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Payment and refunds

Applies
FY2024 onwards
Reviewed
Rule
UAE-CT-PAY-2024.1
By

When is UAE Corporate Tax payable?

Within 9 months of the end of the tax period. A refund can be claimed where withholding tax credits or payments exceed the tax due.

Per Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, Articles 48 and 49, Corporate Tax Payment, and Corporate Tax Refund

A Taxable Person must settle the Corporate Tax Payable within the published number of months from the end of the relevant Tax Period, or by such other date as the Authority determines. A Taxable Person may apply to the Authority for a Corporate Tax refund where its available Withholding Tax Credit exceeds its Corporate Tax Payable, or where the Authority is otherwise satisfied that it has paid Corporate Tax in excess of the Corporate Tax Payable, and the Authority notifies its decision on the application in accordance with the Tax Procedures Law.

The money side of the return. The settlement deadline is its own provision, not the filing deadline; a refund is a right to apply, not an entitlement to the amount.

Paying, and asking for money back

48 — settlement

Within the published number of months from the end of the relevant Tax Period, or by such other date as determined by the Authority.

It is not the filing deadline

Article 48 and Article 53(1) both run from the end of the Tax Period and are both published — but they are separate provisions, held as separate rate-table rows, because a change to one is not a change to the other. A person who files on time and pays late has not complied.

49(1) — the two refund grounds, which are not equivalent

  • (a) The Withholding Tax Credit available exceeds the Corporate Tax Payable — arithmetic, and Article 46(3) provides that such an excess shall be refunded
  • (b) The Authority is otherwise satisfied that Corporate Tax has been paid in excess of the Corporate Tax Payable — which no computation can establish

A refund is applied for, not received

Article 49(2) requires the Authority to notify its decision on the application in accordance with the Tax Procedures Law. The article gives a right to apply; it does not create an entitlement to the money.

The asymmetry between the two credits

An excess Withholding Tax Credit is refundable under Article 46(3) and 49(1)(a). An excess Foreign Tax Credit is not: Article 47(3) does not allow it to be carried forward or back at all, and Article 33(8) denies a deduction for the same tax.

Order of testing

  1. 1

    Inputs requiring your determination

    Any input a person must decide and has not decided stops the computation. An undecided input is never read as a no.

  2. 2

    Withholding Tax Credit exceeding the Corporate Tax Payable

    Article 49(1)(a), tested first because it is arithmetic and Article 46(3) provides for the refund. The excess an application would concern is computed.

  3. 3

    Corporate Tax paid in excess of the Corporate Tax Payable

    Article 49(1)(b). The ground is the Authority being otherwise satisfied, which this computation does not establish — so the figure is the excess on the figures supplied and the decision is the Authority's.

  4. 4

    Settlement deadline from the end of the Tax Period

    The published number of months added to the period end, clamped to the end of the target month. Any date the Authority has determined displaces it.

Examples

Illustrative scenarios — ours, not the authority’s — each computed live by this rule. Change any fact and the outcome is the rule’s, not a hand-written answer.

Tax payable on a calendar-year period

A company with Corporate Tax Payable of AED 416,250 for a period ending 31 December 2026, nothing paid yet.

Computed

Corporate Tax of AED 416,250 is to be settled by 2027-09-30 as computed: 9 months from the end of the Tax Period on 2026-12-31, per Article 48, or by such other date as the Authority determines. This is the settlement deadline under Article 48, which is a separate provision from the filing deadline in Article 53(1). Both run from the end of the Tax Period and both are published, but a change to one is not a change to the other. Based on the figures you supplied.

Workings

Corporate Tax Payableas supplied
AED 416,250
Tax Period endsas supplied
2026-12-31
Months allowed to settleArticle 48 — published value for FY2026
9
Settle byArticle 48 — the computed date, which the Authority may displace
2027-09-30
Corporate Tax to settleArticle 48
AED 416,250

Decided by the settlement deadline from the end of the tax period

Part paid on account

The same liability where AED 300,000 has already been paid.

Computed

Corporate Tax of AED 116,250 is to be settled by 2027-09-30 as computed: 9 months from the end of the Tax Period on 2026-12-31, per Article 48, or by such other date as the Authority determines. This is the settlement deadline under Article 48, which is a separate provision from the filing deadline in Article 53(1). Both run from the end of the Tax Period and both are published, but a change to one is not a change to the other. Based on the figures you supplied.

Workings

Corporate Tax Payableas supplied
AED 416,250
Corporate Tax already paidas supplied
(AED 300,000)
Tax Period endsas supplied
2026-12-31
Months allowed to settleArticle 48 — published value for FY2026
9
Settle byArticle 48 — the computed date, which the Authority may displace
2027-09-30
Corporate Tax to settleArticle 48
AED 116,250

Decided by the settlement deadline from the end of the tax period

A Withholding Tax Credit larger than the liability

A company with Corporate Tax Payable of AED 120,000 and a Withholding Tax Credit of AED 200,000 for the period.

Computed

A refund of AED 80,000 may be applied for as computed: the Withholding Tax Credit of AED 200,000 exceeds the Corporate Tax Payable of AED 120,000, which is the ground in Article 49(1)(a), and Article 46(3) provides that such an excess shall be refunded in accordance with Article 49. A refund is applied for rather than received: Article 49(2) requires the Authority to notify its decision on the application, and that decision is the Authority's. Note that an excess Foreign Tax Credit is treated differently — Article 47(3) does not allow it to be carried forward or back at all. Based on the figures you supplied.

Workings

Corporate Tax Payableas supplied
AED 120,000
Withholding Tax Credit availableArticle 49(1)(a) — as supplied
AED 200,000
Excess a refund application would concernArticle 49(1)(a) with Article 46(3) — the Authority decides the application
AED 80,000
Tax Period endsas supplied
2026-12-31
Months allowed to settleArticle 48 — published value for FY2026
9
Settle byArticle 48 — the computed date, which the Authority may displace
2027-09-30

Decided by the withholding tax credit exceeding the corporate tax payable

Overpaid on account

A company that paid AED 500,000 against a liability that turned out to be AED 416,250.

Computed

A refund of AED 83,750 may be applied for as computed: Corporate Tax of AED 500,000 has been paid against a Corporate Tax Payable of AED 416,250. Article 49(1)(b) makes the ground the Authority being otherwise satisfied that Corporate Tax was paid in excess, which is not something this computation establishes — the figure above is the excess on the figures you supplied, and Article 49(2) requires the Authority to notify its decision on any application.

Workings

Corporate Tax Payableas supplied
AED 416,250
Corporate Tax already paidas supplied
AED 500,000
Excess a refund application would concernArticle 49(1)(b) — on the Authority being otherwise satisfied
AED 83,750
Tax Period endsas supplied
2026-12-31
Months allowed to settleArticle 48 — published value for FY2026
9
Settle byArticle 48 — the computed date, which the Authority may displace
2027-09-30

Decided by the corporate tax paid in excess of the corporate tax payable

A period ending 31 May, where the month-end matters

A liability of AED 90,000 for a Tax Period ending 31 May 2026.

Computed

Corporate Tax of AED 90,000 is to be settled by 2027-02-28 as computed: 9 months from the end of the Tax Period on 2026-05-31, per Article 48, or by such other date as the Authority determines. This is the settlement deadline under Article 48, which is a separate provision from the filing deadline in Article 53(1). Both run from the end of the Tax Period and both are published, but a change to one is not a change to the other. Based on the figures you supplied.

Workings

Corporate Tax Payableas supplied
AED 90,000
Tax Period endsas supplied
2026-05-31
Months allowed to settleArticle 48 — published value for FY2026
9
Settle byArticle 48 — the computed date, which the Authority may displace
2027-02-28
Corporate Tax to settleArticle 48
AED 90,000

Decided by the settlement deadline from the end of the tax period

Try it

Supply the facts and this rule computes the outcome in your browser, live. Leave a determination undecided and it blocks the result — it is never read as a no.

Not computed yet

2 inputs still need your determination:

  • On what date does the Tax Period end? The settlement deadline runs from it.
  • What is the Corporate Tax Payable for the period, after the Article 44 settlement order has been applied?

Computed in your browser from the figures you supply. Nothing is sent anywhere, and the result is a computation against a rule — reference, not tax advice.

Thresholds

uae.corporate_tax_payment_months
count 9 · reviewed 2026-09-28 · source

Threshold values are published separately from the rule and carried with a citation. Where none has been published for the period being computed, the rule reports that rather than applying a default.

Sources

Share this rule

Reference, not tax advice.

Pankaj Agarwal — Tax Technology Leader