Registered for Corporate Tax but records not ready
Registration is a form. The return requires accounting records on an acceptable basis, adjustments you can defend, and related-party disclosure you may not have anticipated.
CORPORATE TAX & VAT
Corporate Tax and VAT, handled before the deadline — not during it.
UAE Corporate Tax and VAT compliance support for Dubai and UAE businesses: registration, taxable income computation, Small Business Relief analysis, free zone status review, VAT returns and documentation that stands up under FTA review.
From AED 2,500 / month or fixed-fee filing · Fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts
AT A GLANCE
Indicative scope. Final deliverables confirmed after the diagnostic.
CT rate9% above threshold
SBR thresholdAED 3m revenue
VAT returnsReconciled to ledger
Records retained7 years
THE PROBLEM
UAE Corporate Tax changed the economics of poor bookkeeping. Before 2023, disorganised records were an inconvenience. Now they are a quantified liability, because the taxable income you declare has to be traceable to accounting records prepared on an accepted basis, and any adjustment you claim has to be supportable years after you claimed it.
The headline rules are simple enough to fit on a page: 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it; a Small Business Relief election available to businesses under AED 3 million of revenue for qualifying Tax Periods ending on or before 31 December 2029; a 0% rate for Qualifying Free Zone Persons on qualifying income, subject to substance, de minimis and audit conditions. The complexity is never in the rate. It is in the arithmetic that produces the number the rate applies to.
F&B Performance keeps the accounting records in a state where the tax computation is a short exercise rather than an annual archaeology project — and flags the elections and structural questions that need a decision well before the filing window.
IS THIS YOU?
Where UAE businesses actually get caught.
If two or more of these are true, the diagnostic is the cheapest place to start. It is a fixed fee and it ends in a written findings note you own.
Assuming free zone means 0%
Qualifying Free Zone Person status is conditional on qualifying income, adequate substance in the UAE, de minimis limits on non-qualifying revenue, and audited financial statements. It is an outcome you have to earn and evidence annually, not a status the licence confers automatically.
Small Business Relief assumed rather than tested
Relief is available where revenue is below AED 3 million and an election is made for the period. It is not automatic, it interacts with loss carry-forward, and it does not remove the obligation to register and file.
Owner and company money mixed together
Personal expenses in the company, undocumented director's loans and informal transfers between commonly-owned entities are the most common source of disallowed deductions and transfer pricing exposure in UAE SMEs.
Related-party transactions with no documentation
Transactions with connected persons and related parties must be on arm's-length terms, with disclosure requirements above defined thresholds. Charging your own group entity a round number picked in 2019 is a documented position waiting to fail.
VAT returns that do not tie back to the ledger
If the return cannot be reconciled to the accounting records, input tax gets disallowed on documentation grounds and voluntary disclosure becomes a recurring cost.
CORPORATE TAX
What we do, and what requires a registered tax agent.
Registration and period setup
Confirming registration status, tax period alignment with your financial year, and group structure. Where multiple UAE entities are under common ownership, we assess whether a tax group is available and whether it is actually advantageous — grouping is not automatically beneficial, particularly where entities have differing profitability or free zone status.
Taxable income computation
Building the computation from audited or reviewed financial statements: permitted deductions, disallowed expenditure, interest limitation, exempt income, unrealised gains treatment, and loss utilisation. Every adjustment is supported by a schedule that ties to the ledger, because an adjustment you cannot evidence is an adjustment you will eventually reverse and pay for.
Small Business Relief analysis
Testing eligibility against the revenue threshold, modelling whether electing is actually optimal given loss position and expected future profitability, and documenting the decision. Electing in a loss-making year can cost more than it saves.
Free zone status review
Assessing whether income is qualifying, whether substance requirements are genuinely met, whether the de minimis threshold for non-qualifying revenue holds, and what evidence file supports the position. Where the analysis suggests QFZP status is not defensible, we say so early — while there is still time to restructure.
Transfer pricing and related parties
Identifying connected person and related party transactions, assessing arm's-length terms, and preparing the disclosure and documentation appropriate to your size. This includes director and shareholder remuneration, inter-company charges and shared cost allocations.
VAT
Getting the return right, and the records behind it.
Return preparation and reconciliation
Quarterly or monthly returns prepared directly from the ledger and reconciled to it, with a variance explanation where output tax does not track revenue. Reverse charge on imported services, designated zone treatment, and the distinction between zero-rated and exempt supplies are the recurring sources of error in UAE SME returns.
Input tax recovery review
Blocked input tax on entertainment and certain motor vehicles, apportionment where you make both taxable and exempt supplies, and the documentation standard needed for recovery to hold. Most disallowed input tax in the UAE is lost on invoice format and evidence rather than on entitlement.
Voluntary disclosure support
Where a historic error is identified, quantifying it, preparing the disclosure and correcting the underlying process so it does not recur. Finding it yourself is materially better than the FTA finding it.
SCOPE AND BOUNDARIES
Where our work ends and a registered agent's begins.
What we do
Accounting-led tax compliance support: records, computations, schedules, documentation, elections analysis, return preparation and filing coordination within permitted scope.
What requires a registered tax agent
Formal representation before the Federal Tax Authority, and certain filings and dispute matters, require an FTA-registered tax agent. We work alongside registered agents and coordinate the technical file. We will tell you clearly when a matter needs one, rather than operating past the edge of permitted scope.
What requires an audit firm
Statutory audit and audit opinions are performed by an independent UAE-licensed audit firm. We prepare the file and manage the process; we do not audit our own work, and no one should.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Deliverables, listed — so scope is never a debate.
Everything below is included as standard at the scope agreed in your engagement letter. If something falls outside it, we tell you before we do it, not after.
Included as standard
- Corporate Tax registration and tax period setup
- Annual taxable income computation with supporting schedules
- Small Business Relief eligibility analysis and election documentation
- Free zone / QFZP qualifying income assessment
- Tax group structuring assessment
- Related party and connected person disclosure preparation
- Quarterly or monthly VAT return preparation and reconciliation
- Input tax recovery and apportionment review
- Voluntary disclosure preparation where errors are identified
- Seven-year records retention structure
- FTA correspondence support in coordination with a registered tax agent
HOW WE START
Four stages. The first one is small on purpose.
Assess
Review registration status, records quality, structure and open exposures. Written risk note.
Remediate
Fix records, document historical positions, disclose where required.
Comply
Run the filing calendar with deadlines tracked and evidence maintained.
Optimise
Review structure, elections and group position annually before the period closes.
QUESTIONS
Before you engage.
Clear scope is a feature. Where work requires a separately licensed professional — a registered tax agent, a licensed auditor, a lawyer — the engagement says so in writing.
What is the UAE Corporate Tax rate?
0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% on taxable income above that threshold, for standard taxable persons. A different rate applies to large multinational groups within the scope of the OECD global minimum tax rules. Qualifying Free Zone Persons may access 0% on qualifying income where all conditions are satisfied.
Who has to register for UAE Corporate Tax?
Registration applies broadly to juridical persons incorporated in the UAE, including free zone entities, and to natural persons conducting business activity above the relevant threshold. Free zone companies must register even where they expect to pay 0%. Registration deadlines are set by the FTA and administrative penalties apply for late registration.
What is Small Business Relief and do we qualify?
Small Business Relief allows a taxable person with revenue at or below AED 3 million in the relevant and all previous tax periods to elect to be treated as having no taxable income for that period, for qualifying Tax Periods ending on or before 31 December 2029 under the current rules. It is an election, not an automatic exemption; you still register and file. It also interacts with tax losses — electing in a loss year can forfeit losses you would otherwise carry forward. We model it rather than assume it.
Does my free zone company still pay 0%?
Only if it qualifies as a Qualifying Free Zone Person. That requires qualifying income, adequate substance in the UAE, compliance with de minimis limits on non-qualifying revenue, transfer pricing compliance, and audited financial statements. Holding a free zone licence is a precondition, not the qualification itself. We assess the position and document the evidence file annually.
How long do we need to keep records?
Corporate Tax records and supporting documentation must be retained for seven years following the end of the relevant tax period, with parallel obligations under VAT. Records must be sufficient to substantiate the figures filed, which in practice means schedules that tie back to the ledger, not just a folder of invoices.
Are you a registered tax agent?
We provide accounting-led tax compliance support: records, computations, documentation, elections analysis and return preparation. Formal representation before the Federal Tax Authority requires an FTA-registered tax agent, and we work alongside registered agents where a matter requires it. We tell you which category your matter falls into at the outset.
We are late registering — what now?
Register immediately and quantify the exposure. Administrative penalties for late registration are fixed and known; the larger risk is usually an unquantified taxable income position sitting behind poor records. We prioritise getting the computation defensible, then deal with the penalty position.
Does Corporate Tax apply to free zone holding companies and personal investment income?
Different rules apply to holding structures, participation exemption on qualifying shareholdings, and income earned by natural persons in a personal capacity such as certain real estate and personal investment income. These are fact-specific. We assess your actual structure rather than applying a general answer.
NEXT STEP
Start with the actual problem, not a proposal.
Tell us the current setup — entities, systems, transaction volume, what is going wrong. We aim to reply within one business day with a scoped next step and an indicative fee range.