UAE corporate tax, strategy before compliance.

How does UAE corporate tax work?

Under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022:

• 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 a year.
• 9% on taxable income above that.
• 0% on qualifying income for a Qualifying Free Zone Person that meets the conditions; other income at 9%.
• 15% domestic minimum top-up tax for multinational groups with consolidated revenue of EUR 750 million or more, from 1 January 2025.

Who’s in scope: UAE companies (including free zone companies), individuals doing business with turnover above AED 1 million a year, and foreign entities with a UAE permanent establishment.

Deadlines: the return and payment are due within nine months of the end of the tax period.

The full guide is in UAE corporate tax in 2026.

What should you decide before filing?

Registration is near universal now: the FTA completed more than 245,000 corporate tax registration applications in 2025 alone, according to its 2025 Annual Report. Structure decisions are where the real differences now lie.

“The number of transactions completed by the Tax Registration Department increased by more than 20%…”

Federal Tax Authority, 2025 Annual Report release (June 2026)

1. Does your structure still make sense? Set-ups designed before corporate tax (several entities, offshore holding companies) may not fit now.
2. Does your free zone company really qualify? Adequate substance, qualifying income as defined, transfer-pricing compliance and limits on non-qualifying income. Losing the status can affect the current period and the next four.
3. Are related-party dealings at arm’s length? Management charges, intercompany loans and shared costs need a basis and, above thresholds, documentation.
4. Should you elect Small Business Relief? Businesses with revenue of AED 3 million or less can elect it for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029, after the Ministry of Finance extended it in August 2026 (Ministerial Decision No. 131). The cost: losses from those periods can’t be carried forward.
5. How does the UAE interact with other countries? Home-country tax residence, controlled foreign company rules and treaties.

Who files and who advises?

I do: structure and group reviews, free zone qualification analysis, transfer-pricing positioning, SBR evaluation, cross-border questions, and briefing tax agents.

I don’t: file returns, represent you before the FTA, sign tax opinions or prepare detailed transfer-pricing files. FTA-registered tax agents do that.

How it works

1. Discovery (free, 30 minutes).
2. Strategic review (fixed fee): structure, free zone position, SBR, transfer-pricing exposure and next steps, in writing.
3. Specialist coordination: introductions to FTA-registered tax agents, with any arrangement disclosed in writing.
4. Ongoing reviews (optional).

General information, not regulated tax advice.