The UAE compliance calendar, in one place. Corporate tax, VAT, e-invoicing and the annual filings that sit alongside them. Where a deadline is banded by revenue the band is stated rather than the headline date, because the headline date belongs to the largest businesses and is wrong for most readers.
Dates that apply across the board
DateObligationApplies toStatus
30 September 2026Corporate tax return, financial year ending December 2025All registered taxable personsDue
31 December 2026Small Business Relief endsRevenue up to AED 3,000,000Ends
30 October 2026Appoint an accredited e-invoicing service providerRevenue AED 50 million or moreDue
1 January 2027E-invoicing go-liveRevenue AED 50 million or moreLive
31 March 2027Appoint an accredited e-invoicing service providerRevenue under AED 50 millionPlan
1 July 2027E-invoicing go-liveRevenue under AED 50 millionPlan
Corporate tax
- Return and payment: nine months after your tax period ends. 30 September 2026 for a December 2025 year end
- Penalty waiver window: Filing within 7 months of financial year end (by 31 July 2026 for a December 2025 year end) waives the AED 10,000 late-registration penalty
- Natural persons: registration due 31 March of the following year where turnover exceeds AED 1,000,000 revenue in a calendar year
- Small Business Relief: currently expires 31 December 2026
- Deregistration: within three months of ceasing business
VAT
- Returns and payment: by the twenty-eighth day of the month following the tax period. Quarterly for most businesses, monthly for larger ones
- Registration: 30 days from crossing the mandatory threshold
- Deregistration: within twenty days of becoming eligible
- Record retention: 5 years generally; 15 years for real estate records
E-invoicing, by revenue band
| Who you are | Appoint a provider by | Go live |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue AED 50 million or more | 30 October 2026 | 1 January 2027 |
| Revenue under AED 50 million | 31 March 2027 | 1 July 2027 |
| Government entities | 31 March 2027 | 1 October 2027 |
A voluntary pilot is open from Open from 1 July 2026. Intra-group transactions have a transition running through 1 january 2029.
Annual filings that are easy to forget
- Free zone audited financial statements: deadline set by your zone, frequently within 90 days of the financial year end, and tied to licence renewal
- ESR notification and report: where a relevant activity is carried on
- UBO register: updated on any change of ownership, not only at renewal
- Trade licence renewal: per your licensing authority
Penalties changed in April 2026. Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025 took effect 14 April 2026 and replaced compounding late-payment penalties with a flat 14% per annum on overdue tax. Guidance still describing monthly compounding is out of date, so any exposure figure calculated on that basis is wrong.
Want this mapped to your own dates?
Licence type, financial year end and revenue band determine which of these apply and when. Send us those three and we will build the calendar for your entities.
Check my compliance status 058 101 9570
Licence type, financial year end and revenue band determine which of these apply and when. Send us those three and we will build the calendar for your entities.
Check my compliance status 058 101 9570
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.
Last reviewed 30 July 2026 · Figures follow FTA and Ministry of Finance guidance. Verify current rates at tax.gov.ae before acting.