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Tax returns and deadlines

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

When is the UAE Corporate Tax return due?

Within 9 months of the end of the tax period, which is normally the financial year. A tax group files one return through its parent.

Per Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, Article 53, Tax Returns

A Taxable Person must file a Tax Return with the Authority, in the form and manner the Authority prescribes, no later than the published number of months from the end of the relevant Tax Period, or by such other date as the Authority directs. The Tax Period is the Financial Year or part of it, and the Financial Year is the Gregorian calendar year or the twelve-month period for which the Taxable Person prepares financial statements. The Parent Company files the Tax Return on behalf of a Tax Group.

Where the whole computation lands. The nine items Article 53(2) requires include the Taxable Income, the loss relief claimed, the loss transferred, the credits and the Corporate Tax Payable — each the output of another rule in this ledger.

The deadline, the period, and what the return must contain

53(1) — the deadline

The published number of months from the end of the relevant Tax Period, or by such other date as directed by the Authority. The published figure is a default the Authority can displace, not a fixed date.

53(2) — the minimum content

  • (a) The Tax Period to which the return relates
  • (b) The name, address and Tax Registration Number of the Taxable Person
  • (c) The date of submission
  • (d) The accounting basis used in the financial statements
  • (e) The Taxable Income for the Tax Period
  • (f) The amount of Tax Loss relief claimed under Article 37(1)
  • (g) The amount of Tax Loss transferred under Article 38
  • (h) The available tax credits claimed under Articles 46 and 47
  • (i) The Corporate Tax Payable for the Tax Period

57 — the Tax Period, which is why the deadline is not one date

  • The Tax Period is the Financial Year or part of it, for which a Tax Return is required
  • The Financial Year is the Gregorian calendar year, or the twelve-month period for which the Taxable Person prepares financial statements

58 — and the period itself can move

A Taxable Person can apply to the Authority to change the start and end date of its Tax Period, or use a different Tax Period, subject to conditions the Authority sets.

53(3) to (7) — the rest of the article

  • (3) A Taxable Person must provide any information, documents or records the Authority reasonably requires
  • (4) The Minister may prescribe a different form and manner of filing where disclosure may impede national security or be contrary to the public interest
  • (5) The Authority may request a declaration from certain Exempt Persons
  • (6) The Authority may request the authorised partner in an Unincorporated Partnership to file a declaration on behalf of all the partners
  • (7) The Parent Company must file a Tax Return on behalf of the Tax Group

Article 54 — financial statements, and when they must be audited

  • The Authority may request the financial statements used to determine Taxable Income (Article 54(1))
  • Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 (Tax Periods from 1 January 2025; MD 82 of 2023 before): audited statements are required of a Taxable Person with Revenue over AED 50,000,000 in the period — for a Non-Resident, counting only Revenue of its Permanent Establishments and nexuses — and of every Qualifying Free Zone Person
  • A Tax Group prepares audited special purpose financial statements, in the form FTA Decision No. 7 of 2025 specifies

Order of testing

  1. 1

    Inputs requiring your determination

    Any input a person must decide and has not decided stops the computation. The Tax Period end is asked for because Article 57 gives two possible Financial Years and no date this rule could assume.

  2. 2

    A Tax Group files through its Parent Company

    Article 53(7). A member that is not the Parent Company files no return of its own — a subsidiary that files one has done the wrong thing, not an extra thing. The group's deadline is still reported.

  3. 3

    Filing 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 directed displaces it, and Article 58 can move the period itself.

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.

A calendar-year company

A standalone company whose Tax Period ends on 31 December 2026.

Computed

The Tax Return is due no later than 2027-09-30 as computed: 9 months from the end of the Tax Period on 2026-12-31, per Article 53(1), in the form and manner the Authority prescribes. Article 53(1) also allows the Authority to direct another date, and Article 58 lets a Taxable Person apply to change the start and end of its Tax Period, so neither the period nor the deadline is fixed. Based on the date you supplied.

Workings

Tax Period endsas supplied, per Article 57
2026-12-31
Months allowed to fileArticle 53(1) — published value for FY2026
9
Return due no later thanArticle 53(1) — the computed date, which the Authority may displace
2027-09-30

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

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

A company with a 31 May year end, for which adding the published months lands in a shorter month.

Computed

The Tax Return is due no later than 2027-02-28 as computed: 9 months from the end of the Tax Period on 2026-05-31, per Article 53(1), in the form and manner the Authority prescribes. Article 53(1) also allows the Authority to direct another date, and Article 58 lets a Taxable Person apply to change the start and end of its Tax Period, so neither the period nor the deadline is fixed. Based on the date you supplied.

Workings

Tax Period endsas supplied, per Article 57
2026-05-31
Months allowed to fileArticle 53(1) — published value for FY2026
9
Return due no later thanArticle 53(1) — the computed date, which the Authority may displace
2027-02-28

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

A subsidiary in a Tax Group

A member of a Tax Group that is not the Parent Company, and so files no return of its own.

Computed

No Tax Return is filed by this Person as computed: Article 53(7) requires the Parent Company to file the Tax Return on behalf of the Tax Group, and a Tax Group is treated as a single Taxable Person under Article 40(4). The group's return is due no later than 2027-09-30, being 9 months from the Tax Period ending 2026-12-31. Article 53(1) also allows the Authority to direct another date, and Article 58 lets a Taxable Person apply to change the start and end of its Tax Period, so neither the period nor the deadline is fixed. Article 40(6) still leaves each member jointly and severally liable for the group's Corporate Tax.

Workings

Tax Period endsas supplied, per Article 57
2026-12-31
Months allowed to fileArticle 53(1) — published value for FY2026
9
Return due no later thanArticle 53(1) — the computed date, which the Authority may displace
2027-09-30

Decided by the a tax group files through its parent company

The Parent Company of a Tax Group

The same group's Parent Company, which files on behalf of the group.

Computed

The Tax Return is due no later than 2027-09-30 as computed: 9 months from the end of the Tax Period on 2026-12-31, per Article 53(1), in the form and manner the Authority prescribes. As Parent Company it files on behalf of the Tax Group, which Article 40(4) treats as a single Taxable Person. Article 53(1) also allows the Authority to direct another date, and Article 58 lets a Taxable Person apply to change the start and end of its Tax Period, so neither the period nor the deadline is fixed. Based on the date you supplied.

Workings

Tax Period endsas supplied, per Article 57
2026-12-31
Months allowed to fileArticle 53(1) — published value for FY2026
9
Return due no later thanArticle 53(1) — the computed date, which the Authority may displace
2027-09-30

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

A date directed by the Authority

A company whose Tax Period ends on 31 December 2026 and for which the Authority has directed a different filing date.

Computed

The Tax Return is due no later than 2027-11-30 as computed: 9 months from the end of the Tax Period on 2026-12-31, per Article 53(1), in the form and manner the Authority prescribes. The Authority has directed 2027-11-30 instead, which Article 53(1) permits and which displaces the date above. Based on the date you supplied.

Workings

Tax Period endsas supplied, per Article 57
2026-12-31
Months allowed to fileArticle 53(1) — published value for FY2026
9
Return due no later thana date directed by the Authority under Article 53(1), displacing the computed one
2027-11-30

Decided by the filing 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? Article 57 makes the Financial Year either the Gregorian calendar year or the twelve-month period for which the Person prepares financial statements, so there is no date this rule can assume.
  • Is the Taxable Person a member of a Tax Group?

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.tax_return_filing_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