Corporate tax
Register first, then file and pay within 9 months of your financial year end. Penalties: AED 10,000 for late registration, AED 500/month for late filing (first 12 months, then AED 1,000/month), and 14% per annum on late payment.
One calendar, every obligation
Corporate tax, VAT, WPS, ESR and UBO — five different rhythms, one business. This page puts them into a single annual calendar you can actually run your company on, with a worked example for December year-ends.
The five rhythms
Memorise the rhythm, not just the dates. Rhythms survive year-ends; dates don't.
Register first, then file and pay within 9 months of your financial year end. Penalties: AED 10,000 for late registration, AED 500/month for late filing (first 12 months, then AED 1,000/month), and 14% per annum on late payment.
Most SMEs file quarterly: the return and payment are due 28 days after each tax period ends. Registration thresholds and voluntary registration rules apply — confirm your position on the official portal.
Salaries go through the Wage Protection System every month. It isn't a tax, but it is a compliance deadline — and gaps are visible. See our bookkeeping service for how we run it.
If you conduct a Relevant Activity, file the annual ESR notification and — where required — the substance report via the Ministry of Finance portal. The windows run off your financial year; confirm them on the portal. Full ESR guide →
Keep your ultimate-beneficial-owner register current with your licensing authority or zone registrar, and update it whenever ownership or control changes. Full UBO guide →
One shared calendar, every deadline in it, every item with a named owner and a two-week warning. Most missed deadlines aren't forgotten obligations — they're obligations nobody owned.
We prepare workings, schedules and compliance-ready records. For regulated representation before the FTA we work with registered UAE tax partners.
The calendar
Built for a December year-end on quarterly VAT. If your year-end differs, shift the CT and ESR items by the same number of months — the rhythm stays identical.
| Month | Corporate tax | VAT | Payroll / WPS | ESR & UBO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | — | Q4 return + payment due 28 Jan | January salaries via WPS | Review UBO register for year-end changes |
| February | — | — | February salaries via WPS | — |
| March | — | Q1 period ends 31 Mar | March salaries via WPS | Check ESR portal windows for your FY |
| April | — | Q1 return + payment due 28 Apr | April salaries via WPS | — |
| May | Build CT workings from monthly books | — | May salaries via WPS | — |
| June | Build CT workings from monthly books | Q2 period ends 30 Jun | June salaries via WPS | Mid-year UBO review |
| July | Review draft CT position | Q2 return + payment due 28 Jul | July salaries via WPS | — |
| August | Finalise CT return schedules | — | August salaries via WPS | — |
| September | CT return + payment due 30 Sep | Q3 period ends 30 Sep | September salaries via WPS | File ESR notification / report per portal windows |
| October | — | Q3 return + payment due 28 Oct | October salaries via WPS | — |
| November | — | — | November salaries via WPS | — |
| December | FY ends — close books, start CT workings | Q4 period ends 31 Dec | December salaries via WPS | Year-end UBO review |
Illustrative for a December year-end with quarterly VAT. Your VAT periods follow your EmaraTax assignment and your ESR windows follow your FY — confirm both on the official portals.
Watch out
Every one of these has cost a real company real money.
Only December year-ends do. A June year-end files by end of March; a March year-end by end of December. Your year-end sets your deadline — check your own, not your neighbour's.
The rule is 28 days after the tax period ends — not "end of next month". For a quarter ending 30 June, that's 28 July. Two extra days of drift is how penalties start.
New companies still file for their first tax period — even if it is a short one. "We only started in October" is not an exemption from filing.
Because it isn't a tax, some founders deprioritise it. Monthly salary compliance is visible to the authorities — treat it with the same seriousness as a return.
Worked example
Noura Events LLC is a Dubai mainland company. Its financial year is the calendar year, it files VAT quarterly, and it runs payroll through WPS every month.
FY2025 ended 31 December 2025. Nine months later is 30 September 2026 — that is her corporate-tax return and payment deadline. Not a date she memorised from a blog; a date she calculated from her own year-end.
Monthly: WPS salaries, and monthly reconciled books (so the CT workings were building themselves all year). Quarterly: VAT filed and paid on 28 April, 28 July, 28 October, and 28 January 2027. September: the CT return filed on 12 September — more than two weeks early — with payment the same day. ESR: notification filed per the MoF portal windows for her FY; UBO register reviewed at year-end and after a shareholder change in June.
No scramble, no penalties, no "we'll figure it out in September". The calendar did the remembering; she just did the work. That is the entire point of this page: deadlines are a system, not a memory test.
Deadlines FAQs
Within 9 months of the end of your financial year. A company with a December year-end files by 30 September; a June year-end files by 31 March. Your own year-end sets your deadline.
The VAT return and payment are due 28 days after the end of each tax period. For quarterly filers on calendar quarters, that means 28 April, 28 July, 28 October and 28 January. See our VAT services for how we run the cycle.
Add 9 months to your own year-end. A June year-end means a March deadline; a March year-end means a December deadline. Shift the CT and ESR rows in the calendar table above by the same offset.
Yes — treat it as one. Salaries must be paid through the Wage Protection System every month, and gaps are visible to the authorities. It is the one deadline that never takes a holiday.
Late registration can attract an AED 10,000 penalty; late filing AED 500 per month for the first 12 months then AED 1,000 per month; late payment carries a 14% penalty per annum. Registration and filing are separate duties — do both on time.
They follow their own cycles rather than a single calendar date: ESR notification and reporting run off your financial year via the Ministry of Finance portal, and your UBO register must be updated whenever ownership or control changes. Confirm the exact windows on the official portals. See all our compliance guides.
Keep going
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