists
Filing is the easy part. The risk sits in the positions behind the numbers: how a supply is treated, which relief you elect, what you can still recover. At Finline a named senior specialist takes those positions, records the basis in writing at the time, and is the one who explains them if the FTA asks three years later. We run your VAT and Corporate Tax end to end, or alongside your in-house team, your ERP and your auditor.
In Partnership With
Qashio is a Central Bank of UAE-licensed spend management platform that issues smart prepaid Visa cards with granular spend controls, real-time approval workflows, and automated receipt capture. As a Qashio implementation partner, Finline manages the full setup and onboarding for your business: configuring spend categories, mapping card transactions to your chart of accounts, and integrating expense data directly into your accounting records. Real-time visibility across every team. Nothing to reconcile manually.
Meydan Free Zone is a Dubai-based free zone offering fast, flexible business setup and licensing for companies of all sizes. As a Meydan FZ partner, Finline handles the full incorporation process, from license selection and document preparation to ongoing compliance and accounting, so your business is operational and fully compliant from day one.
Shufti Pro is an AI-powered KYC, KYB, and AML verification platform operating in 230+ countries, supporting 10,000+ ID document types across 150 languages with sub-60-second turnaround. As a Shufti Pro partner, Finline integrates identity verification directly into your onboarding workflow, ensuring your business meets UAE regulatory requirements from day one, without friction.
Moore JFC is a UAE tax and advisory firm and a member of the Moore Global network, listed on the Ministry of Finance's pre-approved register of e-invoicing service providers. Its JFC Fatoora platform is a certified Peppol Access Point: it validates invoices against MoF rules, converts them to PINT AE, and archives them in UAE cloud storage under ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2 controls. Finline is not an ASP. We work with accredited partners and assess against the full accredited list, so the platform recommendation follows your invoicing profile, not our revenue. Where JFC Fatoora is the right fit, Finline runs the data mapping, the ERP integration, and the ledger behind it.
Comarch is a global software house with over 25 years in e-invoicing and electronic data interchange, exchanging more than 300 million documents a year for clients in 80+ countries, and an Accredited Service Provider (ASP) designated by the UAE Federal Tax Authority for the country's e-invoicing mandate. As a Comarch partner, Finline connects your business to accredited e-invoicing infrastructure and handles everything around it: mapping your invoice data to the required format, integrating it with your accounting system, and keeping submissions clean as the mandate phases in. One partner for the compliance and the books behind it.
Zoho is a business software suite spanning finance, CRM, HR, and operations, used by more than 100 million users worldwide, with FTA-approved accounting and direct EmaraTax VAT filing for the UAE. As a Zoho Finance, Technology and Integration partner, Finline implements and operates the stack end to end: Zoho Books configured with a chart of accounts and VAT rules built for your sector, connected to the rest of your Zoho applications, with monthly close run on top of it. We're also developing value-added features on top of Zoho that extend what it does natively for Finline clients.
VAT and Corporate Tax compliance, end to end
VAT Operations & Filing
- Return Prepared Inside the Close
- Continuous Input VAT Recovery
- EmaraTax Filing & Payment
- Registration & Deregistration Events
Positions, Assessments & Disclosures
- Place of Supply & Date of Supply
- Zero-Rated & Exempt Treatment
- Written Basis for Every Position
- FTA Assessment & Voluntary Disclosure
Corporate Tax Computation & Filing
- Computation from Signed-Off Books
- Adjustments Traceable to the Ledger
- Modelled Relief Elections
- EmaraTax Return Within Nine Months
Groups, Free Zone & Related Parties
- QFZP Qualification Testing
- Tax Grouping Assessment
- Transfer Pricing Documentation
- Group-Wide Position Log
Close Calendar & Named Ownership
- Tax on the Published Close Calendar
- One Named Senior Owner
- Written Basis, Recorded at the Time
- End to End or Alongside Your Team
Why UAE businesses run tax with Finline, not a filing desk
Owners who sign everything themselves get a tax partner they can call directly. Finance teams get a specialist to test a position with before they take it, and the working papers to defend the spend upward. Group principals get a bench that holds the structure across every entity. Same people, in a different seat, depending on what you already have in-house.
Calls on treatment, relief and disclosure come from someone who has handled FTA assessments first-hand, not from a junior working through a checklist. That person is named on your engagement and signs both filings. If the FTA questions a number, they explain it, using the written basis they recorded at the time rather than reconstructing one three years later.
Run separately, the two taxes drift, and an FTA reviewer or an investor finds the gap first. We run both off the same books: revenue entered once, one evidence trail, VAT returns that tie to the Corporate Tax computation. Once e-invoicing puts invoice data in front of the FTA in real time, that gap shows without anyone opening an audit.
VAT recovery, place of supply and contract structure behave differently in real estate than in F&B, hospitality or industrial catering. We have run the finance function inside those sectors, so treatment starts from how the business earns. In real estate that means date of supply on off-plan instalments, where VAT quietly goes understated and surfaces three years later with the penalty attached.
One Bench, Three Seats
Owners who sign everything themselves get a tax partner they can call directly. Finance teams get a specialist to test a position with before they take it, and the working papers to defend the spend upward. Group principals get a bench that holds the structure across every entity. Same people, in a different seat, depending on what you already have in-house.
One Name on Every Position
Calls on treatment, relief and disclosure come from someone who has handled FTA assessments first-hand, not from a junior working through a checklist. That person is named on your engagement and signs both filings. If the FTA questions a number, they explain it, using the written basis they recorded at the time rather than reconstructing one three years later.
VAT, Corporate Tax, E-Invoicing Reconciled
Run separately, the two taxes drift, and an FTA reviewer or an investor finds the gap first. We run both off the same books: revenue entered once, one evidence trail, VAT returns that tie to the Corporate Tax computation. Once e-invoicing puts invoice data in front of the FTA in real time, that gap shows without anyone opening an audit.
Sector-Specific Treatment
VAT recovery, place of supply and contract structure behave differently in real estate than in F&B, hospitality or industrial catering. We have run the finance function inside those sectors, so treatment starts from how the business earns. In real estate that means date of supply on off-plan instalments, where VAT quietly goes understated and surfaces three years later with the penalty attached.
Has an FTA notice or assessment landed?
Send it to us before you reply. We read the notice, tell you what the FTA is actually asking for, and whether the position is worth defending or a voluntary disclosure costs less. If nothing has landed and you want a second opinion on where your VAT and Corporate Tax stand, a senior specialist will take that call too.
The rest of your finance function
E-Invoicing
We map your invoices to the 51 mandatory PINT-AE fields, match the platform to how you actually bill, and wire transmission into the same ledger your VAT return comes from. Compliance and the close, run as one project.
CFO Services & Advisory
CFO-level advisory led by a finance director with 30 years running finance functions, with MIS and dashboards as the instrumentation beneath it. Decisions on capital, cash, controls and board reporting, drawn from one reconciled ledger.
Accounting & Operations
Accounting run as five defined processes rather than delegated tasks: record to report, order to cash, procure to pay, treasury and master data, closed to a five-day calendar.
VAT and Corporate Tax FAQs
Straight answers to the VAT and Corporate Tax questions UAE businesses ask most.
The UAE levies corporate tax at 0% on the first AED 375,000 of taxable income and 9% on income above that amount. A third rate of 15% applies under the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT) for multinational enterprise groups with consolidated global revenue of EUR 750 million or more, effective from January 2025 under Cabinet Decision 142 of 2024.
One common misconception: the AED 375,000 figure is a tax band, not an exemption. If your taxable income is AED 500,000, you pay 9% on AED 125,000, not on the full amount. But you still need to register with the FTA and file a return regardless of whether you owe anything.
See also: Who needs to register for corporate tax in the UAE?
You must register for VAT if your taxable supplies and imports exceeded AED 375,000 in the past 12 months, or if you expect to exceed that amount in the next 30 days. Once you cross the threshold, you have 30 days to submit your registration application through the FTA portal.
If your taxable supplies or expenses exceed AED 187,500 but fall below AED 375,000, you can register voluntarily. This is particularly relevant for startups with significant upfront costs: voluntary registration lets you recover the input VAT on those expenses even before you generate revenue.
Non-resident businesses making taxable supplies in the UAE must register regardless of turnover, unless a UAE-based buyer accounts for the VAT through the reverse charge mechanism.
All businesses operating in the UAE must register for corporate tax through the FTA's EmaraTax portal, regardless of whether they expect to pay tax.
This includes mainland LLCs, free zone entities (even those eligible for Qualifying Free Zone Person status), branches of foreign companies, and natural persons conducting business or professional activities above the relevant thresholds. Registration is required even if your taxable income falls within the 0% band.
A limited set of entities can apply for exemption, including government bodies, qualifying investment funds, and businesses in the extractive industries, but they still need to submit an exemption application to the FTA rather than simply not registering.
If you operate from a free zone and assume you are automatically excluded, that assumption is wrong. Free zone entities are taxable persons under the CT law and must register.
Your corporate tax return is due within nine months after the end of your financial year, and payment is due on the same date.
Two examples: if your financial year ends on 31 December 2025, your filing and payment deadline is 30 September 2026. If it ends on 30 June 2025, the deadline is 31 March 2026.
There is no instalment or estimated payment system for corporate tax in the UAE at this point. You file and pay in a single action. Missing either deadline triggers administrative penalties from the FTA, so plan to have your financial statements and tax calculations completed well before the nine-month window closes.
Most UAE businesses file VAT returns quarterly. If your revenue exceeds AED 150 million, the FTA will assign you a monthly filing period instead. You do not get to choose your own period; the FTA assigns it when you register.
Returns and payment are due by the 28th of the month following the end of your tax period. For a quarterly filer whose period ends on 31 March, the deadline is 28 April. Late filing carries a penalty of AED 1,000 for the first offence, increasing to AED 2,000 for repeat violations within 24 months. Late payment accrues at 14% per annum, calculated monthly on the outstanding balance.
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 period and every previous period ending on or before 31 December 2026. You also cannot be part of a multinational enterprise group (consolidated revenue above AED 3.15 billion) or a Qualifying Free Zone Person.
The trade-off most sources skip: 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 2026. No extension has been announced. You need to make a conscious decision each year about whether to elect it, factoring in your growth trajectory and loss position.
See also: What is the UAE corporate tax rate?
Late VAT filing in the UAE carries a penalty of AED 1,000 for the first violation, with escalating fines for repeat offences. The penalty framework was updated under Cabinet Decision 129 of 2025, effective 14 April 2026. Key penalties under the revised framework:
Late filing: AED 1,000 for the first violation, AED 2,000 for repeat violations within 24 months. Late payment: 14% per annum, calculated monthly on the outstanding balance (replacing the previous compounding structure under the old framework). Failure to issue a tax invoice within the required timeframe: AED 2,500 per instance. Failure to maintain required records: AED 10,000 for the first violation, AED 20,000 on repeat.
Some penalty amounts have been reduced from the prior framework (for instance, the penalty for failure to keep records in Arabic dropped from AED 20,000 to AED 5,000), but the enforcement posture has tightened. Voluntary disclosures filed before an FTA audit still carry the lightest consequences.
The FTA imposes administrative penalties for Corporate Tax under Cabinet Decision 75 of 2023, with a harmonised penalty framework taking effect on 14 April 2026 under Cabinet Decision 129 of 2025. Late registration is a fixed AED 10,000. From 14 April 2026, late payment is charged at 14% per annum, calculated monthly on the unpaid tax, replacing the earlier compounding structure. Filing an incorrect return carries AED 500 for a first instance and AED 2,000 for repeated violations, and may be waived if you correct it by the due date or file a voluntary disclosure with no change in tax due.
The AED 10,000 late-registration penalty is waived automatically if you file your first Corporate Tax return or annual declaration within seven months of the end of your first tax period, so early filing pays. Voluntary disclosures made before an FTA audit carry lower risk than corrections found during one.
Talk to a senior tax specialist
Tell us where your VAT and Corporate Tax stand and what is worrying you. If it needs a closer look, the next step is a review of your recent returns, your recovery gaps and your relief position. You get a written findings memo that quantifies the exposure and the recoverable cash. Pricing follows scope, so you get a fixed number before you commit to anything.
