Sales records
- Sales invoices, sequential and gap-free
- Credit and debit notes
- Customer contracts and agreements
- Proof of delivery / service completion
Audit-ready, always
The FTA doesn't ask for your records when things are going well — it asks when you're being audited or filing. This guide lists exactly what to keep, how long to keep it, and how to store it, so a records request becomes a ten-minute job instead of a ten-day panic.
The core list
If a document explains where money came from, where it went, or what tax position you took — keep it. Organised by the six folders below, you'll survive any records request.
How long
UAE corporate-tax rules require financial statements, ledgers and supporting documents to be kept for 7 years. Our recommendation is simple: apply one 7-year retention policy to everything on the list above. One rule is easier to follow than five, it covers the corporate-tax requirement with margin, and it means you never have to argue about which rule applied to which document.
If your sector or free zone imposes its own retention rules, confirm them with your licensing authority — and keep whichever period is longer. Digital storage is fully acceptable: scanned records count provided they're complete, legible and retrievable on request. What doesn't count is a phone gallery of unsorted receipt photos with no backup.
And when records reach the 7-year mark, don't auto-delete them: first confirm there are no open FTA queries, audits or disputes that reference those periods. Deleting records under review creates a problem far worse than the storage cost of keeping them another year.
Worked example
Top level by year, then by month, then by the six categories: /2026/09-sales/, /2026/09-purchases/, /2026/09-bank/, /2026/09-payroll/, /2026/09-tax/, plus /corporate/ at the top level for licences and contracts that don't change monthly.
The monthly close checklist that keeps it honest: all sales invoices issued and filed, all supplier bills captured, bank reconciled to the statement, payroll posted with WPS proof, and the month's VAT position noted. Thirty minutes of discipline, twelve times a year — and when the FTA asks for Q3 records, the answer is a shared folder link, not a weekend of digging.
This is exactly what monthly bookkeeping maintains for you: the ledger, the reconciliations and the archive, kept current instead of reconstructed.
We prepare workings, schedules and compliance-ready records. For regulated representation before the FTA we work with registered UAE tax partners.
Don't do this
Starting fresh? Our new-business accounting checklist sets this up from day one — or talk to us.
When they ask
A records request isn't an accusation — it's a routine check. Here's the standard pack, and how to answer it within a day.
Respond completely, organised, and on time — and keep copies of everything you send, plus the FTA's correspondence, filed with your tax records. Businesses with monthly reconciled books assemble this pack in an afternoon; businesses without them assemble it in a panic. That's the whole argument for doing the books monthly.
Records FAQs
UAE corporate-tax rules require financial statements, ledgers and supporting documents to be kept for 7 years. We recommend one simple 7-year policy for everything — invoices, contracts, bank statements and payroll — and keeping whichever period is longer if your sector or free zone requires more. Confirm sector-specific rules with your licensing authority.
Yes — digital records are fine provided they are complete, legible and retrievable on request. Paper originals aren't required. What fails is unsorted phone photos with no backup and no filing system.
Expect penalties and, in the worst case, tax assessed on estimates rather than your actual figures — which rarely works in your favour. Complete monthly books make a records request a non-event.
Yes. Relief means 0% tax, not 0% paperwork — you still register, still file a return, and still need the records behind it. The relief is claimed on the return; the records prove the claim.
You own them, always. Your accountant maintains working copies as part of the monthly service, but keep your own complete archive — and collect the full ledger export, documents and software access if you ever switch firms.
Typically: the trial balance and general ledger for the period, a sample of sales and purchase invoices, bank statements with reconciliations, and the workings behind your VAT or corporate-tax return. With monthly reconciled books, that's an afternoon's work — without them, it's a project.
Keep reading
Ready when you are
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