Compliance Calendar · United Arab Emirates
UAE Tax Compliance Calendar
Current UAE statutory filing windows across VAT, Corporate Tax, transfer pricing, audit and Economic Substance Regulations.
What this is
This calendar summarises the principal UAE tax and compliance filing windows that MHBC Finance coordinates on behalf of clients, spanning Value Added Tax, Corporate Tax, transfer pricing, audit and the now-discontinued Economic Substance Regulations. The windows shown are the current statutory positions; the exact dates that apply to any given entity depend on its tax period, its licence and its date of incorporation. MHBC Finance coordinates compliance and is not a government authority.
Value Added Tax
| Obligation | Deadline | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Mandatory VAT registration | Within 30 days of taxable supplies and imports exceeding AED 375,000 over the prior 12 months, or where they are expected to exceed that figure within the next 30 days | Businesses whose taxable supplies pass the mandatory registration threshold |
| Voluntary VAT registration | Optional once taxable supplies, imports or taxable expenses exceed AED 187,500; no fixed deadline | Smaller businesses below the mandatory threshold that choose to register |
| VAT return filing and payment | Within 28 days of the end of each tax period (monthly or quarterly, as assigned by the FTA) | All VAT-registered persons |
| VAT deregistration | Application within 20 business days of ceasing to make taxable supplies, or of supplies falling below the voluntary threshold | Registrants who no longer meet the registration conditions |
Corporate Tax
| Obligation | Deadline | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Registration — resident companies formed on or after 1 March 2024 | Within 3 months of the date of incorporation, establishment or recognition in the UAE | UAE-incorporated resident juridical persons, including free-zone entities, created on or after 1 March 2024 |
| Registration — foreign-incorporated, effectively managed in the UAE | Within 3 months of the end of the financial year | Persons incorporated abroad but resident through their place of effective management in the UAE |
| Registration — persons in existence before 1 March 2024 | Staggered deadlines set by the entity's earliest licence-issuance month; the latest fell on 31 December 2024 and have now elapsed | Resident juridical persons formed before 1 March 2024 |
| Registration — natural persons conducting business | By 31 March of the year following the Gregorian calendar year in which total business turnover first exceeded AED 1 million (for example, 2024 turnover registered by 31 March 2025) | Resident and non-resident natural persons whose business or business-activity turnover exceeds AED 1 million in a Gregorian calendar year |
| Corporate Tax return filing and payment | Within 9 months of the end of the relevant tax period | All taxable persons, including those with no tax payable |
Transfer Pricing
| Obligation | Deadline | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer Pricing Disclosure Form | Filed as part of the annual Corporate Tax return, within 9 months of the tax-period end, where related-party and connected-person transactions meet the FTA's materiality thresholds | Taxable persons with qualifying related-party or connected-person transactions |
| Master File and Local File | Maintained for the tax period and produced within 30 days of an FTA request | Taxable persons with revenue of AED 200 million or more in the tax period, or constituent companies of an MNE group with consolidated revenue of AED 3.15 billion or more (Ministerial Decision 97 of 2023) |
Audit & Financial Statements
| Obligation | Deadline | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate Tax audited financial statements | Prepared and maintained for the tax period and retained with the Corporate Tax records | Taxable persons with revenue above AED 50 million in the tax period, and all Qualifying Free Zone Persons regardless of revenue |
| Free-zone audited financial statements | Prepared annually and submitted at trade-licence renewal, typically within three to six months of the financial year-end depending on the free-zone authority | Free-zone companies whose authority requires audited accounts for renewal |
| Retention of books and records | Corporate Tax records kept for 7 years after the end of the tax period; VAT records generally kept for 5 years | All registered and taxable persons |
Economic Substance Regulations
| Obligation | Deadline | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Current status — financial years ending after 31 December 2022 | No notification or economic substance report is required; related administrative penalties have been cancelled, and any paid for these periods are refundable (Cabinet Decision 98 of 2024, effective 2 September 2024) | Entities previously in scope — there is no live recurring ESR filing obligation |
| Historical periods — financial years from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2022 | Notification was due within 6 months of the financial year-end and, where a Relevant Activity earned income, an economic substance report within 12 months of the financial year-end | Licensees that carried on a Relevant Activity during that window — historical obligation only |
This calendar is general guidance only. A client's specific deadlines depend on their tax period, licence and registration status; please confirm the dates that apply to your entity with MHBC Finance before relying on them.
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