Latest update — August 2026: The filing and payment deadline for corporate tax returns covering financial years ended 31 December 2025 is 30 September 2026. The Federal Tax Authority has confirmed it grants no routine extensions, and payment counts only when funds actually reach the FTA's account — not when you instruct your bank.
Every UAE taxable person whose financial year ended 31 December 2025 must file its corporate tax return and pay any tax due on EmaraTax by 30 September 2026 — nine months after year end, with a late filing penalty of AED 500 per month and late payment interest of 14% per annum after that. The obligation comes from Federal Decree-Law 47/2022 and is administered by the Federal Tax Authority (FTA), with penalties fixed by Cabinet Decision 75/2023. This page is the operational filing guide; for what corporate tax is, who is exempt, and how the 0%/9% regime works, start with our main UAE corporate tax guide.
At a Glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Deadline for FY ended 31 Dec 2025 | 30 September 2026 (return + payment) |
| Who files | Every registered taxable person, including free zone entities and those electing Small Business Relief |
| Where | EmaraTax portal (eservices.tax.gov.ae), 24/7 |
| Rates | 0% up to AED 375,000 taxable income; 9% above |
| Late filing | AED 500/month for 12 months, then AED 1,000/month |
| Late payment | 14% per annum on unpaid tax, calculated monthly |
| Audit required | Revenue over AED 50M, all QFZPs, and tax groups (special-purpose accounts) |
| Extensions | None granted routinely |
Who must file, and why this season is different
Filing is universal: every person registered for corporate tax must submit a return for each tax period, even if the result is zero tax, a loss, or a Small Business Relief election. Free zone companies file too — the 0% rate is something you claim in the return, not a reason to skip it. The deadline is always nine months after your financial year ends, so a year ended 31 March 2026 files by 31 December 2026, and 30 June 2026 by 31 March 2027.
For calendar-year companies this is the second filing season, not the first. The first round — covering financial years ended 31 December 2024 — closed on 30 September 2025, and the FTA reported record compliance with more than 640,000 businesses now registered. That matters practically: the FTA has a full season of filed data to compare against, and its 2026 audit activity is widely reported to be risk-based, flagging returns that don't reconcile with VAT filings, license data, or the prior-year return. If your company was incorporated during 2025, however, this will genuinely be your first return — and the seven-month waiver window discussed below may still be relevant to you.
One separate regime to be aware of: multinational groups with consolidated revenue of EUR 750 million or more are additionally subject to the UAE's 15% domestic minimum top-up tax for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025 under Cabinet Decision 142/2024. That is a distinct compliance track — if it applies to you, you already need professional advisers, not a web guide.
What the return needs before you open EmaraTax
The return is only as good as the closing file behind it. Assemble these first:
- Financial statements under IFRS. Ministerial Decision 114/2023 requires IFRS; IFRS for SMEs is accepted where revenue does not exceed AED 50 million, and cash-basis accounting is permitted up to AED 3 million revenue.
- An audit, if you cross the thresholds. For tax periods starting on or after 1 January 2025 — i.e. the FY2025 return you are filing this season — Ministerial Decision 84/2025 requires audited financial statements from every standalone taxable person with revenue above AED 50 million and from every Qualifying Free Zone Person regardless of size. Tax groups must now prepare audited special-purpose financial statements; the old AED 50 million consolidated-revenue threshold for groups was removed.
- Transfer pricing disclosures. The return includes a related-party schedule that activates when aggregate related-party transactions exceed AED 40 million at market value; above that, each category (goods, services, IP, interest, assets) over AED 4 million is disclosed. Payments or benefits to connected persons — owners, directors and their related parties — are disclosed above AED 500,000 per person. Separately, Ministerial Decision 97/2023 requires a master file and local file where revenue reaches AED 200 million or you belong to an MNE group with consolidated revenue of AED 3.15 billion or more.
- Adjustment workings. Accounting profit is only the starting point: entertainment expenses (50% disallowed), fines, the interest capping rules, exempt dividend income, and unrealised gains elections all move the number. Keep the bridge from accounting profit to taxable income as a working paper — it is the first thing an auditor asks for.
Filing on EmaraTax: step by step
The return unlocks on EmaraTax after your tax period ends. The flow commonly reported by filers (screens vary slightly as the FTA updates the portal) is:
- Log in at eservices.tax.gov.ae with your EmaraTax credentials or UAE Pass.
- Select the taxable person profile linked to your account (agencies and accountants may see several) and open its dashboard.
- Open the Corporate Tax tile and select the return for the tax period ended 31 December 2025.
- Confirm elections up front — Small Business Relief, realisation basis, transitional relief for pre-regime assets. Some elections can only be made in this first screen and are hard to reverse later.
- Complete the schedules: revenue and accounting profit from your financial statements, tax adjustments, exempt income, reliefs, related-party and connected-person disclosures where thresholds are met.
- Attach the financial statements (audited where required) and any supporting documents the form requests.
- Review the computed liability, tick the declaration, and submit. Download the acknowledgement and reference number.
- Pay through "My Payments" — see the next section — so that funds clear before 30 September 2026.
Small Business Relief filers get a shortened path: the FTA confirms that electing SBR in the return switches you to a simplified return with most schedules disabled. You still must complete and submit it.
Paying what you owe
Two methods sit inside EmaraTax's "My Payments":
- GIBAN transfer. Each taxable person has a unique IBAN-style number; you add it as a beneficiary in your corporate internet banking and transfer with the generated payment reference. Local AED transfers are commonly reported to credit within about 24 hours; international transfers can take several working days.
- Card payment via the Magnati gateway — instant, but gateway fees apply, which gets expensive on six-figure liabilities.
The FTA has explicitly warned that payment counts when the money arrives in its account. A transfer instructed on 30 September that clears on 1 October is a late payment. Treat roughly 25 September 2026 as your real internal deadline for GIBAN transfers, earlier if paying from an overseas account. There are no instalment or provisional-payment arrangements — one return, one payment, both due at the nine-month mark.
Penalties: what missing the deadline actually costs
Cabinet Decision 75/2023 sets the numbers, and they run on two separate meters:
| Failure | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Late return | AED 500 per month (or part month) for the first 12 months, AED 1,000 per month from month 13 |
| Late payment | 14% per annum on the unpaid tax, calculated monthly from the day after the due date |
| Late registration | AED 10,000 (waiver conditions below) |
| Incorrect return not corrected | Fixed penalties; voluntary disclosure before an audit notice sharply reduces exposure |
Both meters run at once, and a single day late counts as a full month. File three months late owing AED 100,000 and you face AED 1,500 in filing penalties plus roughly AED 3,500 in late payment charges — and the 14% keeps accruing monthly until settled. Note the trap for nil-tax filers: the AED 500 monthly penalty applies even when no tax is due, so a loss-making or SBR-electing company that ignores the deadline still accumulates real fines.
Never registered? The AED 10,000 problem and the waiver
If your business should have registered for corporate tax and has not, register on EmaraTax now — the FTA's systems cross-reference trade license databases, and unregistered businesses face the AED 10,000 late registration penalty on top of accruing filing penalties.
There is partial good news. The FTA's waiver initiative (running since April 2025) cancels the AED 10,000 penalty automatically if you file your first return within seven months of your first tax period's end — two months earlier than the normal nine-month deadline. By May 2026 more than 68,600 businesses had benefited, with the FTA projecting around 91,000. The window is mechanical: for a first tax period ended 31 December 2025 it closed on 31 July 2026, but companies whose first tax period ends later in 2026 (for example, entities incorporated during 2025 with a first period ending 31 March or 30 June 2026) can still qualify by filing within their own seven-month window. Penalties already paid are re-credited to your EmaraTax account for offset or refund. Verify your specific eligibility on tax.gov.ae or with a registered tax agent — the waiver applies only to the first tax period.
Small Business Relief: the clock is running out
If your revenue was AED 3 million or below in FY2025 and every earlier tax period, you can elect Small Business Relief in this return and be treated as having no taxable income — no tax computation, simplified return. Under Ministerial Decision 73/2023 the relief exists only for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026: the FY2025 return due this season qualifies, calendar-year businesses get one final bite with FY2026 (filed by 30 September 2027), and after that it is gone unless extended. Two common disqualifiers: Qualifying Free Zone Persons cannot elect it, and neither can members of MNE groups above AED 3.15 billion consolidated revenue. Remember the test is revenue, not profit — a business with AED 4 million revenue and AED 200,000 profit does not qualify, though it likely still pays nothing thanks to the AED 375,000 zero band.
Free zone filers: quick QFZP reality check
Claiming the 0% rate as a Qualifying Free Zone Person means certifying, in this return, that you met every condition throughout FY2025: adequate substance in the zone, income within the qualifying categories, audited financial statements (mandatory for all QFZPs under MD 84/2025), transfer pricing compliance, and non-qualifying revenue within the de minimis cap — the lower of 5% of total revenue or AED 5 million. Breach any condition and you lose QFZP status for the current period plus the following four, paying 9% on the lot. If your mainland-sourced revenue crept up during 2025, model the de minimis maths before you file, not after. QFZPs also cannot use Small Business Relief, and note that even a QFZP pays 9% on any non-qualifying income slice (such as a mainland branch's income). New businesses weighing free zone versus mainland trade-offs should read our business setup guide before the structure hardens.
Common mistakes from the first two seasons
- Filing from trial-balance numbers, then finalising the audit later and needing a voluntary disclosure when figures move.
- Testing Small Business Relief on profit instead of revenue — the AED 3 million threshold is turnover.
- Skipping the related-party schedule because "we're a family business" — intercompany loans, management fees and owner payments are exactly what the AED 40M/AED 500K disclosures target.
- Paying on deadline day and clearing after it — the 14% meter starts regardless of when you hit "transfer".
- Assuming free zone means no return — QFZP status requires a filed return claiming it.
- Returns that contradict VAT filings. Reported revenue that diverges materially from four quarters of VAT returns without explanation is a documented audit trigger.
- Missing elections — transitional relief on pre-2024 assets and the realisation basis generally must be claimed in time; retrofitting them later ranges from hard to impossible.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the deadline for filing a UAE corporate tax return in 2026?
Nine months after your financial year end. For the most common case — financial year ended 31 December 2025 — both the return and full payment are due by 30 September 2026. A year ended 31 March 2026 files by 31 December 2026, and a year ended 30 June 2026 by 31 March 2027.
What is the penalty for filing a corporate tax return late in the UAE?
AED 500 for each month or part month of delay during the first 12 months, rising to AED 1,000 per month from the 13th month, under Cabinet Decision 75/2023. Unpaid tax separately accrues a late payment penalty of 14% per annum, calculated monthly. The filing penalty applies even when no tax is due.
Do free zone companies have to file a corporate tax return?
Yes. Every free zone entity registered for corporate tax files a return, including Qualifying Free Zone Persons on 0%. The QFZP benefit is claimed in the return, and all QFZPs must attach audited financial statements for FY2025 onwards under Ministerial Decision 84/2025.
Can I still claim Small Business Relief in 2026?
Yes, if revenue was AED 3 million or below in the current and all previous tax periods. The relief covers tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026, so the FY2025 return due 30 September 2026 qualifies, and calendar-year businesses can elect once more for FY2026. QFZPs and members of large MNE groups are excluded.
Do I need audited financial statements to file?
Only if you cross a threshold: standalone taxable persons with revenue above AED 50 million, every Qualifying Free Zone Person, and tax groups (audited special-purpose financial statements) for tax periods starting on or after 1 January 2025. Smaller mainland businesses need IFRS-compliant accounts but not an audit for tax purposes — though other regulators or free zone authorities may require one anyway.
How do I pay corporate tax through EmaraTax?
Via "My Payments" on EmaraTax: either a bank transfer to your unique GIBAN with the generated reference number, or a card payment through the Magnati gateway. Payment counts when funds reach the FTA, so allow at least two to three working days for bank transfers — more from overseas accounts.
Is this the first corporate tax return UAE companies have to file?
No — for calendar-year companies it is the second. The first season covered financial years ended 31 December 2024 and closed on 30 September 2025. Companies incorporated during 2025 are filing their first return this season, and may qualify for the late-registration penalty waiver by filing within seven months of their first tax period's end.
I never registered for corporate tax. What should I do now?
Register on EmaraTax immediately. Late registration carries an AED 10,000 penalty, but the FTA waives it automatically if you submit your first return within seven months of your first tax period ending. If your window has passed, register anyway — penalties only grow, and a filed return with a reconsideration request beats silence.
Related reading: the full UAE corporate tax guide for rates, exemptions and registration; our VAT guide for keeping the two filings consistent; the EmaraTax and FTA glossary entries; and the business setup guide if you are still choosing between mainland and free zone.
