Who Has to Pay Corporate Tax in UAE in 2026?
Corporate tax arrived in the UAE with financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023. Ever since, the same three questions keep coming up. Do I have to pay it? How much? And what happens if I ignore it? This guide answers who has to pay corporate tax in UAE, with the numbers you
Corporate tax arrived in the UAE with financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023. Ever since, the same three questions keep coming up. Do I have to pay it? How much? And what happens if I ignore it?
This guide answers who has to pay corporate tax in UAE, with the numbers you need to check yourself against. Here is the short version: most small businesses end up owing nothing. But nearly everyone still has to register and file, and that is where people get caught.
Who Has to Pay Corporate Tax in UAE?
The gist of who has to pay corporate tax is in this table below.
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Who has to pay corporate tax in UAE? | UAE companies, both mainland and free zone. Foreign companies with a permanent establishment or nexus here. Individuals whose business turnover passes AED 1 million a year. |
| What is the rate? | 0% on taxable profit up to AED 375,000. 9% on profit above that. |
| Who pays 15%? | Only multinational groups with global revenue of about AED 3.15 billion or more. |
| Is my salary taxed? | No. Employment income is outside corporate tax, and the UAE has no personal income tax. |
| Do free zone companies pay? | 0% on qualifying income if they meet every condition. 9% on everything else. |
| Can a small business pay nothing? | Yes. Revenue of AED 3 million or less means you can elect Small Business Relief and pay AED 0, up to 31 December 2029. |
| Must I register if my tax is zero? | Yes. Registration and filing are separate from paying. |
| When is the return due? | Nine months after your tax period ends. |
| What if I register late? | A fixed AED 10,000 penalty, which can be waived if you file your first return within seven months. |
| Which law applies? | Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, collected by the Federal Tax Authority. |
The right way to check whether you have to pay corporate tax or not
Working out who has to pay corporate tax in UAE comes down to three questions.
Take them in order. Each one only makes sense once you have answered the one before it, and most of the confusion out there comes from people jumping straight to the third.
Work through these in order
Check 1 — Am I in the system? The law’s word for being in it is Taxable Person. If you are not in, stop right here. Nothing to register, nothing to file, nothing to pay. If you are in, go to Check 2. Check 2 — Do I have to register and file? If you got past Check 1, yes. And it stays yes in years when you owe nothing. Only a small group of Exempt Persons are let off this as well. Now go to Check 3. Check 3 — Do I actually owe any money? This is the last question, not the first. It comes down to your profit, and to whether you can use a relief. A small UAE company usually answers yes, yes, no. It is in the system. It files every year. It pays nothing. Skip to Check 3, see the zero, and decide the tax has nothing to do with you — that is how people end up with a AED 10,000 fine.
Check 1 is the gate. Get through it and you are one of five types. Here is each one.
| Type | Is this you? | In the system? | When you actually pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mainland companies | Your licence came from a mainland authority, like Dubai’s DET | All of you | Profit above AED 375,000, and no Small Business Relief |
| Free zone companies | Your licence came from a free zone — DMCC, JAFZA, IFZA and the rest | All of you | On any income that is not qualifying income |
| Individuals in business | You freelance, consult, sell online or run a sole establishment | Only above AED 1m turnover | Profit above AED 375,000, and no Small Business Relief |
| Foreign companies | You are registered abroad but have a lasting UAE presence, or UAE property income | Only through one of two doors | On UAE profit above AED 375,000 |
| Large multinational groups | Your group turns over about AED 3.15 billion worldwide | All of you | Whenever your UAE rate falls below 15% |
Type 1. Mainland companies
Do mainland companies pay corporate tax in UAE?
You are in the system.
Who is a mainland company? If your licence came from an economic department rather than a free zone. That is Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, Abu Dhabi’s Department of Economic Development, Sharjah’s, and so on for each emirate.
A mainland company is one of these:
- A limited liability company, including the single-owner kind
- A private or public joint stock company
- A civil company, which is what engineers, doctors and accountants use for professional partnerships
- A UAE branch of a UAE company
- A foreign company that is really run from here. If the big decisions get made in the UAE, the law treats it as a UAE company even though it was registered somewhere else
You will see the term Resident Person used for all of them. It only means the business belongs to the UAE and not to another country. It says nothing about where you live or what visa you hold.
Got branches? They do not file on their own
A branch is part of the same legal body as its head office. Its income goes into the head office’s return. So you register once and you file once, not once per branch.
Are there any exemptions? No. If you run a mainland company, you are in the system from the day your licence is issued. None of these gets you out of it:
- Being brand new, or still in your first year
- Being dormant, or trading at a loss
- Being very small, or having a single owner
- Being wholly foreign-owned
- Having no UAE customers, or selling only abroad
- Being registered for VAT, or not being registered for VAT
There is one real way out, and it is narrow. You would have to be an Exempt Person: a government entity, a government-controlled entity named in a Cabinet Decision, an extractive or natural resource business, an approved public benefit entity, a qualifying investment fund, or a pension fund. If you run a trading or services company, you are none of those. The full list is further down.
So what do you actually pay? Nothing on your first AED 375,000 of profit. Then 9% on whatever sits above it.
And if your revenue for the year is AED 3 million or less, you can use Small Business Relief and pay nothing at all. Most mainland companies land in one of those two spots and write no cheque.
er. So you share one AED 375,000 zero band between all of you, not one each.
What do you have to do? Register on EmaraTax. If your company was set up on or after 1 March 2024, you get three months from incorporation to do it.
After that, file your return and pay within nine months of your year end. Keep your records for seven years.
In the system? Yes. Every mainland company, from day one. Register and file? Yes, every year, even when you owe nothing. Owe any money? Only if your profit tops AED 375,000 and you have not used Small Business Relief.
Type 2. Free zone companies
Do freezone companies pay corporate tax in UAE?
You are in the system.
Who is a free zone company?
If your licence came from one of the roughly forty-five free zone authorities. DMCC, JAFZA, DIFC, ADGM, IFZA, RAKEZ, Meydan and the rest. The law calls you a Free Zone Person.
Two more things count as free zone companies, and this catches people out.
- A branch of a mainland UAE company that is registered inside a free zone is one.
- An offshore company set up under a free zone’s rules is the other.
Are there any exemptions?
No. This is the biggest misunderstanding in the whole subject, so it is worth being blunt about it. A free zone licence does not put you outside the tax law. You are in the system. You register. You file.
What a free zone gives you is not an exemption. It is a rate — a possible 0% that mainland companies cannot get. You keep it only while you keep meeting conditions.
So what do you actually pay?
That depends on whether you are a Qualifying Free Zone Person. This is not a certificate you apply for once and keep. It is a status, and it gets tested again every single year against five conditions. Those conditions are explained in plain words further down.
| Where you stand | On qualifying income | On everything else |
|---|---|---|
| You meet all five conditions | 0% | 9%, from the first dirham |
| You fail any one of them | You are taxed like a mainland company. Nothing on the first AED 375,000 of profit, then 9% on everything |
Look at the top row again. This is the part almost everyone misses. If you qualify, you do not get the AED 375,000 zero band on your non-qualifying income. That band belongs to the ordinary rules, and you have stepped off them.
Two things you cannot do. You cannot use Small Business Relief, however small you are. And you cannot join a Tax Group. Both doors are shut on purpose. You do not get to hold the 0% and the small-business shortcut at the same time.
What do you have to do? Register and file like everyone else. On top of that, get your accounts audited every year. Audited accounts are one of the five conditions, so if you want the 0% they are not optional at any size.
In the system? Yes. Every free zone company, no exceptions. Register and file? Yes, plus audited accounts if you want to hold the 0%. Owe any money? On any income that is not qualifying income, at 9% with no zero band. Fail the conditions and you are taxed like a mainland company instead.
Type 3. Individuals running a business
Is this you?
Yes, if you earn business income in your own name rather than through a company. The law calls you a natural person, which only means a human being rather than a company.
In practice that is freelancers and consultants working on a freelance permit, sole establishments, professional licence holders, online sellers, content creators, and partners in a partnership that was never incorporated.
Are there any exemptions?
Yes, and this is the only one of the five types with a real cut-off.
You stay outside the system completely until your business turnover passes AED 1 million in a calendar year. Under that, there is nothing to register and nothing to file.
Three kinds of money never count toward that AED 1 million, however large they get:
- Your salary. Pay, allowances, bonus and end-of-service benefits.
- Your personal investments. Dividends, bank interest and gains on shares you hold in your own name, as long as the activity needs no licence.
- Your personal property. Rent and sale proceeds from real estate you own personally, again where no licence is needed.
Watch what is being measured here. Turnover is what came in, before costs came out. It is not profit. Invoice AED 1.2 million, keep AED 200,000, and you have crossed the line — even though you kept very little of it.
One more thing. Everything you do gets added together. Two side businesses at AED 600,000 each put you over, even though neither would on its own.
So what do you actually pay?
The same as anyone else, once you are in. Nothing on your first AED 375,000 of profit, then 9%.
Small Business Relief is open to individuals too. So while your revenue stays at AED 3 million or less, your bill is still zero.
What do you have to do?
Your tax year is the calendar year, whatever your own bookkeeping does.
Cross AED 1 million and you have until 31 March of the following year to register. After that, file within nine months of each year end and keep your records.
In the system? Only above AED 1 million of business turnover in a calendar year. Register and file? Under the line, nothing at all. Over it, register by 31 March of the next year, then file every year. Owe any money? Only if your profit tops AED 375,000 and you have not used Small Business Relief.
Type 4. Foreign companies with a UAE connection
Is this you?
Only sometimes. If your company is registered abroad, you are not in the system automatically. Sell to UAE customers from overseas with nothing on the ground here, and you stay outside it. The law calls you a Non-Resident Person.
There are two doors in.
- Door one: a Permanent Establishment. This is either a place or a person.
A place means somewhere fixed you work from. An office, a branch, a factory, a workshop, or a building or project site that runs past a set length of time.
A person means someone here in the UAE who habitually closes contracts for you, or does the main work of getting them signed.
- Door two: a nexus. Nexus is the law’s word for a link to the UAE strong enough to bring you in. For a foreign company it is triggered by income from UAE property — rent, sublet income, sale proceeds, or anything else you make from using it. You need no office, no staff and no licence for this door to open.
These rules were updated by Cabinet Decision No. 35 of 2025, which covers tax periods starting on or after 1 January 2025 and replaced Cabinet Decision No. 56 of 2023. The newer one widened the definition to take in certain investment structures and digital activity as well.
Are there any exemptions?
Yes, a few. Storing goods in the UAE will not create a Permanent Establishment on its own. Nor will having someone here doing preparatory or supporting work, such as market research, as long as that is genuinely all they do. And if there is a double tax treaty between the UAE and your home country, the treaty’s own definition can override the local one.
So what do you actually pay?
The usual 0% and 9%, but only on the profit that belongs to your UAE presence. What you earn elsewhere in the world is left alone.
There is also a withholding tax on some UAE-sourced income. The rate is 0%, so nothing is actually deducted.
What do you have to do?
Register with the FTA and file, even with no office, no staff and no licence here. This is exactly what catches overseas companies that own a Dubai apartment. The owners assumed the rent was untaxed and that nothing was expected of them.
In the system? Only with a Permanent Establishment or a nexus. With neither, no. Register and file? Yes, as soon as one of the two doors opens. Owe any money? Nothing on the first AED 375,000, then 9%, on your UAE profit only.
Type 5. Very large multinational groups
Is this you?
This is a small number of very big businesses. You are in it if your group’s consolidated global revenue — the whole group worldwide, not just the UAE part — hits at least EUR 750 million, roughly AED 3.15 billion, in two of the last four financial years.
What applies to you?
A Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax, on top of the normal rules rather than instead of them.
It works out your group’s effective tax rate on UAE profits. That means the tax you actually paid, as a share of the profit you actually made. If the answer comes to less than 15%, you pay the difference. It applies to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025.
This is the UAE’s version of the global minimum tax agreed through the OECD. The logic behind it is simple. If the UAE does not collect the top-up, another country in your group’s chain will.
Are there any exemptions?
No, and being this size closes doors rather than opening them. No Small Business Relief, however small your UAE company looks on its own.
If your group is nowhere near AED 3.15 billion, none of this touches you. The ordinary rules are the ones that matter.
In the system? Yes, on top of the normal rules rather than instead of them. Register and file? Yes, with extra reporting on top. Owe any money? Enough to lift your effective rate on UAE profits up to 15%.
All five types on one page
This chart answers who has to pay corporate tax in UAE from top to bottom. Start at the top and follow whichever answer fits you.
What Is Corporate Tax in UAE?
Corporate tax in UAE is a tax on your profit. Not on the money you take in — on what is left once your allowed business costs come out.
It comes from Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, and it applies to financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023. The Federal Tax Authority runs it. Everything you need to do happens on their portal, EmaraTax — registering, filing and paying.
Two words are worth getting straight before you go further. Mix these up and almost everything else goes wrong.
Revenue, also called turnover, is all the money your business brings in before you take out any costs. Taxable income, or profit, is what is left after allowed costs come out. So the AED 375,000 line is about your profit. The AED 3 million and AED 1 million lines are about your revenue. Different measures, and the difference decides what you owe. One more term you will meet. Your tax period is just your financial year. For most UAE companies that runs 1 January to 31 December, and every deadline in this article is counted from the day it ends.
Corporate Tax in UAE Rates: 0%, 9% and 15%
Corporate tax in UAE has three rates: 0%, 9% and 15%. Which one applies to you depends on how big you are, and on where your income comes from.
| Rate | Who gets it | Measured on |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | Every taxable business, on its first slice of profit | Taxable income up to AED 375,000 |
| 9% | Mainland companies, individuals in business, free zone income that does not qualify | Taxable income above AED 375,000 |
| 0% | Qualifying Free Zone Persons, on qualifying income only | Qualifying income, if all conditions are met |
| 15% | Large multinational groups, under the Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax | Effective tax rate on UAE profits, for years starting on or after 1 Jan 2025 |
Who Qualifies for 0% Corporate Tax in UAE?
Plenty of businesses that have to pay corporate tax in UAE never hand over a dirham. Three groups get to 0%, and each one gets there a different way. These are easy to muddle up.
- Everyone, on the first AED 375,000 of profit. Automatic. You do not apply, and nobody can take it away.
- Businesses with revenue of AED 3 million or less. They choose Small Business Relief in their return — the law calls this an election — and the whole bill goes to zero.
- Qualifying Free Zone Persons, on qualifying income. Conditional, and re-tested every year. This is the only one of the three you can lose.
None of the three lets you off registering and filing. Worth repeating, because it is the most expensive thing people get wrong.
Do Freelancers and Individuals Pay Corporate Tax in UAE?
Only above a line. If you freelance, consult, sell online or run a sole establishment, you pay corporate tax in UAE once your business turnover passes AED 1 million in a calendar year.
Under that line there is nothing to do at all. You do not register and you do not file.
Over it, you register with the Federal Tax Authority and file a return every year. You may still owe nothing, mind you. Your first AED 375,000 of profit is taxed at 0%, and Small Business Relief takes the bill to zero while your revenue stays at AED 3 million or less.
Note what that AED 1 million is measuring. It is turnover, not profit — the money that came in, before your costs came out.
The harder question is what counts toward it. That is where people slip.
Ask yourself one thing. Is this a business activity? That means work you do to earn money, usually under a licence or permit. If money simply arrives because you own something, it is not a business activity, and it stays out of the count.
| Counts toward your AED 1 million | Does not count |
|---|---|
| Freelance and consulting fees earned under a permit or licence | Your salary and everything in your employment package |
| Income from a sole establishment or trading licence | Personal investment income — dividends, bank interest, personal share trading that needs no licence |
| Online sales, content income and brand deals run as a business | Rent or gains from property you own in your own name, where no licence is needed |
| Your share of income from a partnership that carries on a business | Gifts, inheritance and other receipts that are not business income |
Two side businesses count as one
The AED 1 million test adds up everything you do, not each licence on its own. Two ventures earning AED 600,000 each put you over the line. If you cross it, you have until 31 March of the following year to register.
Careful: AED 375,000 means two different things
The same number turns up in two different UAE taxes, and they have nothing to do with each other. In VAT, AED 375,000 of taxable supplies over any rolling 12 months is the point at which you must register for VAT. That is a turnover figure. In corporate tax, AED 375,000 is the amount of yearly profit you keep tax-free. Being registered for one tax says nothing about the other.
Do Free Zone Companies Pay Corporate Tax in UAE?
Yes. Every free zone company sits inside corporate tax in UAE — DMCC, JAFZA, DIFC, ADGM, IFZA, RAKEZ and the rest of them. A free zone licence does not put you outside the tax law, and it does not excuse you from registering or filing.
What a free zone gives you is a rate, not an exemption. You may be able to pay 0% where a mainland company would pay 9%. But that 0% is conditional, it only covers part of your income, and you have to earn it again every year.
To get it, you have to be a Qualifying Free Zone Person. That means meeting five conditions, all at once. Do that and you pay 0% on your qualifying income, and 9% on everything else you earn.
Miss any one of the five and the 0% is gone for that year. You are then taxed like a mainland company: nothing on your first AED 375,000 of profit, then 9% on the rest.
The five conditions to be a qualifying free zone person, in plain words
- Real substance in the free zone. People, premises and spending inside the zone that match what your company says it does. A licence and a mailbox will not do. If the work is really happening somewhere else, you fail this one.
- Qualifying income. Your money has to come from the right sources. What those are is set out just below.
- The de minimis test. “De minimis” is Latin for “about small amounts”. You are allowed some income from the wrong sources, as long as it stays under 5% of your total revenue or AED 5 million, whichever of the two is lower.
- Audited accounts. Your financial statements have to be checked and signed off by an approved auditor. There is no small-company let-off here.
- Transfer pricing rules. Any deal you do with a company you are connected to has to be priced as though the other side were a stranger. This is what stops profit being pushed into the zone artificially.
What counts as qualifying income
Broadly, two things qualify. Money you earn from other free zone businesses, and money you earn from a published list of activities.
That list sits in Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025, which replaced the older Ministerial Decision No. 265 of 2023. It covers manufacturing and processing, holding shares and securities, fund management, wealth and investment management, logistics and warehousing, owning and operating ships, aircraft financing and leasing, and trading in qualifying commodities.
Two things usually do not qualify. Selling to a mainland customer is one. Dealing with individuals is the other, apart from a few named exceptions such as ship operation, fund management and aircraft leasing.
So a DMCC company selling software to another free zone company is on safe ground. The same company selling that software to a Deira retailer is not, and that money has to be watched against the de minimis limit.
The part people miss: no zero band on the rest
If you are a Qualifying Free Zone Person, your non-qualifying income is taxed at 9% from the very first dirham.
You do not get the AED 375,000 zero band on it. That band belongs to the ordinary rules, and you stepped off those rules to take the 0%. A free zone company that fails the conditions gets the band. One that passes does not.
What happens if you fail the de minimis test
You lose your status for that year and the next four.
That is five years at 9% on everything you earn, not just the part that went wrong. It is why free zone companies watch their mainland sales so carefully.
Two things you cannot do
You cannot use Small Business Relief, however small your revenue is. And you cannot join a Tax Group with other companies you own.
Both doors are shut on purpose. You do not get to hold the 0% and the small-business shortcut at the same time.
Who Is Exempt From Corporate Tax in UAE?
Two very different things get called “exempt” in corporate tax in UAE, and it helps to keep them apart. Some income simply sits outside the tax. Some organisations are inside the law but released from it. Both are part of the answer to who has to pay corporate tax in UAE.
Income that is outside the tax
- Your salary. The UAE still has no personal income tax.
- Your personal investments — dividends, interest and share gains, where the activity needs no licence.
- Your personal property — rent or gains from real estate you hold in your own name.
- Dividends from UAE companies received by a business, plus qualifying foreign dividends and capital gains under the participation exemption.
- Business turnover under AED 1 million, if you are an individual.
Organisations that are Exempt Persons
| Exempt Person | Examples | How you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Government entities | Federal and emirate departments and authorities | Automatic |
| Government-controlled entities | Entities named in a Cabinet Decision | Automatic, if listed |
| Extractive businesses | Oil and gas extraction, already taxed at emirate level | Notify the Ministry of Finance |
| Non-extractive natural resource businesses | Processing and treatment of natural resources | Notify the Ministry of Finance |
| Qualifying public benefit entities | Approved charities and community organisations | Must be listed in a Cabinet Decision |
| Qualifying investment funds | Regulated funds that meet the set conditions | Apply to the FTA |
| Pension and social security funds | Public funds, and regulated private ones | Apply to the FTA |
| Wholly-owned UAE subsidiaries of the above | Subsidiaries of a government entity or qualifying fund | Apply to the FTA |
Exempt does not mean invisible
Look at the right-hand column again. Most exemptions have to be notified or applied for. Decide you are exempt and skip registration on that basis, and you end up with a penalty you never saw coming.
Who Is Eligible for Small Business Relief?
Small Business Relief lets a small UAE business pay no corporate tax at all, even in a year when it turns a profit. If you run one, this is the most useful rule in corporate tax in UAE — and it has just been extended.
2026 update
The Ministry of Finance has extended Small Business Relief by three years, through Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026. It now covers tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029. The AED 3 million revenue threshold is unchanged.
Choose it in your return and you are treated as having no taxable income for the year. Your tax comes to zero.
You also skip most of the hard work. No working out taxable income. No arguing over which costs you can deduct. No wading through the complicated provisions. If you have no finance team, the time you save matters as much as the money.
| Condition | What it means |
|---|---|
| Revenue limit | AED 3,000,000 or less this tax period, and in each earlier period the rule covers |
| You are UAE resident | Companies and individuals both qualify |
| Not a QFZP | A Qualifying Free Zone Person cannot use Small Business Relief |
| Not in a large group | Not part of a multinational group with global revenue above AED 3.15 billion |
| You have to choose it | It is an election you make in your tax return. Nobody applies it for you |
Zero tax, full paperwork
Small Business Relief takes away the tax. It does not take away your registration, your return or your records. Those are all still due on time.
Who Has to Pay Corporate Tax in UAE? Your Questions Answered
FAQs
Who has to pay corporate tax in UAE?
You pay corporate tax in UAE if you run a company here, mainland or free zone. Foreign companies pay if they have a permanent establishment or a nexus in the UAE. Individuals pay once their business turnover passes AED 1 million in a calendar year. The rate is 0% on profit up to AED 375,000, then 9% above that. Note that being in the system and actually owing money are two different things — most small businesses are in it and pay nothing.
Who is exempt from corporate tax in UAE?
Only a short list of organisations. Government entities and government-controlled entities are exempt automatically. Extractive and natural resource businesses are exempt once they notify the Ministry of Finance. Approved public benefit entities have to be named in a Cabinet Decision. Qualifying investment funds, pension funds and their wholly-owned UAE subsidiaries have to apply to the Federal Tax Authority. If you run an ordinary trading or services company, none of these apply to you. And because exempt status is almost never automatic, never assume you have it.
Is there a minimum income before corporate tax in UAE applies?
Yes, three of them. Your first AED 375,000 of profit is taxed at 0%. If your revenue is AED 3 million or less, you can choose Small Business Relief and pay nothing at all. And if you are an individual, business turnover of AED 1 million or less in a calendar year keeps you outside the tax completely.
Do I pay corporate tax in UAE on my salary?
No. Your salary sits outside corporate tax in UAE, and the UAE has no personal income tax either. Your pay, allowances and end-of-service benefits are not taxed. They also do not count toward the AED 1 million business turnover threshold, so a job alongside freelance work does not push you over it.
Do freelancers pay corporate tax in UAE?
Only above AED 1 million of business turnover in a calendar year. Under that line you do not register and you do not file. Over it, you register with the Federal Tax Authority and file a return every year — though Small Business Relief can still take the tax to zero while your revenue stays at AED 3 million or less.
Do free zone companies pay corporate tax in UAE?
Yes, every free zone company is in the system. A free zone licence on its own does not give you 0%. To get it you have to be a Qualifying Free Zone Person, which means meeting five conditions every year: real substance in the zone, qualifying income, a pass on the de minimis test, audited accounts and transfer pricing compliance. Get there and you pay 0% on qualifying income and 9% on everything else, with no AED 375,000 zero band on that other income.
What is the de minimis rule for free zone companies?
It lets you earn a little income from the wrong sources without losing your 0%. That income has to stay under 5% of your total revenue or AED 5 million, whichever of the two is lower. Cross the limit and you lose Qualifying Free Zone Person status for that year and the next four — five years taxed like a mainland company.
Do I pay corporate tax on rent from a property I own in Dubai?
No, not if you hold it in your own name and the activity needs no licence. Rent you earn from personal property counts as personal investment, so it sits outside the tax and does not count toward your AED 1 million threshold either. It is different if you hold the property through a company, or run a licensed real estate business.
Who is eligible for Small Business Relief?
You qualify if you are a UAE resident, company or individual, with revenue of AED 3 million or less this year and in each earlier year the rule covers. You cannot use it if you are a Qualifying Free Zone Person, or part of a multinational group turning over more than AED 3.15 billion. In 2026 the Ministry of Finance extended the relief through Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026, so it now runs to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029.
Do I need to register for corporate tax in UAE if my tax is zero?
Yes. Registering on the FTA’s EmaraTax portal and filing your annual return are required even in a year when you owe nothing, and that includes years when you use Small Business Relief. Paying and filing are separate duties. Most exemptions also have to be notified or applied for rather than simply assumed.
What is the penalty for late corporate tax registration in UAE?
A fixed AED 10,000, charged once. It does not grow the longer you leave it. You can have it waived or refunded by filing your first return within seven months of your first year end, instead of the usual nine.
When is the corporate tax in UAE return due?
Within nine months of your year end, and your payment is due at the same time. So for a financial year ending 31 December 2025, the deadline is 30 September 2026. If you are an individual who has just crossed the AED 1 million turnover line, you have until 31 March of the following year to register.
Is corporate tax in UAE charged on revenue or profit?
On profit. The 9% applies to your taxable income, which is your revenue minus your allowed business costs. So the AED 375,000 line is a profit test. But the AED 3 million Small Business Relief limit and the AED 1 million line for individuals are revenue tests. Mixing up the two is the most common mistake in this subject.
Which companies pay 15% corporate tax in UAE?
Only very large multinational groups. The Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax applies if your group’s consolidated global revenue is at least EUR 750 million, about AED 3.15 billion, in two of the past four financial years. It tops your effective tax rate on UAE profits up to 15%, for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025. If your group is nowhere near that size, it does not affect you.
The Short Version
So, who has to pay corporate tax in UAE? A lot of people are in the system. Far fewer actually pay.
Your salary is untouched. Your first AED 375,000 of profit is untouched. If your revenue stays under AED 3 million you can take the bill to zero, right through to the end of 2029. Only very large multinational groups face the 15% top-up.
What has really changed is the admin. Registering, filing on time and keeping clean records are part of running a business here now, even in a year when you owe nothing. Get those three right and the tax itself is rarely the hard part.
Note: This article explains the rules in general terms and is current as of September 2026. Your own position depends on your facts. Check the Federal Tax Authority and Ministry of Finance websites, or speak to a registered tax agent, before you act on anything here.
