UAE Corporate Tax

The rates

Taxable income	Rate
Up to AED 375,000	0%
Above AED 375,000	9%
Qualifying income of a Qualifying Free Zone Person	0% (conditions apply)
Large multinational groups — DMTT	15% minimum effective rate, for groups with consolidated global revenue of EUR 750m or more, from 1 January 2025

Registration is not optional — and lateness is expensive

Registration applies broadly, including where the tax payable will be zero. Two points catch people out:

Natural persons conducting business in the UAE must register once annual business turnover exceeds AED 1 million. This captures many freelancers, consultants and sole establishments who assumed Corporate Tax was a "company thing".
The administrative penalty for late Corporate Tax registration is AED 10,000.

Already late? The FTA has previously operated a penalty-waiver initiative tied to filing the first return within a set window of the first tax period ending. Whether that helps you depends on your specific tax-period dates, so it is worth having your position assessed rather than simply paying.

Free zone companies: the QFZP conditions

Free-zone status does not equal 0%. To be a Qualifying Free Zone Person the company must maintain adequate substance in the UAE, earn qualifying income, comply with transfer pricing, and keep non-qualifying revenue within the de minimis threshold — the lower of 5% of total revenue or AED 5 million.

Fail, and the company is taxed at 9% for that period and disqualified for the following four tax periods. That is why we recommend a periodic QFZP health check for every free-zone business — see free zone setup.

Small Business Relief — closing soon

Resident businesses with revenue up to AED 3 million can elect to be treated as having no taxable income — but only for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026. If that applies to you, this is the last window. Full details here.

How we support you

Registration, assessment of whether you must register and by when, Small Business Relief eligibility, QFZP health checks for free-zone companies, bookkeeping that produces FTA-ready records, and preparation of the figures and documentation your return requires.

Scope note: representing a taxpayer before the Federal Tax Authority in the UAE is a regulated role reserved for FTA-registered Tax Agents. We are explicit with every client about which parts of the work we handle directly and where a registered Tax Agent or audit firm is engaged, rather than blurring the line.

Frequently asked questions

Registration applies broadly to UAE businesses, including free-zone companies and, in most cases, businesses expecting to pay no tax. Natural persons conducting business must register once annual business turnover exceeds AED 1 million.

AED 10,000. The FTA has previously run a waiver initiative linked to filing the first return within a set period, so late registrants should have their specific position assessed rather than assuming the penalty is unavoidable.

Only on qualifying income, and only while they satisfy the Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions including adequate substance, transfer pricing compliance and the de minimis limit on non-qualifying revenue. Breaching those conditions triggers 9% for that period plus disqualification for the following four tax periods.

The Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax, which applies a 15% minimum effective rate to large multinational groups with consolidated global revenue of EUR 750 million or more, effective from 1 January 2025. It does not affect ordinary UAE SMEs.