Energy, Utilities & Resources
Plant, pipelines and generating capacity are bought once and accounted for across decades — the capitalisation decisions taken in one year still move the reported result in every year after it. A depreciation charge without a fixed-asset register behind it is not a figure the financial statements can support.
MHBC Finance coordinates the accounting, VAT, Corporate Tax and transfer pricing work behind UAE energy, utilities and resources businesses, so that capital expenditure is recorded once and carried consistently, intercompany arrangements are priced at arm's length, and the audited financial statements are coordinated in time for licence renewal and retained with the tax records.
Corporate Tax applies at 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it, with the return due within nine months of the end of the tax period, and audited financial statements are required for any taxable person with revenue above AED 50 million in the relevant tax period.
Where this work lands
Operator capitalising a multi-year build across two financial years
Utilities group documenting intercompany charges between UAE entities
The accounting and tax work behind the asset base
The goal is simple: make the asset register, the VAT return and the Corporate Tax computation describe the same capital in the same terms. For a capital-intensive business, that work concentrates in five areas.
Capital expenditure and the fixed-asset register
MHBC maintains the fixed-asset register, capitalises plant and machinery correctly and schedules depreciation, so capital expenditure is reflected consistently across the financial statements and the Corporate Tax computation.
An asset bought in one year is measured in every year that follows, so the register is not a schedule assembled for the audit — it is the record the audit, the licence file and the tax computation all read from. Corporate Tax records are kept for seven years after the end of the tax period, and VAT records generally for five.
Import VAT on plant and equipment
MHBC applies the reverse charge to imported plant, equipment and materials and reconciles each entry to the customs declaration behind it, so the 5% output tax and the matching input recovery both land in the correct VAT 201 return.
Rather than paying VAT at the border in most cases, you declare the import VAT as output tax and recover it as input tax in the same return, provided the goods are for taxable business use. On a capital import the amounts are large enough that a period-end error shows up in the cash position, not only in the return.
Related-party pricing and documentation
MHBC prepares the transfer pricing disclosure filed with the Corporate Tax return once aggregate related-party transactions exceed AED 40 million, and maintains the Local File and Master File where revenue reaches AED 200 million in the tax period.
A UAE entity inside a multinational group with consolidated revenue of AED 3.15 billion or more sits within the documentation regime whatever its own revenue looks like, under Ministerial Decision No. 97 of 2023. Both files must be produced to the Federal Tax Authority within 30 days of a request, which is not time enough to write them from the beginning.
Corporate Tax computation and filing
MHBC builds the Corporate Tax computation off the financial statements, applying the 0% band up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it, and files the return within nine months of the end of the tax period.
In a capital-intensive business the computation is largely a question of what was capitalised, over what life it is being written down, and how intercompany charges were priced — decisions taken months before the return falls due. MHBC prepares the accounts and the computation, which keeps the two answering to the same set of decisions.
Audit coordination and the free zone position
MHBC prepares the accounts, asset schedules and supporting records and coordinates a Ministry of Economy-licensed auditor, who performs the audit, where revenue in the tax period exceeds AED 50 million, so the audited financial statements are prepared and retained with the Corporate Tax records for that period.
Every Qualifying Free Zone Person must maintain audited financial statements regardless of revenue, mainland companies must maintain them under the Commercial Companies Law, and many free zones require audited accounts for licence renewal within a set period after the financial year-end. MHBC remains the single point of contact throughout, so one set of records serves the auditor and the licensing authority, and is retained with the Corporate Tax records for the period afterwards.
Related service
Audit Coordination & Assurance
An asset base is only as credible as the opinion signed against it. MHBC prepares the financial statements, schedules and records an auditor will ask for and coordinates the licensed auditor from appointment through to signed opinion — so a capital-intensive year is closed once, rather than reopened at licence renewal.