When is my corporate tax return due?

Pick the month your financial year ends and see when your corporate tax return and payment are due: nine months after the tax period ends.

Your financial year ends on the last day of

Tax period ending 31 December 2025

Return and tax due by 30 September 2026

That date has passed. File as soon as you can: the FTA applies penalties for late submission. The next year’s return, for the period ending 31 December 2026, is due by 30 September 2027.

This assumes a full 12-month tax period that matches your financial year. A first tax period can be shorter or longer, and the FTA can set a different date.

Our corporate tax return filing starts from AED 1,000 per tax period, exclusive of VAT.

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The nine-month rule

Your corporate tax return must reach the FTA, and the tax must be paid, within nine months of the end of the tax period, unless the FTA sets another date. The tax period is normally your financial year. A year ending on 31 December 2025 was due by 30 September 2026; one ending on 31 March 2026 is due by 31 December 2026.

The same date applies when no tax is due: a business with a loss, or one electing Small Business Relief, still files its return by then.

First tax periods and new companies

A company’s first tax period can be shorter or longer than 12 months, depending on when it was set up and the financial year it chose: see how the first tax period is worked out. A company set up in the UAE on or after 1 March 2024 must register for corporate tax within three months of incorporation. If it registers late, the FTA waives the AED 10,000 penalty when the first return is filed within seven months of the end of the first tax period. Our page on corporate tax registration has the full deadline table.

Questions people ask

When is the UAE corporate tax return due?

Within nine months of the end of the tax period. For a financial year ending on 31 December, that is 30 September of the following year.

Is the tax paid at the same time as the return?

Yes. Corporate tax payable is due within the same nine months, unless the FTA sets another date.

What if I miss the deadline?

File as soon as you can, because the FTA applies penalties for late submission.

When are VAT returns due?

Within 28 days of the end of each VAT tax period, which is quarterly for most businesses. The VAT due is paid by the same date.

Sources

Rules checked against these on 3 November 2026.

1.Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on corporate tax and its amendments, consolidatedMinistry of Finance
2.FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024 on the corporate tax registration timelineFederal Tax Authority
3.Public clarification CTP006: waiver of the late-registration penaltyFederal Tax Authority
4.File VAT returnsUAE Government portal

A guide to the general rules, not tax advice for your business. Your figures stay in your browser: nothing you type here is sent to us unless you choose to message us.