Your UAE company's financial year is winding down. The corporate tax clock starts the day your tax period ends, and you have nine months to file. For a 31 December 2025 year end, that means a 30 September 2026 deadline. Owners who wait until month seven to start gathering paperwork rarely file cleanly.
TL;DR: UAE companies must file a corporate tax return within 9 months of their financial year end. Audited financial statements are mandatory for revenue above AED 50 million, all QFZPs, and all Tax Groups. Small Business Relief at 0% tax stays available for revenue up to AED 3 million until 31 December 2026. Late filing starts at AED 500 per month, and late payment now carries 14% annual interest under the new penalty regime that took effect 14 April 2026.
When Is Your UAE Corporate Tax Return Due?
The return is due 9 months after your financial year end, with the same deadline applying to payment of any tax owed (Federal Tax Authority, 2026). The FTA treats filing and payment as a single obligation. Submitting the return without paying, or paying without filing, both count as non-compliance.
Common year-end dates and their 2026 filing deadlines look like this:
- 31 December 2025 year end - return due 30 September 2026
- 31 March 2026 year end - return due 31 December 2026
- 30 June 2026 year end - return due 31 March 2027
For your first corporate tax filing, there is no extension. Companies established on or after 1 March 2024 also need to register within 3 months of incorporation under the FTA's registration timeline (PwC UAE Tax Summary, 2026). We cover the mechanics of a first filing in Your First UAE Corporate Tax Return.
Do You Need Audited Financial Statements?
The audit requirement is set by Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 and applies to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025. You need audited financial statements if:
- Your annual revenue exceeds AED 50 million
- You are a Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP), regardless of revenue
- You are part of a Tax Group, regardless of revenue
Tax Groups now also need aggregated audited financial statements that consolidate the parent and all members (KPMG UAE, 2025). What we see most often is groups that previously prepared standalone accounts for each entity getting caught by the new aggregation rule late in the cycle, when the audit firm is already at capacity.
If you fall below the AED 50 million threshold and you're not a QFZP or in a Tax Group, you don't need a formal audit. You still need books and records that support every figure on your return, kept for at least 7 years.
What Is Small Business Relief and Who Qualifies?
Small Business Relief lets a UAE resident person elect to be treated as having no taxable income, provided revenue stays at or below AED 3 million in both the current and all previous tax periods (FTA Small Business Relief, 2026).
The relief is available for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026. After that date, the relief expires and standard corporate tax applies. No extension has been announced (UAE Ministry of Finance, 2025).
Who can't elect for the relief:
- Qualifying Free Zone Persons
- Members of multinational groups with consolidated revenue above AED 3.15 billion
One trap to watch: even if you elect for Small Business Relief, you still need to register, still need to file a return, and still need to complete the Transfer Pricing Disclosure Form if you have related party transactions. The relief switches off taxable income, not your compliance obligations.
What Should You Do 90 Days Before Year End?
The 90-day window is where good year-end planning happens. In our experience, owners who treat the last quarter as a finance project rather than a tax problem land cleanly on deadline day.
Start with the books. Reconcile every bank account, every credit card, and every loan balance. Match invoices to payments. Clear any suspense balances that have crept in during the year. If your accounting software shows uncategorised transactions, those are tomorrow's audit queries.
Review your accounts receivable. The FTA expects bad debt provisions to be specific and documented, not blanket percentages. If you have debts over 6 months old that you're unlikely to collect, get the write-off paperwork in order before year end so the deduction lands in the right period.
Check related party transactions. Every loan to a director, every transfer between group entities, every cross-charge between mainland and free zone branches needs to be at arm's length and documented. One question clients always ask is whether intra-group cross-charges count as related party transactions - they do, and the transfer pricing rules apply.
What Are the Penalties for Missing Year-End Deadlines?
Late corporate tax filing starts at AED 500 per month for the first 12 months and rises to AED 1,000 per month thereafter (UAE Ministry of Finance Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, 2023).
The late payment penalty changed materially on 14 April 2026. Under Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, the late payment penalty is now 14% per annum non-compounding on the unpaid tax. The old 4% per month escalator is gone. For most businesses this is a softer regime, but it bites quickly if a balance sits unpaid through audit (Alvarez & Marsal Middle East Tax Alert, 2026). We broke down the wider penalty changes in UAE FTA Cuts Tax Penalties from April 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I change my UAE financial year end?
Yes, but the FTA needs to approve any change to your tax period, and the approval process can take weeks. Most companies stick with their licence-registered year end. If you do need to change - usually to align with a parent group - apply at least 6 months before the proposed new year end.
Do free zone companies follow the same year-end rules?
Yes. Free zone companies file under the same FTA corporate tax framework, with the same 9-month filing window. The difference is whether you qualify as a QFZP and benefit from the 0% rate on qualifying income. We walk through the QFZP test in Free Zone Corporate Tax UAE: Do You Qualify?.
What records do I need to keep for year-end?
Books and records that support every figure on your return: invoices, contracts, payroll records, bank statements, fixed asset schedules, and any supporting workings for deductions or exemptions. Records must be kept for at least 7 years from the end of the relevant tax period (UAE Tax Procedures Law, 2026).
Do I still need to file if I'm using Small Business Relief?
Yes. You still register, still file a return, and still complete the Transfer Pricing Disclosure Form if applicable. The relief means your taxable income is treated as zero, but your filing obligation continues.
How does year-end planning differ for Tax Groups?
Tax Groups need aggregated audited financial statements that consolidate the parent and all members, on top of any standalone entity reporting. The audit deadline aligns with the group's tax period end, and the same 9-month filing window applies to the group return.
Year-end is where small bookkeeping gaps become tax-return problems. If you want a second pair of eyes on your accounts before deadline day, get in touch - we work with UAE companies across mainland and free zones and can review your year-end position, audit readiness, and Small Business Relief election before you file.