What is the UAE corporate tax rate?
Corporate Tax is charged at 9% on taxable income above a lower band that is taxed at nil. Taxable income is not the same as accounting profit: it is the profit in your financial statements after the adjustments the law requires.
Who can elect Small Business Relief?
A resident business whose revenue is no more than AED 3,000,000 in the tax period, and in each earlier one, may elect Small Business Relief and be treated as having no taxable income. The relief is available for a limited run of tax periods, and the election is made through the tax return, so a return is still filed.
How do you get from accounting profit to taxable income?
The working paper follows the same order every year, and each step should trace back to the ledger.
- Start from the accounting profit in the general ledger
- Add back expenses the law does not allow
- Take off deductions and income that is not taxable
- Replace accounting depreciation with tax depreciation where they differ
- Apply losses brought forward and any Small Business Relief election
- Arrive at taxable income and tax payable, then review and sign off
Who files the corporate tax return?
The return is filed on EmaraTax by the business or its tax adviser. Clean records make that quicker: an immutable ledger, locked periods and VAT records that agree with the accounts give the adviser figures they can rely on.
UAE compliance figures at a glance
| Rule | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate Tax on taxable income above AED 375,000 (0% up to AED 375,000), for financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023 | 9% | Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on the Taxation of Corporations and Businesses; Cabinet Decision No. 116 of 2022 |
| Small Business Relief, under which resident persons whose revenue is AED 3 million or less in the tax period (and each earlier one) may elect to be treated as having no taxable income, for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026 | AED 3,000,000 | Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 on Small Business Relief |
Last reviewed 14 Nov 2026. A summary, not tax or legal advice. Confirm your obligations with an adviser.
How Civova handles this
Civova keeps Corporate Tax working papers built from its double-entry ledger: accounting profit, add-backs and deductions, tax depreciation, losses brought forward, the Small Business Relief election, taxable income and tax payable, finalised and signed off. Posted entries cannot be edited, only reversed, and periods can be locked, so the working paper rests on figures that will not shift.
The return itself is filed by you or your adviser on EmaraTax; Civova does not file it. This page is general information, not tax advice.