Every UAE company registers for corporate tax. That includes free zone companies, companies claiming the 0% qualifying rate, and companies that have not yet earned a dirham. VAT is a separate question with its own trigger: registration becomes mandatory once taxable supplies pass AED 375,000. Our fee for handling a registration is AED 600.
The Federal Tax Authority charges nothing to register and its EmaraTax portal is open to you directly, so it is worth saying plainly what you are paying us for: the form filed correctly, on the right deadline, with licence data that matches. Below are both sets of rules, the deadlines, the penalty for missing one, and the waiver that most firms writing about this leave out.
Who has to register for corporate tax
- Every company incorporated in the UAE, mainland or free zone. A free zone company taxed at 0% on qualifying income still registers: the rate is about how profit is taxed, not about whether you are on the register. What actually qualifies is unpicked in free zone 0% corporate tax.
- Individuals running a business, once business turnover passes AED 1,000,000 in a calendar year. Below that, a sole trader or freelancer has no corporate tax registration to make.
- Foreign companies effectively managed from the UAE, or with a permanent establishment here.
The deadline that applies to you
| Your situation | Registration deadline |
|---|---|
| Company incorporated in the UAE on or after 1 March 2024 | Three months from the date of incorporation, under FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024 |
| Company incorporated before 1 March 2024 | A schedule keyed to the month on the licence, set out in the same decision. Every one of those dates has now passed, so a company in this group that has not registered is already late |
| Foreign company managed from the UAE | Three months from the end of its financial year |
| Resident individual over the turnover threshold | 31 March of the following calendar year |
Registering is not the same as filing. The first corporate tax return falls due separately, and the 2026 filing deadline guide covers what is owed and when.
The penalty for registering late, and the way out of it
Late registration carries a flat AED 10,000. It is row 14 of the penalties schedule: "Failure of the Taxable Person to submit a Tax Registration application within the timeframe specified by the Authority". Flat, not daily, and it does not care why. Source: Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 and its amendments, read September 2026.
The part worth knowing: the FTA runs a waiver. File the first corporate tax return within seven months of the end of the first tax period, rather than the usual nine, and the late registration penalty is waived. Where it has already been paid, it is credited back. Exempt persons get the same treatment by filing their first declaration in that window.
VAT is a different question
VAT registration becomes mandatory when taxable supplies and imports exceed AED 375,000 over the previous twelve months, or when you expect to exceed it within the next thirty days. Once you are liable, the application is due within thirty days, and missing that window costs AED 10,000.
Voluntary registration opens at AED 187,500, and counts taxable expenses as well as supplies, which is how a pre-revenue company with real costs can register. Whether it should is a different matter.
Volunteering early makes sense when you carry recoverable input VAT worth having, or when the buyers you want will not deal with a supplier who cannot issue a tax invoice. It is a poor idea when neither is true: registration brings returns to file on time, penalties attached to filing them late, and a twelve-month lock before a voluntary registrant can deregister.
What the authority asks for
- Trade licence, and the incorporation documents or memorandum of association
- Passport and Emirates ID copies for owners above 25% and for the authorised signatories
- Proof that the signatory is authorised to act for the company
- For VAT: a declaration of taxable supplies, with invoices or contracts behind the figures, and customs registration details if you import
The application has to agree with the licence it is made against: the same owners, the same activities, the same address. Where a company has amended its licence and not its records, that is the mismatch that sends an application back. If yours needs tidying first, that is a licence amendment rather than a tax problem.
How it runs on EmaraTax
- The company's EmaraTax account is created, or its existing login is used.
- The taxable person is added and the registration form completed, corporate tax or VAT.
- Documents are uploaded and the application submitted.
- The FTA reviews it. Its service pages give twenty business days, and questions from the reviewer restart the clock rather than pause it.
- The registration is approved and the tax registration number appears on the dashboard.
A tax agent is optional. The Tax Procedures Law says a person may appoint one "without prejudice to that Person's responsibility", and only people and firms listed in the FTA's register may practise as agents at all. We prepare and submit registrations; where something genuinely needs a registered agent, we will tell you rather than quietly do it.
Closing a company starts another clock
Deregistration has deadlines of its own, and they catch people mid-closure. Corporate tax deregistration is due within three months of the company ceasing; VAT deregistration within 30 business days of supplies stopping or falling below the voluntary threshold. Late on either is AED 1,000 a month, up to AED 10,000. If you are winding a company down, what licence cancellation costs sets out the rest of the sequence.
When it is worth paying someone
Registration is free and the portal is open to you, so here is the honest division. Do it yourself when the company is new, clean and singular: one licence, owners whose documents match it, no deadline pressure.
Hand it over when the licence has been amended and the records have not, when several entities have to be registered together, when a deadline has already passed and the waiver route matters, or when you know from experience that the form will sit in a tab for three months. The fee is small against the penalty for the last one.
Tax registration FAQs
Yes. The 0% rate for a qualifying free zone person governs how its income is taxed, not whether it appears on the register. The free zone company registers like any other, and then has to hold the conditions for the 0% rate, which is where the detail sits in our guide to qualifying income.
The Federal Tax Authority charges nothing for registration itself. Our fee for handling it is AED 600, and it is on the price sheet with everything else we charge.
The authority's service pages give twenty business days for a complete application. In practice the variable is whether a reviewer comes back with questions, which is usually about documents that do not match the licence.
Not negotiable, but potentially waived. The penalty is a flat AED 10,000, and the FTA's waiver removes it where the first tax return is filed within seven months of the end of the first tax period. If it has already been paid, it is credited back. That makes the filing date the thing to organise around rather than the penalty notice.
Only for a reason. Recoverable input VAT on real costs is a reason. Customers who require a tax registration number from suppliers are a reason. Wanting to look established is not, because registration brings filing obligations, penalties for late returns, and a twelve-month wait before a voluntary registrant can come off the register.
No. Appointing one is optional and does not move the responsibility off the taxpayer. It is worth knowing that the title is regulated: only those listed in the FTA's register may practise as tax agents, so treat the phrase "FTA approved" on a consultancy website as something to check rather than assume.
The regime itself, in more depth
Registration is the gate. What happens after it is covered properly elsewhere on this site: the corporate tax filing deadline, Small Business Relief to 2029 for companies under the revenue ceiling, free zone 0% qualifying income, and the e-invoicing timeline that starts to bite next year. If the company does not exist yet, the tax registration is part of setup: see mainland setup or the free zones compared.