UAE · ACCOUNTING · CORPORATE TAX · VAT · AUDIT
UAE accounting, corporate tax and VAT compliance — from $680 a month
A UAE licence starts a compliance year: a corporate tax return even at zero tax, VAT once turnover passes AED 375,000, an audit for every Qualifying Free Zone Person, and AML duties for listed activities — we run that whole year for a flat monthly fee. Bookkeeping from $680 a month in software attested with the UAE Federal Tax Authority; the statutory audit we arrange with a registered auditor, from $950 a year.
Setup firms earn on the day the licence is issued. We earn on the years after it — "Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy" is the activity line of our own Shams licence No. 2327240.
The obligations that start the next morning — the full year, with sources
The market sells the day the licence is issued; the company then owes a year. Here is that year in full. Every item carries the number of the decision that created it, a verbatim quote from the primary source, and the date we last checked it against tax.gov.ae, mof.gov.ae or u.ae. Check us there, not here.
Corporate tax is 0% up to AED 375,000 of taxable income and 9% above — and the return is filed even at zero
Federal Decree-Law 47/2022 sets two rates, and the FTA Corporate Tax General Guide (CTGGCT1) prints them as "0% … on the portion of the Taxable Income not exceeding AED 375,000" and "9% … on the portion of the Taxable Income exceeding AED 375,000" — checked 16 July 2026.
Zero tax removes none of the paperwork. The same guide keeps "the obligation to register for Corporate Tax purposes, file a Tax Return and retain all relevant documents and records" even where nothing is due. "We made nothing this year" is a tax position, and it still gets filed.
The company's calendar and the owner's personal status are two different questions: see UAE tax residency and the Tax Residency Certificate (TRC).
The whole return-and-payment window is nine months from the end of the tax period
The FTA guide says a business "should pay Corporate Tax and file their Corporate Tax Return within 9 months from the end of the relevant Tax Period" — and its own example adds that a company with a 31 December year-end "is required to file their Tax Return and pay Corporate Tax on or before 30 September the following year" (CTGGCT1, Articles 53(1) and 48 of Federal Decree-Law 47/2022; checked 16 July 2026). One annual settlement, no monthly advances — which is why the year should be closed as it runs, not reconstructed in the last month.
Records are kept for seven years after the tax period they relate to — not after the date on the document
CTGGCT1 §10.7.2: a taxable person "must keep records and documents for seven years following the end of the Tax Period to which they relate… and not the Tax Period in which they were created" — checked 16 July 2026. An invoice issued in 2024 that belongs to the 2026 period runs on the 2026 clock. Most people meet this rule for the first time during an audit.
The audit is mandatory for every Qualifying Free Zone Person, and revenue does not change that
The guide's list is two lines long: "The following Persons are required to maintain audited Financial Statements: A Taxable Person deriving Revenue exceeding AED 50,000,000…; and A Qualifying Free Zone Person" — the current categories are set by Ministerial Decision 84/2025, checked 16 July 2026. Read the second line again: for a QFZP there is no revenue threshold at all. The AED 50,000,000 test belongs to companies outside that status.
Audited statements are also a condition of the status itself — the QFZP requirements under Article 18 include "prepare and maintain audited Financial Statements for the purposes of the Corporate Tax Law". No audit, no 0%. We arrange the audit with a registered auditor; the report is from $950.
The free-zone 0% is conditional — sales to individuals are excluded, and de minimis is the lower of two numbers
CTGGCT1, Example 5: "As transactions with individuals are generally Excluded Activities" — revenue from natural persons does not count as qualifying income, so a B2C model in a free zone sits outside the 0% rate. The tolerance is narrow: non-qualifying revenue "does not exceed the lower of: AED 5,000,000; and 5% of total Revenue" (§5.5.5; activity lists per Ministerial Decision 229/2025; checked 16 July 2026). The lower of the two — not whichever suits you.
AML is a separate regime with its own regulator — goAML fines start at AED 50,000
First check whether the list covers you. The Ministry of Economy names four DNFBP categories: real-estate agencies, dealers in precious metals and stones, accounting and audit firms, and corporate service providers (checked 16 July 2026). Not on it — skip this block.
On it — the framework is new. Federal Decree-Law 10/2025 has applied since 14 October 2025, replacing the 2018 law; Cabinet Resolution 134/2025 replaced the 2019 regulation. Fines for goAML non-compliance start at AED 50,000 — the amount for a specific breach is set by the supervisory authority. Enforcement is not theoretical: the ministry's own release "Ministry of Economy imposes fines worth AED 22.6 million on 29 DNFBP companies", dated 24 Mar 2023, states that "The Ministry revealed that a total of 225 violations committed by the violators were found". The UAE left the FATF grey list on 23 February 2024; supervision of DNFBPs did not soften.
Our part of it: goAML registration $540, AML policy with the KYC pack $1 360, staff training for a group of up to five $1 360, an AML specialist's consultation $410 per hour.
E-invoicing already has a calendar — for most companies the dates are 31 March 2027 and 1 July 2027
Ministerial Decision 244/2025 sets it out. Article 5(1)(b): a business "whose Revenue is less than AED 50,000,000 shall appoint an Accredited Service Provider by 31 March 2027 and shall implement the Electronic Invoicing System by 1 July 2027". Above that revenue the dates move up — "shall appoint an Accredited Service Provider by 31 July 2026 and shall implement… by 1 January 2027" (Article 5(1)(a)). "The Pilot Programme shall commence on 1 July 2026", with voluntary participation, and "Business-to-Consumer Transactions shall not be subject to the Electronic Invoicing System… until such time determined by a decision issued by the Minister" (Article 5(2)). Checked 16 July 2026. Few owners have heard any of these dates before we show them the decision.
None of this is cancelled by what you were told on the day of registration. If the company does not exist yet, start from UAE business setup — the year described above arrives either way, and we price it into the setup quote from day one.
Small Business Relief runs out with periods ending 31 December 2026 — and the end date sits in a ministerial decision, not in the law
The relief lets a resident business pay no corporate tax while revenue stays small. The FTA's Small Business Relief guide (CTGSBR1, p. 16) defines the condition as "Revenue of less than or equal to AED 3,000,000 in a relevant Tax Period and all previous Tax Periods ending on or before 31 December 2026", and page 20 frames the window from both ends: "Small Business Relief will be available for Tax Periods that begin on or after 1 June 2023. Small Business Relief will be available for Tax Periods that end before or on 31 December 2026 in which the Revenue in the relevant Tax Period and all previous Tax Periods was less than or equal to AED 3,000,000". Checked 17 July 2026.
We do not write "the relief is being abolished", because the documents do not say that. Article 21(1)(a) of the consolidated Federal Decree-Law 47/2022 says only that revenue "does not exceed a threshold to be set by the Minister". We searched the consolidated law — 59 pages: "2026" appears zero times, "3,000,000" appears zero times (checked 17 July 2026). Both the amount and the date live in Ministerial Decision 73/2023, which means one new decision could extend the relief without touching the law. As at 17 July 2026, none had been announced. We watch mof.gov.ae and will correct this page in either direction.
Two exclusions catch people. The guide is direct about free zones: "Qualifying Free Zone Persons will not be eligible for Small Business Relief, even if they are Resident Persons and have Revenue that is equal to or less than AED 3,000,000 in the relevant Tax Period and all previous Tax Periods" (§4.3.4). The relief also "will not be available to a business that is a constituent company of an MNE" (§3.1.1). Holding QFZP status and claiming SBR are alternatives, not a stack.
The threshold is a one-way door. From the guide's Example 3: "Ms Y is not eligible to benefit from Small Business Relief for the Tax Period ending 31 December 2026 as her Revenue has exceeded the threshold of AED 3,000,000 in a prior Tax Period". Cross AED 3,000,000 once, and the election is gone for good — even if revenue falls back the next year.
What a year without the relief looks like — the FTA's own worked examples (CTGSBR1, p. 16, Table 2; revenue AED 2,800,000 in each):
Profit AED 800,000
AED 38,250 tax for the period
Profit AED 1,000,000
AED 56,250 tax for the period
Profit AED 1,500,000
AED 101,250 tax for the period
VAT is a separate tax on a separate clock — 5% since 1 January 2018
The UAE government portal states the rate as "5 per cent", in force since "1 January 2018" (u.ae, checked 21 July 2026). Corporate tax did not replace it and does not talk to it: separate registration, separate returns, separate penalties.
Registration becomes mandatory at AED 375,000 of taxable turnover a year
The threshold is "AED 375,000 per annum" — taxable supplies and imports over the past 12 months, or expected within the next 30 days. Voluntary registration opens at "AED 187,500 per annum", counting supplies, imports or taxable expenditure (u.ae, checked 21 July 2026). We register companies with the FTA and obtain the TRN for $410.
The return and the money are due within 28 days of the end of the tax period
Filing and payment run together: "within 28 days of the end of the tax period" (u.ae / tax.gov.ae, checked 21 July 2026). The standard period is a quarter for businesses with annual turnover below AED 150 million and a month at or above it; the FTA can assign a different period to a specific business.
The penalty table was replaced from 14 April 2026 — most blogs still quote the old one
Cabinet Decision 129/2025, issued 9 October 2025 and in force since 14 April 2026, replaced the 2021 penalty table. The positions that matter day to day: late registration AED 10 000; a late return AED 1 000 the first time and AED 2 000 if repeated within 24 months; late payment 14% per annum, accruing monthly on the unpaid amount — this replaced the old ladder of a fixed charge plus monthly percentages, and the new table carries no separate 300% cap; an incorrect return AED 500, waived if you correct it yourself before the filing deadline. Checked against CD 129/2025 on 21 July 2026. If your penalty maths comes from a 2024 article, it is wrong now.
Zero-rated and exempt differ in the one way that matters — input VAT
Zero-rated supplies are taxed at 0% and keep the right to recover input VAT: exports outside the GCC, international transport, the first supply of residential property within three years of completion, certain education and healthcare, investment precious metals, oil and gas. Exempt supplies carry no VAT and no recovery: certain financial services, residential property after the first supply, bare land, local passenger transport (u.ae guidance; Federal Decree-Law 8/2017 and Cabinet Decision 52/2017; checked 21 July 2026). Misclassifying between the two reshapes the whole recovery position.
On Designated Zones we keep to what is verified: an official list exists, not every free zone is on it, and the status concerns goods rather than services — it gets checked case by case, not assumed.
The same AED 375,000 appears in both taxes and means two different things
| Corporate tax | VAT | |
|---|---|---|
| What AED 375,000 is | the 0% band of taxable profit | the registration threshold of turnover |
| Rate | 0% to AED 375,000 of profit, 9% above | 5% |
| Who registers | every company, even at zero tax | above AED 375,000 turnover; voluntary from AED 187,500 |
| Return and payment | within 9 months of the end of the tax period | within 28 days of the end of the tax period |
The coincidence of the number is exactly that — a coincidence. Mixing the two thresholds is the most common error we correct at the express check.
What the year costs, in figures
Every year the company runs
Bookkeeping from
from$680/mo
"Start" covers up to 50 transactions and up to 5 staff; the tier moves with volume — up to 100 and up to 200 transactions are priced steps, not surprises. "Business" adds payments and outgoing invoices, from $950 a month.
The minimum from our price list, not a public offer. The monthly figure depends on the number of transactions and staff. Prices are in US dollars, converted from the AED price list at the fixed peg AED 3.6725 = $1; invoices are issued in dirhams. Corporate tax, VAT and audit thresholds are set by UAE law and stated in dirhams.
Government fines are separate money — none of this is our fee
- AED 1 000/moLate business licence renewal
- AED 1 000/moLate migration card (E-card) renewal
- AED 1 000/moLate licence or E-card cancellation
- from AED 50,000goAML non-compliance; the amount for a specific breach is set by the supervisory authority
Taking over an existing company's books — the first three steps
Half of our accounting clients come with a company that already exists — and books in some state between "a folder of PDFs" and "nothing since incorporation". We do not quote catch-up bookkeeping blind: naming a price before seeing the documents would be guesswork, and guesswork is what got most of these books into their current state.
- Express check — $540. We review what has actually been filed: which periods are closed, whether the company is registered for corporate tax and VAT, where the records stand against the seven-year rule, and whether the audit and AML positions hold.
- We show you the picture and name the catch-up price. It depends on the depth of the gap — that is the one figure on this page we will not promise in advance, and we say so rather than invent it.
- Monthly bookkeeping takes over at the tariff above, so the next return, audit and renewal land on schedule instead of becoming next year's catch-up.
Check us, don't take our word for it
The licence says what we do
"Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy" — the activity line of our Shams Free Zone licence, Formation No. 2327240, issued 14 December 2023. Not a marketing description; the licensed scope itself.
We live under the same rules we bill for
Accounting and audit firms are one of the four DNFBP categories on the Ministry of Economy's list — which means our own goAML registration, our own AML programme and our own compliance officer duties. When we set these up for you, we are repeating work we did for ourselves.
Every number here carries its source
Rates, deadlines and thresholds on this page are quoted verbatim from FTA guides, ministerial decisions and u.ae, each with the date we checked it. If a figure ever disagrees with the primary source, the primary source wins and we correct the page.
What we deliberately do not publish
No upper bound for goAML fines — the official scale's text is not publicly accessible to verify, so we print only the floor of AED 50,000. No tax rates for China — our price list does not contain them and we do not quote unverified ones. No "account opened in N days" — the account is opened by the bank, on the bank's timeline, and we do not publish a number we do not control. No invented client counts or review scores. A page that refuses to make up numbers is the same page that will not make them up in your return.
Running a Hong Kong company as well? The audit logic there is stricter still — every company audits annually, regardless of size: Hong Kong company registration and support.
Questions people ask before a contract
Who actually keeps the books, and in what software?
Our own team, in accounting software attested with the UAE Federal Tax Authority — the licence for it is $350 a year. "Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy" is the activity line on our Shams licence No. 2327240. Bookkeeping starts at $680 a month for up to 50 transactions and up to 5 staff.
Is a free zone company really taxed at 0%?
Only a Qualifying Free Zone Person is, and only on qualifying income. The FTA guide treats sales to individuals as excluded — "As transactions with individuals are generally Excluded Activities" — and non-qualifying revenue must stay under the lower of AED 5,000,000 and 5% of total revenue (CTGGCT1 §5.5.5, checked 16 July 2026). A QFZP also files audited financial statements regardless of size. A B2C model in a free zone generally means the standard 0%/9% bands instead.
Our turnover is small. Is the audit still mandatory?
If the company is a Qualifying Free Zone Person — yes. The guide's list is two lines: "A Taxable Person deriving Revenue exceeding AED 50,000,000…; and A Qualifying Free Zone Person" — there is no revenue test in the second line (CTGGCT1, categories per Ministerial Decision 84/2025, checked 16 July 2026). We arrange the audit with a registered auditor; the report is from $950.
When does VAT registration become mandatory?
At "AED 375,000 per annum" of taxable supplies and imports — over the past 12 months or expected within the next 30 days. Voluntary registration opens at "AED 187,500 per annum" (u.ae, checked 21 July 2026). The rate is 5%, and the return with payment is due "within 28 days of the end of the tax period". Registration with the FTA and the TRN is $410 with us.
What happens to Small Business Relief after 31 December 2026?
Undecided — and that is the honest answer. The relief covers tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026 with revenue up to AED 3,000,000, and both the amount and the date sit in Ministerial Decision 73/2023, not in the law: Article 21 of Federal Decree-Law 47/2022 says only "a threshold to be set by the Minister", so one new decision could extend it. As at 17 July 2026, none had been announced. One more rule worth knowing from the FTA guide: cross the threshold once and "he will not be able to elect for Small Business Relief again, even if his Revenue in the Tax Period ending 31 December 2026 is less than AED 3,000,000".
We had no activity this year. Do we still file a corporate tax return?
Yes. The FTA guide keeps "the obligation to register for Corporate Tax purposes, file a Tax Return and retain all relevant documents and records" regardless of the amount due (CTGGCT1, checked 16 July 2026). A zero year is filed like any other, and the records behind it are kept for seven years after the period they relate to.
Can you take over the books of an existing company mid-year?
Yes — through an express check first, $540. We review what has been filed, what is missing, and where you stand on the 0% conditions, the audit and AML, then name the catch-up price. Quoting that price before seeing the documents would be guesswork, so we do not.
Have us look at your company
Tell us the zone, roughly how many transactions a month, and the state of the books — honest "nothing since incorporation" included. We reply with figures and the rule behind each one, starting from the express check.
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Orion Consulting and bookkeeping LLC. Shams Free Zone licence No. 2327240, issued 14.12.2023. Accounting, bookkeeping, auditing and tax consultancy are the licensed activities.