UAE corporate tax
Who does this work. This is a regulated activity in the UAE and is carried out by a licensed partner firm there, who quote it directly. We coordinate the engagement and handle everything on the Indian side.
The UAE introduced federal corporate tax for financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2023. The headline is straightforward: 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it. Almost everything else about it is not, and the detail is where the cost sits.
Registration is separate from paying anything. Every taxable person registers, including companies that will pay nothing because they are below the threshold or qualify as a free zone person. Penalties for late registration apply regardless of the tax due, which means a dormant company can be fined for a filing it never owed money on.
Two reliefs matter to most owner-managed businesses. Small business relief lets a company below a revenue threshold elect to be treated as having no taxable income for a period, which removes the computation but not the filing. Free zone qualifying income can be taxed at 0%, but only where substance and income-type conditions are met and tested each year. Both are elections with consequences, not defaults.
Talk to us
Corporate Tax — and what it means for your Indian position
Tell us what you are setting up or filing. We come back with the UAE quote from our partner firm and the Indian side from us, so you see the whole cost at once.
Or call +91 98265 84555Who this is for
Every UAE company and any natural person carrying on business above the relevant threshold — mainland, free zone and, in defined cases, foreign entities with a UAE presence.
Scope
What the engagement covers
- Registration with the Federal Tax Authority and tax period determination
- Assessment of small business relief against your revenue and its trade-offs
- Free zone qualifying income and substance review, where the entity is in a zone
- Taxable income computation from IFRS financial statements, with adjustments identified
- Related-party and connected-person disclosure preparation
- Annual corporate tax return preparation and filing
- Position paper on anything the FTA is likely to question, kept on file before it asks
From you
Documents needed
- Trade licence, MOA and shareholder register
- Financial statements for the tax period, prepared under IFRS
- Trial balance and general ledger
- Details of transactions with related parties and connected persons
- Group structure chart where the entity sits under or over another company
- Prior period tax filings, where the entity has already registered
Worth knowing first
Where this goes wrong
Late registration is penalised on its own
The penalty attaches to missing the registration deadline, not to unpaid tax. A company with no profit at all still pays it if it registered late — which is the most avoidable cost in the whole regime.
Small business relief removes the tax, not the return
Electing into the relief means no taxable income for the period. It does not mean no filing, and it does not mean books can be skipped. The election is also period-by-period, so it has to be reconsidered each year.
Free zone status is tested, not granted
Qualifying free zone person status depends on the type of income, adequate substance in the zone, and transfer pricing compliance. It is assessed for each period, and losing it can affect more than the year in question.
Related-party pricing has to work in two countries at once
Where a UAE entity transacts with an Indian group company, the price has to satisfy the UAE rules and Indian transfer pricing simultaneously. A margin set to suit one side often fails on the other, and that is a question best answered before the invoices are raised.
Before you act on this
UAE corporate tax, free zone qualifying income and substance rules are still being clarified, and thresholds change. This explains the position in general terms and is not advice on your facts. Confirm the current rule before you act on anything here.
Handled by us, in India
The Indian side of this
A UAE structure almost always leaves something to do in India. These are ours, with fees published.
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Priced before we start
Every service on this site carries its fee. You get a written scope and a number before any work begins, and the invoice matches it.
Two people on every filing
Nothing goes to a department on one pair of eyes. A second professional reviews the return before it is submitted.
A person, not a ticket
You get a named associate who knows your file, reachable on WhatsApp, not a queue and a different voice every call.
We watch the calendar
Once you are on our books we track your due dates and reach out before the deadline, not after the late fee.