About AQ Consultancy

What we do differently

Most accounting firms are structured around services. A client asks for a VAT return, receives a VAT return, and hears nothing until the next one. The gaps in that model are where penalties live — the corporate tax registration nobody mentioned, the e-invoicing band nobody checked, the Small Business Relief election nobody made.

We are structured around a calendar instead. Every client has a compliance timeline that we maintain, and the trigger for contact is a date approaching rather than a client asking. In a tax regime this young — three frameworks in eight years, and the deadlines in two of them have already moved — that is not a service enhancement. It is the difference between a compliant business and an expensive one.

How we think about accuracy

Everything numeric on this website — every rate, threshold, deadline and penalty — comes from a single maintained reference and carries a review date. When a figure changes, it changes everywhere at once.

That sounds like housekeeping. It is actually why we can say things other firms cannot. When the e-invoicing appointment deadline moved in May 2026, and when Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025 replaced compounding late-payment penalties with a flat 14% per annum on overdue tax on 14 April 2026, a great deal of published UAE tax guidance silently became wrong. Some of it still is. Content that is not maintained does not announce that it has expired.

We also state what we do not know. Where a position is genuinely unsettled — and in a regime this new, several are — we say so and set out what the options cost, rather than projecting a confidence the guidance does not support. A firm that is never uncertain is not reading closely enough.

How we publish

Every page on this site that carries a rate, a threshold or a deadline shows when it was last reviewed and links to the primary source. That is not decoration. In a regime where the e-invoicing appointment date has already moved once and the late-payment penalty structure was replaced in April 2026, undated guidance is guidance you cannot rely on.

The rules we hold ourselves to:

• Every figure traceable. If we state a rate or a deadline, it comes from the Federal Tax Authority or the Ministry of Finance, and it is dated.
• Banded obligations stated as banded. Where a deadline depends on revenue, we say whose deadline it is rather than quoting the headline date at everyone.
• No promised outcomes. We describe the test and how it is applied. We do not promise a refund, a waiver or a rate, because nobody can.
• No invented credibility. No client counts we have not verified, no testimonials we did not receive, no awards we did not win. If a number is not on this site, it is because we would not be able to substantiate it.
• Uncertainty stated as uncertainty. Where guidance is genuinely unsettled we say so and set out what the options cost.

The regimes we have worked through

Experience in UAE tax is unusual in that it can be dated precisely, because the regime is young enough that every practitioner can point to which transitions they were present for:

• VAT, from January 2018 — registrations, the first return cycles, and the classification errors that surfaced in year two when businesses discovered what exempt actually meant for their input tax.
• Economic Substance Regulations, from 2019 — determining relevant activities and building the substance evidence that supports them.
• Corporate tax, from June 2023 — registration waves, the first returns, Small Business Relief elections, and free zone qualifying income analysis.
• The penalty regime change, April 2026 — recalculating exposures for businesses that had been quoted figures under the old compounding model.
• E-invoicing, now — band assessment, system gap analysis and data preparation ahead of the 2027 go-live dates that apply to most of our clients.

Each of those arrived with a compliance deadline attached and incomplete guidance at the start. That is the normal condition of this market, not an exception, and building a practice that assumes it is the reason we work to a calendar.

What we will not do

• Promise a tax outcome. We can describe the test, tell you how it is usually applied, and give you an honest assessment of where you sit. Nobody can promise you a refund, a waiver or a rate.
• Quote a price before seeing the work. Fees depend on transaction volume, entity count and the state of the records. A headline number that changes once we open the ledger is worse than no number.
• Take on work we should not. If your situation needs a specialist we are not, we will say so.
• Let a deadline pass quietly. If we cannot reach you before a date, you will know we tried.

Working with us remotely

Most recurring compliance does not need anybody in a room. Records move through shared access to your accounting system or a secure folder, queries are handled as they arise rather than saved up, and the monthly pack arrives whether or not there is anything to discuss.

Where in-person matters, it genuinely matters: the first scoping conversation, a stock count, an audit walkthrough, a difficult year end, and any meeting where a decision with a number attached is going to be made. We are in Business Bay and we go to clients across Dubai and Abu Dhabi for those. We are not going to invoice you for a monthly meeting that could have been an email, and we are not going to handle a complex year end entirely over email either.

What we are for, and what we are not

We are a good fit for an owner-managed business that has grown past the point where bookkeeping alone is enough — where there is a real tax position to manage, more than one filing obligation to track, and a need for somebody to be watching the calendar rather than waiting to be asked.

We are a poor fit for two situations, and it is fairer to say so here than after a consultation. The first is a business looking purely for the cheapest possible bookkeeping with no advisory element; that work exists and we are not the cheapest place to get it. The second is a business looking for an adviser who will confirm a position it has already decided on. If the analysis does not support it, we will say so, and that is the whole value of asking.

If we are not the right firm for what you need, we will tell you in the first conversation rather than the third invoice.

Who we work with

Owner-managed businesses, typically between AED 1 million and AED 50 million of revenue, across both emirates and both mainland and free zone licences. The sectors we see most are real estate and property management, construction and contracting, trading and distribution, e-commerce, professional services, healthcare, logistics, and food and beverage.

Three situations bring people to us most often. The first is a business that has grown past the point where a bookkeeper is enough and needs the tax position handled properly. The second is a business that has just discovered an obligation it did not know about — usually corporate tax registration, sometimes a VAT threshold crossed months ago. The third is a business that is compliant but has lost confidence that its current adviser is watching the calendar.

How an engagement works

1. Compliance status check. Licence type, financial year end, revenue band, existing registrations. We tell you what applies and whether anything is late. No charge, and quite often the answer is that you are fine.
2. Scope and fee in writing, fixed wherever the work is predictable.
3. Catch-up work where there is a backlog, completed before the recurring cycle starts, so we are not building on records we cannot stand behind.
4. The recurring cycle, run against a calendar you can see, with contact before each date rather than after it.

The obligations we track for clients

Where to find us

Business Bay, Dubai
Telephone: 058 101 9570
WhatsApp: +971 58 101 9570

We work with clients across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, on site where that is useful and remotely where it is not. Most recurring compliance does not require anybody to travel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last reviewed 27 July 2026. Rates, thresholds and deadlines change — the e-invoicing provider deadline has already moved once. Confirm current requirements with the Federal Tax Authority before acting, or ask us to check your position.